Israel to fight for months to defeat Hamas

GAZA, Dec 11 (AP/AFP): Israel said it is prepared to fight for months or longer to defeat Gaza's Hamas rulers, as its ground offense intensifies with more airstrikes and artillery fire.
Qatar, which has played a key mediating role, says efforts to stop the war and have all hostages released will continue, but a willingness to discuss a cease-fire is fading.
Israel faces international outrage after its military offensive has killed more than 17,700 Palestinians in Gaza, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. About 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced within the besieged territory, where U.N. agencies say there is no safe place to flee.
The United States has provided vital support to Israel in recent days by vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire and pushing through an emergency sale of over $100 million worth of tank ammunition to Israel. The U.N. General Assembly plans to vote Tuesday on a similar resolution.
Israel says 97 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 240 hostages.
With only a trickle of humanitarian aid reaching a small portion of Gaza, residents face severe shortages of food, water and other basic goods. Some observers worry that Palestinians will be forced out of Gaza altogether.
UNGA meets today
to discuss Gaza
The UN General Assembly will meet on Tuesday to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, officials and diplomats said Sunday, after the United States last week vetoed a Security Council resolution for a ceasefire.
A special meeting of the General Assembly has been called for Tuesday afternoon by the representatives for Egypt and Mauritania "in their respective capacities as Chair of the Arab Group and Chair of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation", a spokesperson for the Assembly president said.
According to diplomatic sources, the General Assembly, whose resolutions are nonbinding, could vote on a text for a ceasefire resolution at the meeting.
A draft of the text seen by AFP closely follows the language of Friday's vetoed Security Council resolution, "expressing grave concern over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip."
It calls for "an immediate humanitarian cease-fire" as well as the "immediate and unconditional release of all hostages."
UN council envoys to
visit Gaza crossing
UN Security Council ambassadors arrived Monday in Egypt to visit the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, days after the United States vetoed a council resolution for a ceasefire.
The informal one-day trip organised by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt comes amid a spiralling humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip, described as a "graveyard" by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Around a dozen ambassadors are taking part in the visit from countries including Russia and the United Kingdom.
But the United States, which week vetoed Friday the Security Council resolution did not send a representative as did France.