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Agence France-Presse

Israel bombed Gaza on Thursday as a top White House adviser was due to arrive in Jerusalem, with a rift growing over US calls for its ally to exercise restraint.
The war, now in its third month, began after the October 7 attacks on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas that Israeli officials say killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
It has left besieged Gaza in ruins and killed more than 18,600 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The ministry said Israeli air strikes early on Thursday had killed at least 19 people across the Gaza Strip.
In the West Bank, which has also seen a surge in violence since October 7, the Palestinian Authority said two people were killed in Israeli strikes in the city of Jenin.
US President Joe Biden, whose government has provided Israel with billions of dollars of military aid, on Wednesday gave his sharpest rebuke of the war yet, saying Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza was weakening international support.
Biden warns Israel losing global support over ‘indiscriminate’ Gaza bombing
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his offensive.
“We will continue until the end. There is no question at all. I say this in light of great pain, but also in light of international pressure. Nothing will stop us. We are going until the end, until victory, nothing less than that,” Netanyahu said in a video statement released by his office.
And Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said the war against Hamas would continue “with or without international support”.
On Thursday, Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was due to arrive in Jerusalem for talks with Netanyahu and his war cabinet.
Sullivan told a Wall Street Journal event ahead of his trip, he would discuss a timetable to end the war and urge Israeli leaders “to move to a different phase from the kind of high-intensity operations that we see today”.
Sullivan will have “extremely serious conversations” in Israel, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday.

Netanyahu has said there is also “disagreement” with Washington over how a post-conflict Gaza would be governed.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday “any arrangement in Gaza or in the Palestinian cause without Hamas or the resistance factions is a delusion”.
He said Hamas was ready for talks that could lead to a “political path that secures the right of the Palestinian people to their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital”.
UN General Assembly demands humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza
A poll published on Wednesday by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research showed Haniyeh had the support of 78 per cent of people in the Palestinian territories, compared with 58 per cent before the war.
International pressure is mounting on Israel to better protect civilians, with the UN General Assembly this week overwhelmingly backing a non-binding resolution for a ceasefire.
While Washington voted against, the resolution was supported by 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”.

CNN reported on Wednesday citing US intelligence that nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions used by Israel in Gaza since October 7 have been unguided, which can pose a greater threat to civilians.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said on Wednesday that Gazans were “facing the darkest chapter of their history”.
Wintry rain lashed the territory, where the UN estimates 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million population have been displaced, living in makeshift tents as supplies of food, drinking water, medicines and fuel run low.
Videos of Israeli soldier behaviour in Gaza create headache for military
Ameen Edwan said his family was camped out with thousands in the grounds of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in central Gaza.
“Rainwater seeped in. We couldn’t sleep. We tried to find nylon covers but couldn’t find any, so we resorted to stones and sand” to keep the water out, he said.
‘Tactical’ pause agreed
Israel’s army has announced a four-hour “tactical” pause in fighting in a neighbourhood in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.
The four-hour pause is for “humanitarian purposes to allow civilians to replenish stocks such as food and water,” the Israeli COGAT authority responsible for contacts with the Palestinians announced on X on Thursday.
The pause in fighting is limited to Rafah’s al-Salam neighbourhood. The city has a border crossing with Egypt that is used to transport relief supplies for the suffering civilian population in the sealed-off coastal strip.
The pause is scheduled to last from 10am to 2pm local time.

The southern city of Rafah has become a vast camp for the displaced, with hundreds of tents erected using wood and plastic sheets.
“We spent five days outdoors. And now the rain has flooded the tents,” said a displaced resident, Bilal al-Qassas.
Gusts of wind shook the fragile structures, while people tried to reinforce them with more plastic sheeting.
“Where do we migrate to? Our dignity is gone. Where do women relieve themselves? There are no bathrooms,” said 41-year-old Qassas.
The UN warned the spread of diseases – including meningitis, jaundice and upper respiratory tract infections – had intensified.
Gaza’s hospital system is in ruins, and Hamas authorities said vaccines for children had run out, warning of “catastrophic health repercussions”.
The Hamas-controlled health ministry said Israeli forces opened fire on wards of Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza.




