UNDEFINED – Pressure on Israel intensified on Tuesday as U.S. President Joe Biden warned that “indiscriminate” bombing of Gaza could cause Israel to lose support in its war against Hamas and the U.N. General Assembly called for a ceasefire.

More than two months after the start of the war sparked by the Palestinian group’s unprecedented attack on October 7, Israeli forces battled Hamas militants and bombed more targets in the devastated Gaza Strip.

But Israel’s staunchest ally warned it could lose support because of the horrific humanitarian toll in Gaza, which the United Nations (UN) likened to “hell on earth.”

Biden said that Israel “most of the world supports him” after the Oct. 7 attack, which Israeli officials said killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 240 hostages.

But in his most blunt remarks since the war began, Biden said that Israel was beginning to lose that support “with the indiscriminate bombings that are taking place.”

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas has killed 18,412 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also needs to “change his stance” on a two-state solution for the Palestinians, Biden added.

Netanyahu said there was “disagreement” with Biden over how to govern Gaza after the conflict, reflecting a rare divide after weeks in which the U.S. leader gave strong support to Israel.

‘HELL OF EARTH’

Biden’s comments came before the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed a non-binding resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, a demand that has so far paralyzed the Security Council.

The body, which includes all 193 UN member states, voted in favor of the resolution by 153 votes, surpassing the roughly 140 countries that have routinely supported resolutions condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Ten countries, including the USA and Israel, voted against and 23 abstained.

The visiting head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, likened Gaza to “hell on earth” and said of video footage of a UNRWA school being blown up: “It is outrageous.”

Hamas said Israeli forces raided a hospital in Gaza City, the largest urban center.

“Israeli occupation forces storm Kamal Adwan Hospital after days of sieging and bombing it,” Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, accusing the troops of rounding up men, including medical staff, in the hospital’s courtyard.

The army did not immediately comment, but Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using hospitals, schools, mosques and tunnels beneath it as military bases – claims it has denied.

The United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said earlier that “the hospital remains surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks and fighting with armed groups has been reported in its surroundings for three consecutive days.”

It said a strike at the maternity ward left two mothers dead and about 3,000 displaced people trapped in the facility.

Israel’s air and ground attacks have reduced large parts of the Gaza Strip to rubble.

The United Nations said its satellite analysis agency UNOSAT determined that 18% of Gaza’s infrastructure was destroyed based on a Nov. 26 image.

UN agencies and aid groups fear that hunger and disease will soon hit the area and are calling on Israel to step up its efforts to protect civilians.

“BEYOND THE BREAKDOWN”

UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned that the humanitarian situation was “no longer collapsible”.

The world organization estimates that 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced by the conflict, half of them children.

Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday killed at least 24 people in Rafah, where tens of thousands are seeking shelter, the Gaza Strip Health Ministry said.

One left a deep crater and destroyed surrounding buildings.

“There are still people lying under the rubble,” said 23-year-old resident Abu Jazar. “We call on the Arab people and the world to apply pressure to stop the attacks on Gaza.”

At Rafah Hospital, grieving father Hani Abu Jamaa cradled the body of his young daughter Sidal, who was killed by shrapnel.

He said there had been strong explosions overnight and he only realized she was dead when he went to wake her in the morning.

“Even if I live 100 years, I will never find anyone like her again,” he said, crying. “May God have mercy on her, O Lord.”

Hostage bodies recovered

The Israeli military said it attacked a rocket launch site in Jabalia that had fired on Sderot in southern Israel and also found hundreds of grenades and rocket launchers at a Hamas compound.

The military lost 105 soldiers in the offensive, it said on Tuesday, including 13 dead from friendly fire and others from accidents.

During an operation in the Gaza Strip in which the army recovered the bodies of two hostages – Ziv Dado and Eden Zecharya – two were said to have “fallen” and others were injured.

Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said there were 135 hostages still in the Gaza Strip.

Fighting and heavy bombing in southern Gaza, where Israel had previously urged civilians to seek safety, has left people with few places to turn.

In Gaza City, thousands of Palestinians set up camp at the headquarters of a UN agency after homes and businesses were destroyed by Israeli attacks.

An AFP correspondent said both the Islamic and adjacent Al-Azhar universities, as well as the police station, had been reduced to rubble.

“There is no water. There is no electricity, no bread, no milk for the children and no diapers,” said Rami al-Dahduh, 23, a tailor.

In the occupied West Bank, where violence has escalated since the start of the conflict, Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in the town of Jenin, according to health authorities.

Fears of a wider conflict continue to grow as Iranian-backed groups attack U.S. and allied forces in Iraq and Syria and daily exchanges of fire along Israel’s border with Lebanon.

The Israeli army said it retaliated by attacking launch sites in response to projectiles fired from Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday.

France said one of its frigates shot down a drone threatening a Norwegian-flagged tanker that was hit in a nighttime missile attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.