Joe Biden uses his final UN speech to warn against all-out war in Middle East 

'Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest,' US president Joe Biden told the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Picture: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

US president Joe Biden has used his last UN speech to warn against "all-out war" in the Middle East.

However, Mr Biden's address to the UN General Assembly, which opened in New York on Tuesday, defended the Israeli right to defend itself.

“Any country, any country, would have the right responsibility to ensure that such an attack could never happen again,” Mr Biden said, referring to the October 7 Hamas attacks, which he said Hezbollah had joined in by firing rockets into Israel.

The speech comes as Israel and Hezbollah traded strikes again on Tuesday as the death toll from a massive Israeli bombardment climbed to more than 550 people and thousands fled from southern Lebanon. It is the deadliest barrage since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

Israel has urged residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate from homes and other buildings where it claimed Hezbollah has stored weapons, saying the military would conduct “extensive strikes” against the militant group.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, has launched dozens of rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in retaliation for strikes last week that killed a top commander and dozens of fighters.

Dozens were also killed last week and hundreds more wounded after hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah militants exploded, a sophisticated attack that was widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.

Israel’s leadership launched its counter-attacks at a time of growing impatience with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah’s persistent launching of missiles and drones across the Israel-Lebanon border after Hamas started the war with its attack on October 7.

The Pentagon announced on Monday that it was sending a small number of additional US troops to the Middle East to supplement the roughly 40,000 already in the region.

All the while, the White House insists Israel and Hezbollah still have time to step back and de-escalate.

Speaking about Palestine, Mr Biden said: "Innocent civilians in Gaza are also going through hell. Thousands and thousands killed, including aid workers.

"Too many families [have been] dislocated, crowded in a tent, facing a dire situation. They didn’t ask for this war.”

Mr Biden also condemned settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.

He reiterated his call on the parties to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release deal, saying it’s time to “end this war” — even as hopes for such a deal are fading as the conflict drags on.

"Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest. Even if the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible. 

"In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents from both countries to return to their homes and the border safely. And that’s … what we’re working tirelessly to achieve."

Mr Biden's appearance before the international body also offered the US president one of his last high-profile opportunities as president to make the case to keep up robust support for Ukraine, which could be in doubt if former president Donald Trump, who has scoffed at the cost of the war, defeats Vice President Kamala Harris in November.

Earlier, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that Gaza "is a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region with it".

"Look no further than Lebanon. We should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is at the brink. The people of Lebanon — the people of Israel — and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza," he said.

"Nothing can justify the abhorrent acts of terror committed by Hamas on October 7th or the taking of hostages — both of which I have repeatedly condemned. And nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

"The speed and scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza are unlike anything in my years as Secretary General. More than 200 of our own staff have been killed, many with their families."

— additional reporting from Associated Press