Eli Cohen: Israel will continue the Gaza war with or without international support

Israel will continue the Gaza war “with or without international support,” Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said Wednesday.

Speaking during a meeting with Australian Deputy Foreign Minister Tim Watts in West Jerusalem, Eli Cohen said a cease-fire in Gaza will be a gift to Hamas, “and will allow it to return and threaten the residents of Israel.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would fight on despite international pressure for a ceasefire.

“We’re continuing until the end, until victory, until Hamas is annihilated,” he told soldiers in Gaza over radio. “I say this in the face of great pain but also in the face of international pressures. Nothing will stop us.”

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said Israel is losing support around the world and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has to strengthen and change” his government.

“This is the most conservative government in Israel’s history,” Biden said at a campaign fundraiser in Washington, adding that Netanyahu’s government “doesn’t want a two-state solution.”

US President Joe Biden said Israel’s “indiscriminate” bombing of civilians was costing international support.

Israel announced its worst combat losses for more than a month on Wednesday after an ambush in the ruins of Gaza, and faced growing diplomatic isolation as civilian deaths mounted and a humanitarian catastrophe worsened in the Palestinian territory.

Israel reported 10 of its soldiers killed in the past 24 hours, including a full colonel commanding a forward base and a lieutenant-colonel commanding a regiment. It was the worst one-day loss since 15 soldiers were killed on October 31.

Most of the deaths came in the Shejaia district of Gaza City in the north, where troops were ambushed trying to rescue another group of soldiers who had attacked Hamas fighters in a building, the military said.

Hamas said the incident showed that Israeli forces could never subdue Gaza: “The longer you stay there, the greater the bill of your deaths and losses will be, and you will emerge from it carrying the tail of disappointment and loss, God willing.”