Israel today continues the war it has declared against Hamas, but is under increasing pressure from its closest allies, as US President Joe Biden denounced the “indiscriminate bombing” of the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian situation is catastrophic.

Although a great supporter of Israel, Mr Joe Biden criticized the Israeli government yesterday Tuesday in an unprecedented way for its opposition to the “two-state” solution and warned it that it is losing international support.

He assured that he had “no doubt” that Israel needed to “confront” Hamas, but, as he warned, although the Netanyahu government had the support of “Europe” and “most of the world” from the beginning, it was in danger of “losing this support with the indiscriminate bombing that he does.”

The UN General Assembly on Tuesday called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” to be declared in the Gaza Strip, approving by an overwhelming majority, 153 votes in favor, 10 against (including those of Israel and the US) and 23 abstentions, a resolution that is not however legally binding.

This is a larger majority than the one that condemned the invasion of the Russian army in Ukraine.

Also, the text does not condemn Hamassomething that the ambassadors of Israel and the USA were polite about.

“Continuing Suffering”

With their rare joint announcement, its prime ministers Australiaof Canada and her New Zealands said today that they were “dismayed at the reduction of the safe space for civilians in Gaza” and added that “the price of Hamas’ defeat cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians». The three countries, traditional US allies, adopted the General Assembly resolution.

The Gaza Strip, where 85% of its 2.4 million residents have been displaced, including tens of thousands who have been repeatedly displaced since October 7, and where entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble, has turned into “hell on earth,” says the Office’s director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini.

In the small Palestinian enclave, already under strict blockade for 15 years and now under total siege for more than two months, new airstrikes overnight killed more than 50 people in Gaza City, Nusheirat, Deir al-Bala, in Khan Younis and in Rafah, according to the Hamas Health Ministry.

The Palestinian Islamist movement also reported fighting in the central part of the enclave and relentless artillery pounding in Gaza City, to the north.

Overpopulation and disease in the south

After fleeing their homes in the north and then the shelters they had found in Khan Younis, tens of thousands of Palestinians are now in Rafah, the southernmost part of the small enclave, which has been turned into a giant refugee camp with hundreds of makeshift tents.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), overpopulation and malnutrition facilitate the spread of diseases such as diarrhoea, influenza and smallpox, putting further pressure on the health system, which has long been overwhelmed and unable to cope. on the verge of collapse.

The rain that falls in Rafah, where the displaced live at best in makeshift tents covered with burlap or plastic, makes matters worse.

“All the tents are flooded. We don’t know what to do,” says Ihab Abu Joff, 23, who is trying to protect his makeshift oven. “The conditions over here are very difficult.”

The Israeli army is also shelling Rafah: yesterday two houses were hit, killing 24 people, the Hamas Health Ministry said.

After a bombardment opened a huge crater, survivors searched through the wreckage, many with their bare hands. Injured women, covered with blankets, were being transported in the semi-trucks to a hospital. Others on makeshift stretchers carried by youths.

“Where is the security at Rafa?”

“They (the Israeli military) say that the south is safe, that Rafah is safe. Where is the security in Rafa? It’s being bombed from the air every day,” Tawfiq Abu Brik burst out amid the rubble.

The director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, spoke yesterday about an Israeli raid against the Kamal Antoine hospital in Gaza, where there are 65 patients and 45 members of the health staff, after a siege. “I’m very worried,” he stressed via X (formerly Twitter).

According to OCHA, 100 aid trucks have entered Rafah since Monday night, as have 120,000 liters of fuel. However, the same source underlines that these quantities are not enough to cover only a very small part of the needs.

As part of the siege it imposed on the Gaza Strip on October 9, Israel tightly controls aid delivered to the enclave through the only open entry point, Rafah, on the border with Egypt. Because of the hostilities, it is practically impossible for aid to reach beyond Rafah; food shortages are enormous.

The war is also fueling an upsurge in violence in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, where Israeli forces killed six Palestinians on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Authority.

It has similarly rekindled a fire on the northern front, with Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Israel’s air force and artillery shelled positions of Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah movement, an ally of Hamas, on Lebanese soil, returning fire against northern Israel, the staff said.

The Israeli air force also announced that aircraft and tanks also hit military installations on Syrian territory, also returning fire.