A MASS walkout has been staged at Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the United Nations.
The Israeli prime minister took to the stage at the UN General Assembly on Friday afternoon when dozens of delegates began to get up from their seats and leave the room in protest against the genocide in Gaza.
Shouts directed towards Netanyahu could also be heard before he began to address the room.
Speaking to a largely empty room, the Israeli prime minister said the IDF had "surrounded Gaza with loudspeakers" to play his address directly to the Israeli hostages which remain in the enclave.
He added that, through "intelligence", the speech was also "being carried, streamed live, to the cellphones of Gazans" so that he could relay a message to Hamas.
He said: "Lay down your arms, let my people go, free the hostages, all of them, the whole 48, free the hostages now."
As Netanyahu was giving his address, pro-Palestine protesters could be seen staging a demonstration outside the UN, alongside a pro-Israel demonstration.
The Israeli PM, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, said Israel must "finish the job" in Gaza.
He said: "The final elements, the final remnants of Hamas are holed up in Gaza City. They vow to repeat the atrocities of October 7 again and again and again, no matter how diminished their forces. That is why Israel must finish the job. That is why we want to do so as fast as possible."
Netanyahu said accusations Israel was committing genocide were "untrue", as he went on to host a "pop quiz", where he displayed cards with questions on them.
The first question was: "Who shouts death to America?"
He then gave Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, or all of the above as answers, before saying the answer is "all of the above".
The second question was: "Who has murdered Americans and Europeans in cold blood?"
The possible answers were Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran or all of the above. Netanyahu said the answer was again "all of the above".
Addressing the escalation of Israel's assault on Gaza City, Netanyahu attempted to frame Hamas as responsible.
He said the IDF has been targeting "terror tunnels" and "terror towers" used by Hamas in the urban centre.
Netanyahu claimed 700,000 people have left Gaza City since Israel issued an evacuation order earlier this month.
However, it is understood that just 300,000 people have fled, with UN agencies and aid groups saying an estimated 700,000 remain.
Since October 7, 2023, more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed by children, the majority of them believed to be women and children.