The army has yet to comment, but Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using hospitals, schools, mosques and vast tunnel systems beneath them as military bases – charges it denies.
In Israel, the army is coming under growing pressure to limit troop deaths and secure the release of hostages.
It has lost 115 soldiers, including 10 on Tuesday, its deadliest day since the ground assault began on October 27.
In the October 7 attack – the deadliest in Israel’s 75-year history – Hamas also seized around 240 hostages.
Israel-Gaza war: who are the hostages still held by Hamas?
Hamas released dozens of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a week-long truce last month, but others have been found dead.
Families of hostages said on Wednesday they had demanded “an immediate explanation from the Prime Minister and cabinet members” after local media reported that the government had rejected a proposal to send officials to Qatar for a second round of hostage negotiations.
Israel’s embassy in Romania on Wednesday announced the death of Israeli-Romanian Tal Haimi, 41, who was held in Gaza.
Washington and London slapped Hamas with further sanctions on Wednesday, targeting “key officials who perpetuate Hamas’s violent agenda”.
Fears that the conflict could engulf the region continued to grow, with daily incidents along Israel’s border with Lebanon, where Iran-backed Hezbollah is based.
Additional reporting by dpa


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Israel-Gaza war

Israel bombs Gaza as rift with US grows. ‘Nothing will stop us,’ Netanyahu vows

Mourners at a funeral for Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters

Israeli soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip, in a handout picture released on Thursday. Photo: Israel Defence Force via Reuters

The aftermath of Israeli strikes on houses in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters

Israeli soldiers preparing to enter the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

A displaced Palestinian in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, adjusts his tent following heavy rains. Photo: Reuters

Israel-Gaza war: who are the hostages still held by Hamas?

Protesters in Tel Aviv, Israel, hold signs showing portraits of hostages during a demonstration last Saturday calling for their release. Photo: AFP

A helicopter carrying hostages who were freed during the recent brief truce. Photo: Reuters

Israel suffers heavy losses in Hamas ambush, faces diplomatic isolation over Gaza

Israeli soldiers prepare to enter the Gaza Strip for operations against Hamas. Photo: Reuters

Israeli forces evacuate a wounded soldier from Gaza on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Palestinians salvage their belongings after an Israeli strike in Rafah on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes. Photo: Reuters

Amid outcry over Gaza tactics, videos of Israeli soldier behaviour create headache for military

This image made from an undated video shared on X shows Israeli troops chanting racist slogans as they dance in a circle in Gaza. Photo: X via AP

This image made from an undated video shared on X shows Israeli troops trying to burn food and water supplies in the back of a truck in Gaza. Photo: X via AP

Detained Palestinians on a street in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, as Israeli soldiers stand guard. Photo: Reuters

Hamas militants wore bodycams during their October 7 rampage in Israel. Photo: Israel Defence Forces via AP

UN General Assembly demands humanitarian ceasefire in Israel-Gaza war

Palestinians react following an Israeli strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Screens showing votes at the United Nations General Assembly meeting. Photo; AFP

An Israeli artillery unit operates near the border with Gaza on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Biden warns Netanyahu must change government as Israel loses support over ‘indiscriminate’ Gaza bombing

US President Joe Biden gestures as he delivers remarks at an event in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Friday. Photo: AFP

Palestinians mourn relatives killed in an Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a morgue in Khan Younis on Monday. Photo: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, in October. Photo: TNS

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan attends a press conference at the South Korean presidential office in Seoul on Saturday. Photo: AFP

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World

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Washington is showing signs of strained patience with its Middle East ally Israel
Israeli leaders vow military will press on in Gaza despite international pressure


Israel bombed Gaza as a top White House adviser was due to arrive in Jerusalem, with a rift growing over US calls for its ally to exercise restraint


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Israel bombs Gaza as rift with US grows. ‘Nothing will stop us,’ Netanyahu vows

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Washington is showing signs of strained patience with its Middle East ally Israel Israeli leaders vow military will press on in Gaza despite international pressure

Washington is showing signs of strained patience with its Middle East ally Israel

Israeli leaders vow military will press on in Gaza despite international pressure