Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has left Israel en route to the United Nations in New York, saying he will refute "all of the lies directed at us" with regard to Israel's recently concluded war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu is scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly on Monday.

His Sunday comments come after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in his own U.N. address Friday charged that Israel had conducted "a war of genocide" in Gaza.

With memories of the Nazi holocaust still fresh in Israel, use of the word "genocide" is regarded as particularly provocative.

The 50-day war between Israel and Hamas-led Islamic militants ended Aug. 26. It killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 72 on the Israeli side, almost all soldiers.