Israeli occupation forces’ tanks and warplanes bombarded the Gaza Strip Tuesday, killing dozens of Palestinians, and US President Joe Biden warned Israel it was losing international support because of its “indiscriminate” bombing of civilians in its war against Palestinian Resistance Movement (Hamas). In a further sign of world concern over the conduct of the conflict, now in its third month, Australia, Canada and New Zealand said they supported international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire. They expressed alarm at the plight of civilians in Gaza. At the United Nations, the 193-member UN General Assembly was preparing to vote on a resolution calling for a ceasefire. Diplomats said it was expected to pass. Israel’s assault on Gaza ‘to root out’ Hamas has killed at least 18,205 Palestinians and wounded nearly 50,000 since Oct. 7, according to the Gaza health ministry. Many more dead are uncounted under the rubble or beyond the reach of ambulances. In Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s main city, residents said Israeli tank shelling was now focused on the city centre. Further south in Rafah, which borders Egypt, health officials said 22 people including children were killed in an Israeli air strike on houses overnight. Civil emergency workers were searching for more victims under the rubble. Gazans were battling hunger and thirst to survive, resident Mohammed Obaid said as he inspected debris in Rafah. “There’s no electricity, no fuel, no water, no medicine.” The Gaza health ministry said that diseases and illnesses including diarrhea, food poisoning, meningitis, respiratory infections, chickenpox and scabies were spreading. In addition to warning that Israel was starting to lose international support, Biden said that Netanyahu needed to change his hardline government. The leaders of Australia, Canada and New Zealand said in a joint statement they were alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza. More than 100 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground invasion began in late October. Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said Israeli forces had raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza and detained the hospital director, Dr. Ahmed al-Kahlout, along with all medical staff including female teams. They were being interrogated under threat within the emergency department, he said. Hunger is worsening, with the UN World Food Programme saying half of Gaza’s population is starving as Israel has cut off supplies of food, medicine and fuel. The UN humanitarian office OCHA said on Tuesday limited aid distributions were taking place in the Rafah district, but “in the rest of the Gaza Strip, aid distribution has largely stopped over the past few days, due to the intensity of hostilities and restrictions of movement along the main roads”. The UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) said Israel had imposed a near-total siege on Gaza “inflicting collective punishment on over 2 million people, half of whom are children”. The Palestinian foreign minister accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war, a charge an Israeli official rejected.
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