Israel faced growing diplomatic isolation in its war against Hamas as the United Nations demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and U.S. President Joe Biden told the longtime ally its “indiscriminate” bombing of civilians was hurting international support.
After dire warnings from U.N. officials about a deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire with three-quarters of member states voting in favour, Reuters reported.
“The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians,” the leaders of Canada, Australia and New Zealand said separately in a joint statement calling for a ceasefire.
The Palestinian Authority welcomed the resolution and urged countries to pressure Israel to comply.
The U.S. and Israel, which argue a ceasefire only benefits Hamas, voted against the measure along with eight other countries.
Before the resolution, Biden said Israel now has support from “most of the world” including the U.S. and European Union for its fight against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“But they’re starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place,” he told a campaign donor event in Washington.
In the most public sign of division between the leaders so far, Biden also said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needed to change his hardline government and that ultimately Israel “can’t say no” to an independent Palestinian state – something that Israeli hardliners oppose.
Israel’s assault on Gaza to root out Hamas has killed at least 18,205 Palestinians including many children and wounded nearly 50,000 since Oct. 7, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The conflict has also led to starvation, displaced 85% of the population from their homes and caused diseases to spread, according to the U.N. and Gaza health ministry.
The Wall Street Journal and ABC meanwhile reported that the Israeli military began pumping seawater into Hamas’ tunnel network, where the militant group is believed to be hiding fighters and munitions and basing hit-and-run street attacks on Israeli troops.
Biden said he had heard unconfirmed reports there were no hostages in the tunnels. Some hostages freed during a ceasefire reported they had been held in tunnels. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.
