The Middle East is on the brink of a major regional conflagration that could ultimately lead to a war between the US and Iran as their respective proxies, Israel and Hezbollah, trade fire and battle it out on the Israel-Lebanon border, with other regional proxies already joining in.

The subject of Palestine, Israel's attacks on Gaza and Lebanon and a future Palestinian state were the subject of intense discussion when the UN General Assembly (UNGA) met in New York on Tuesday for its 79th Session.

There was enormous sympathy for the Palestinians and strong criticism of Israel's treatment of them by numerous world leaders. US President Joe Biden - in his final UN address - expressed sympathy for the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and called for a de-escalation in Lebanon.

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UN chief Antonio Guterres called for the international community to mobilise for a ceasefire and warned that Lebanon was on the brink as Israel began a third day of strikes against southern Lebanon on Wednesday.

The wide chasm between UN member states' criticism of Israel and their lack of will and action in holding the country accountable - specifically by its Western allies and the US and UK in particular - for its human rights violations was evident to many critics.

"The policy of the US has been contradictory especially in regard to the gap between rhetoric and practice. Even from the beginning with the war on Gaza the Americans talk on the one hand against escalation, the death toll and destruction but at the same time they keep arming Israel and vetoing decisions of the UN Security Council," Ofer Cassif, an Israeli member of the Israeli Knesset, told Byline Times.

"Now it appears the same systematic policy of Biden is applying to Lebanon. Had the Americans wanted de-escalation and the bloodshed to stop it would have stopped ages ago," added Cassif who is also a member of the leftist Hadash party.

I'm terrified we are on the verge of a regional war with a cost I don't even want to think about for everyone, the Lebanese, the Israelis and the Palestinians. Look at the death toll already

Ofer Cassif, Israeli Knesset member

From Monday to Tuesday afternoon Israel had already carried out over 1,600 attacks on southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, as well as Beirut, with Lebanon's Health Ministry saying the death toll in Lebanon had alrready risen to 558, including 50 children and 94 women. At least 1,835 people were wounded with 54 hospitals treating the injured. Four paramedics were also killed and 16 wounded, refuting Israel's claims that it was only targeting Hezbollah members.

A further 15 people were killed after Israeli strikes on Wednesday morning.

In retaliation Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets into northern Israel and beyond, most of which were intercepted by Israeli air defences.

The rockets hit a number of Israeli cities and towns in the north as well as several illegal Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank, causing damage and forcing thousands of Israelis to flee to bomb shelters, in addition to the estimated 60,000 Israelis displaced from their homes in the north since the Gaza war began.

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Both sides have moved beyond the attritional tit-for-tat warfare that had characterised their exchanges since 7 October 2023 when Hamas launched its attack on Israel.

The US has sent thousands more troops to the area, some of them special forces, in addition to the aircraft carriers and approximate 40,000 already stationed in the Mideast. UK nationals living in Lebanon have been urged to "leave immediately" by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Meanwhile, according to some Israeli media reports 40,000 Arab fighters are moving towards the Israel-Lebanon border waiting to join Hezbollah's fight against Israel as the Jewish...