Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly made false claims at the United Nations General Assembly to defend Israel’s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Several of the Israeli prime minister’s claims have been challenged by international bodies, human rights and aid organizations, and in some cases even by data from the Israeli military itself.
A review of five such claims reveals significant contradictions between Netanyahu’s position and documented evidence.
“The genocide accusation is the biggest lie of the century.”
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in 2026, Netanyahu called allegations that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza “the biggest lie of the century.”
He argued that warning civilians in advance, providing vaccines and delivering food were inconsistent with allegations of genocide. However, in September 2025, an independent international commission of inquiry established under the United Nations reached the opposite conclusion.
After examining eyewitness accounts, satellite imagery, official statements and other evidence, the commission said there were reasonable grounds to conclude that Israeli authorities and forces had committed four of the five acts defined under the Genocide Convention.
The commission also concluded that statements by Netanyahu and other senior officials constituted evidence of genocidal intent, while Israel rejected the commission’s findings.
“The ratio of civilian to combatant deaths is exceptionally low.”
In his address to the General Assembly in 2025, Netanyahu said the ratio of civilian to combatant deaths in Gaza was less than two to one, describing it as exceptionally low.
In his address to the United Nations on September 27, 2024, he also said that no other military was doing what Israel was doing to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza.
According to a joint investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call, based on a secret Israeli military intelligence database, approximately 8,900 identified Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters had been killed by May 2025, while the overall death toll was around 53,000.
These figures indicate that approximately 83 percent of those killed were civilians.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed and around 175,000 injured since Israel began its war in Gaza in October 2023.
“Hamas stole most of the humanitarian aid in Gaza.”
Netanyahu has repeatedly alleged that Hamas steals a large portion of the aid entering Gaza.
In his 2026 address to the United Nations, he said Hamas had stolen most of the food sent into Gaza by Israel and claimed that the group was putting Palestinian civilians at risk.
An internal review by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) found no evidence that Hamas had systematically diverted U.S.-funded aid.
The review examined 156 incidents of aid being stolen or lost between October 2023 and May 2025, but found no indication that Hamas had benefited from them.
“Two million tons of food refute claims of famine.”
In his address to the United Nations, Netanyahu said Israel had enabled the distribution of 2 million tons of food in Gaza, amounting to approximately one ton per person.
He presented the figure as an argument against allegations of hunger and genocide in Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister said, “What genocidal government would facilitate the distribution of 2 million tons of food in Gaza? That is one ton for every person.” However, the entry of aid into Gaza does not necessarily mean that the food reaches civilians.
United Nations agencies have documented restrictions, insecurity, damaged roads and military operations that have obstructed the access to and distribution of aid.
Israel completely halted the entry of aid supplies and humanitarian assistance into Gaza from March 2 to May 18, 2025.
In addition, Israel repeatedly halted, restricted or suspended the delivery of humanitarian aid for extended periods during the war.
In August 2025, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed famine in the Gaza Governorate.
The organization said more than 500,000 people across Gaza were facing catastrophic conditions involving hunger, deprivation and death.
According to the IPC’s latest assessment, another 1.4 million people are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity through December 2026.
“Settler violence is limited to a small group of extremists.”
In his 2026 address, Netanyahu described Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank as the actions of around 150 young criminals and indicated that only two or three Palestinians had been killed. However, UN monitoring presents a much broader picture.
By July 20, 2026, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had recorded more than 1,330 settler attacks since the beginning of the year that resulted in casualties or property damage, averaging more than six attacks per day.
According to OCHA, 18 Palestinian deaths linked to settler attacks had also been recorded by July 20 this year.
Between January 2023 and July 2026, according to OCHA, people from 121 Palestinian communities were fully or partially displaced as a result of settler attacks and movement restrictions associated with them.
These figures present a picture that differs from Netanyahu’s position portraying settler violence as a limited or minor phenomenon.
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