Israel will continue its war on Hamas with or without support from the international community, its foreign minister has said.
Israel kept up its barrage of the Gaza Strip on Thursday despite intensifying international calls to reduce civilian casualties and address a mounting humanitarian catastrophe.
US president Joe Biden on Tuesday warned the nation was losing support because of its “indiscriminate bombing” which has laid much of the Palestinian enclave to waste.
At least 18,608 people have been killed and 50,594 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel's Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, said on Wednesday that agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza at this stage would be a mistake.
"Israel will continue the war against Hamas with or without international support," he said.
"A ceasefire at the current stage is a gift to the terrorist organization Hamas, and will allow it to return and threaten the residents of Israel."
Mr Cohen also called on the international community to act "effectively and aggressively" in order to protect global shipping lanes.
Mr Biden on Tuesday spoke out against the Israel-Hamas war in unusually strong language, just hours before the United Nations demanded a humanitarian ceasefire.
“Israel’s security can rest on the United States, but right now it has more than the United States," he said. "It has the European Union, it has Europe, it has most of the world supporting them,” the US president said to donors during a fundraising event on Tuesday.
“They’re starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place,” he added.The president said he thought Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu understood, but he wasn’t so sure about the Israeli war cabinet.
Rishi Sunak later warned Mr Netanyahu that “too many people” have died in Gaza during the military campaign.Hamas media said early on Thursday that 24 people were killed overnight in an Israeli strike that hit two houses in central Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip. There was no immediate confirmation from the Palestinian health ministry.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who was visiting the region and was set to be in Israel on Thursday and Friday, would discuss with Israel the need to be more precise with their strikes against Hamas targets, spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
Mr Sullivan met with officials of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and discussed "broader diplomatic efforts to maintain stability across the region and prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from expanding," another US official said.
Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions Israel has used in Gaza in its war with Hamas since October 7 have been unguided, otherwise known as "dumb bombs," according to a new US intelligence assessment reported by CNN.
The news outlet said the assessment was compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and described to CNN by three sources who have seen it.
Israel says its bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza is aimed at annihilating Hamas, the group whose fighters stormed across the border fence from Gaza on October 7, killing 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and seizing 240 hostages.
Since then, Israel has launched an almost relentless retaliatory attack on Gaza.
The coastal strip is now facing a public health disaster due to the collapse of its health system and the spread of disease, the UN humanitarian office has said.
"We've got a textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster," said Lynn Hastings, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Another UN official warned half of Gaza's population is "starving", and nine out of 10 people are not managing to eat every day.
