Palestinian foreign ministry calls sanctions ‘unjustified measure’
All 193 members of the UN General Assembly are expected to vote Thursday on whether Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will be permitted to address this year’s session by video, after the US denied him an entry visa for the second consecutive year, two Palestinian sources told the BBC.
The denial extends visa sanctions Washington first imposed in August 2025, when 80 Palestinian officials were barred from that year’s General Assembly gathering. The State Department has not named Abbas in its statement on the extension, but the two Palestinian sources told the BBC that he is among those affected. The State Department accused the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization of “glorifying terrorism” and of attempting to “internationalize” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In a statement on Thursday, the Palestinian foreign ministry called the visa sanctions “an unjustified measure that runs counter to efforts to rebuild trust, develop Palestinian-US relations, and create the necessary political climate for implementing the two-state solution and achieving peace and stability.” Palestinian officials have rejected the long-held accusations of the Trump administration and Israel, the BBC reported, saying they have a right to seek accountability against an occupying force under international law.
After last year’s visa denial, Abbas addressed the General Assembly gathering by video rather than traveling to New York. The visa question sits in tension with the UN Headquarters Agreement, which requires the United States to permit foreign diplomats access to the UN in New York. Washington has maintained, however, that it can deny visas for security, extremism, and foreign-policy reasons. After last year’s decision, a representative for Abbas said the move stood “in clear contradiction to international law and the UN Headquarters Agreement.”
The Palestinian Authority was established by the Oslo peace accords, and the PLO was recognized through the same process as the official representative of the Palestinian people in exchange for recognizing Israel and renouncing violence. The State of Palestine is currently recognized by approximately 75% of the UN’s 193 member states, including the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and Australia. Of the UN Security Council’s five permanent members, the United States is the only one that has not recognized a Palestinian state.
The US move comes against a backdrop of repeated UN warnings that the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire despite the ceasefire agreed in October 2025, with Israeli air strikes and other attacks continuing to hit populated areas, causing casualties, property damage, and further displacement.
On Tuesday, Israeli air strikes killed at least five Palestinians, including two children and a Hamas commander, according to health officials and Hamas sources. The Israeli military said it killed a Hamas commander in southern Gaza and another fighter in the north, with a child reportedly killed in each incident.
Separately, the British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians said a patient was killed by an Israeli drone at a health centre it supports in Jabalia in northern Gaza. A spokesperson for the Israeli military told the BBC it was not aware of such an incident.
The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Since then, more than 73,790 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the UN considers reliable.