United Nations, Sep 30 (IANS): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday lashed out at militant Islamists in a speech at the UN, saying Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Islamic State (IS) "share a fanatical creed".

"ISIS and Hamas are branches of the same poisonous tree," Xinhua quoted him as saying 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.