Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the general debate of the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly, at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 29, 2014. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday lashed out at militant Islamists in a speech at the United Nations, saying Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Islamic State (IS) "share a fanatical creed". Photo: Xinhua

 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday lashed out at militant Islamists in a speech at the United Nations, saying Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Islamic State (IS) "share a fanatical creed".

"ISIS and Hamas are branches of the same poisonous tree," he said in an address at the general debate of UN General Assembly, using an alternate acronym for the extremist group. "When it comes to their ultimate goals, Hamas is ISIS and ISIS is Hamas. And what they share in common, all militant Islamists share in common."

Netanyahu accused the militants of seeking to create ever- expanding enclaves of militant Islam where "there is no freedom and no tolerance."

The prime minister refuted the accusation that his military's 50-day strikes in Gaza this summer had committed war crimes, saying that Israeli forces had taken all available measures to minimize civilian casualties.

"Israel dropped flyers, made phone calls, sent text messages, broadcast warnings in Arabic on Palestinian television, all this to enable Palestinian civilians to evaluate targeted areas," Netanyahu said.

In his speech at UN last week, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of committing "war crimes" before the eyes and ears of the entire world.

On Monday, Netanyahu also warned of the threat of a nuclear- armed Iran, calling on the world to guard against Tehran's " manipulative charm offensive."

"It's designed for one purpose and for one purpose only: to lift the sanctions and remove the obstacles to Iran's path to the bomb," Netanyahu said.

Once Iran produces atomic bombs, all the charms and all the smiles will suddenly disappear, he added.

World powers are negotiating with Iran in the hope of reaching a comprehensive agreement to limit Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions that had crippled the economy of the Islamic republic.