Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Wednesday that Israel’s war on Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip would continue “with or without international support”.
His announcement came after US President Joe Biden criticised Israel’s bombing campaign in response to the October 7 attacks as “indiscriminate” and said it was costing the country in support.
Israeli citizens said on Wednesday the army should not back off its unrelenting offensive to crush Hamas, despite the UN General Assembly’s ceasefire call, the growing list of troop casualties and a spiralling Palestinian death toll in Gaza.
Israel’s military suffered one of the deadliest in the two-month-old Gaza war on Tuesday, with a colonel among 10 soldiers killed, bringing the toll to 115 – almost double the number killed during clashes in the coastal enclave nine years ago.
And with much of the enclave laid to waste, conditions dire and more than 18,500 Palestinians killed in the Israeli army’s air and ground assault, US President Joe Biden said the “indiscriminate” bombing of Gazan civilians was costing Israel international support.
Polls in recent weeks show overwhelming backing for the war despite the rising human costs. Six Israelis who spoke to Reuters on Wednesday said now was not the time back down, regardless of fading global sympathy reflected in Tuesday’s UN resolution.
