Israeli leaders said Wednesday they intend to press ahead with the Gaza Strip war against Hamas, despite coming under increasing international pressure, including from key ally the United States.
The war, now in its third month, was launched after the unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas that Israeli officials say killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Israel came under pressure Wednesday from its allies over its war in Gaza, with key backer the United States criticising its bombing in response to the October 7 attacks as "indiscriminate".
The United Nations General Assembly also overwhelmingly backed a non-binding resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the devastated territory.
The war began after Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 that killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 240 hostages taken, according to Israeli authorities.
Polling closed on Tuesday in Egypt after a three-day election widely expected to return sitting president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to power in the Arab world's most populous country.
Government newspaper Al-Ahram reported that the National Elections Authority, which is responsible for organising the poll, recorded an "unprecedented" turnout.
Polling stations closed their doors at 9:00 pm (1900 GMT), and the results will be announced on Monday.
US President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday that the country risked losing global support for its war against Hamas because of its "indiscriminate" bombing of Gaza.
In his most blunt remarks since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which provoked the current conflict, Biden told donors that Netanyahu needed to "change" his stance on a two-state solution for the Palestinians.
Libya on Tuesday repatriated nearly 1,000 migrants from Egypt and Nigeria who had been staying in the North African country illegally, officials and AFP journalists said.
The 664 Egyptians were to be taken by bus to the Emsaed border post with Egypt, nearly 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) east of Tripoli.
General Mohamad Bardaa, who heads the country's anti-immigration body affiliated to the interior ministry, said 300 Nigerians were taken to the airport to be flown home.
The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is having a severe impact on the Palestinian economy, the World Bank said Tuesday, adding that a sharp economic contraction is likely this year and next.
"The loss of life, speed and extent of damages to fixed assets and reduction in income flows across the Palestinian territories are unparalleled," the World Bank said in a statement.
The conflict, now dragging into its third month, has resulted in the death of more than 18,400 people in Gaza, the majority of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Environmental campaigners are losing faith in the UN-led COP climate process after signs that a phase-out of fossil fuels may not be agreed in Dubai, a leading activist said on Tuesday.
Uganda's Vanessa Nakate, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, said activists were tired of being disappointed at the annual United Nations conferences to battle climate change.
She was speaking after the latest COP28 draft agreement dropped any mention of winding down fossil fuels, speaking only of a potential reduction in consumption and production.
Pressure intensified on Israel on Tuesday as US President Joe Biden warned it risked losing support in its war on Hamas by "indiscriminate" bombing in Gaza and the UN General Assembly demanded a ceasefire.
Israeli forces battled Hamas militants and bombed more targets in the devastated Gaza Strip more than two months into the war sparked by the Palestinian group's unprecedented October 7 attack.
But Israel's staunchest ally warned it risked losing backing over the terrible humanitarian toll in Gaza, which the United Nations likened to "hell on earth".
Middle East leaders gathered in Qatar sought ideas for what happens after the Gaza war, but remained firmly opposed to putting their own troops or international forces into the ravaged territory.
The Palestinian question is extremely delicate for leaders in the Arab world, where the war has sparked massive protests in several countries.
At the annual Doha Forum that ended Monday, Qatar reiterated that no Arab country would send in forces to stabilise the situation after the guns of Israel and Hamas fall silent.
West Bank Palestinian Ibrahim al-Qiq lost his Israeli job permit after the Gaza war began, sinking him into despair and debt like thousands of others in the occupied territory.
The war between Israel and Hamas may be happening in Gaza, a separate Palestinian territory on the other side of Israel, but its impact is being powerfully felt in the West Bank.
Israel terminated work permits for Palestinians from both the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza following the Hamas attacks on October 7 that triggered the war, leaving many people like Qiq struggling to survive.
