UNITED NATIONS — Facing pressure at home to come up with a new strategy for achieving Palestinian statehood, Mahmoud Abbas said Friday he would ask the U.N. Security Council to dictate the ground rules for any talks with Israel, including setting a deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands.

In a speech to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, the Palestinian leader also accused Israel of conducting a “war of genocide” in Gaza, but stopped short of saying he would pursue war crimes charges against Israel.

“This last war against Gaza was a series of absolute war crimes carried out before the eyes and ears of the entire world, moment by moment,” Abbas said. The devastation unleashed, he asserted, “is unmatched in modern times.”

While the Palestinian president spoke forcefully, appearing visibly angry at times, the address was short on specifics. He did not offer his own deadline for an Israeli withdrawal, as some had predicted, nor did he say anything about joining the International Criminal Court as his aides have repeatedly said he is prepared to do.

And while he signaled he would seek accountability for alleged war crimes by Israel against Palestinians during this summer’s 50-day war in Gaza, he made no mention of taking the case to the International Criminal Court.

“We will not forget and we will not forgive, and we will not allow war criminals to escape punishment,” Abbas said in his 30-minute address.

Israel denounced the allegations as “a speech of incitement filled with lies.”

Abbas’ remarks “highlight once again how he does not want and cannot be a partner for a reasonable diplomatic agreement,” Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement in which he also criticized Abbas for aligning with Gaza’s Islamic militant Hamas rulers.

Israel launched thousands of airstrikes against what it said were Hamas-linked targets in Gaza, while Gaza militants fired several thousand rockets at Israel. More than 2,100 Palestinians were killed, the vast majority civilians, and some 18,000 homes were destroyed, according to U.N. figures. Sixty-six soldiers and six civilians were killed on the Israeli side.

The U.S. says the only resolution is through direct talks.