Israel under pressure from allies as Gaza war rages on
UNGA had overwhelmingly backed a non-binding resolution for ceasefire
Israel was facing mounting international pressure Wednesday over its war in Gaza, with even key backer the United States criticising the “indiscriminate” bombing.
Now in its third month, the war was launched in response to the unprecedented attacks on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7.
It has left Gaza in ruins, killing more than 18,400 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and causing “unparalleled” damage to its roads, schools and hospitals.
The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a non-binding resolution for a ceasefire on Tuesday. But more air strikes hit Gaza and gun battles again raged through the night, especially in Gaza City, the biggest urban centre, and Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south, AFP correspondents said.
Cold autumn rains lashed the territory, where millions have been displaced and many are living in makeshift plastic tents, as vital supplies of food, drinking water, medicines and fuel have run low in more than two months of siege and war.
Air raid sirens wailed in Sderot and other southern Israeli communities near Gaza as militants kept firing rockets, most of which have been intercepted by air defences.
The army said an air strike had hit a militant cell in Gaza City’s Shejaiya district “that was en route to launch rockets toward Israel”. In Khan Yunis, a centre of heavy urban combat in recent days, a family gathered to mourn the death in a strike of Fayez al-Taramsi, a father of seven. “How are we going to live after him?” one of his daughters said, crying and clutching his bloodied shirt. “He brought us to life.” The bloodiest-ever Gaza war broke out after Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on October 7, killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 240 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel, determined to destroy Hamas and bring the hostages home, launched a devastating aerial and ground offensive on Gaza. The Hamas-run health ministry said Wednesday that at least 50 more people killed in the latest wave of air strikes.
Israel said it has lost 115 soldiers, including 10 in northern Gaza on Tuesday, its deadliest day since launching the ground assault on October 27. While the US and Israel voted against the resolution, it was supported by US allies Australia, Canada and New Zealand, who, in a rare joint statement, said they were “alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza”. Biden said at a campaign event that Israel had “most of the world supporting it” immediately after the Oct 7 attack, but that “they’re starting to lose that support by the indiscriminate bombing
that takes place”.
