The US has vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution which called for a ceasefire in Gaza, the lifting of aid restrictions and the release of hostages.
Citing the declaration of famine by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the draft text "condemned any use of starvation of civilians as a method of war".
The resolution, drafted by the ten elected members of the council, also expressed "grave concern" at Israel's ongoing expansion of military operations in Gaza and the "deepening suffering of civilians" as a result.
All 14 other members of the Security Council voted in favour.
The United States representative to the council Morgan Ortagus said that US opposition to this resolution "will come as no surprise".
"It fails to condemn Hamas or recognize Israel's right to defend itself, and it wrongly legitimizes the false narratives benefiting Hamas, which have sadly found currency in this council," she said.
"This resolution seeks an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire that would leave Hamas in a position to carry out future October 7 attacks, and has, as it has threatened to do, so many times," she said.
She said that the war would end if Hamas released the Israeli hostages and lay down its arms.
"It is beyond time that Hamas release every single hostage now and surrender immediately," she told council members.
"The United States will continue to work with its partners to bring an end to this horrific conflict for the sake of the people of Gaza, who deserve a future free from Hamas and the whole Middle East," she said.
Following the failed vote, the Algerian ambassador to the United Nations Amar Benjama asked the Palestinians for forgiveness.
"Forgive us, because this council could not save your children, more than 18,000 of them have been killed by Israel," he said.
"Forgive us, because the world speaks of rights, but deny them to you, Palestinians," he said.
The Israeli envoy Danny Danon denounced the resolution saying "this is not diplomacy - it is theatre that strengthens Hamas".
Israeli attacks kill 79 in Gaza in 24 hours
It comes as Israeli tanks and warplanes pounded Gaza City, prompting long lines of scared Palestinian civilians to flee as the military intensified its assault on the territory's largest urban hub.
Thick columns of smoke billowed into the sky as witnesses saw a steady stream of Gazans heading south on foot, in vehicles and on donkey carts - their meagre belongings piled high.
At least 79 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes or gunfire across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, according to the health ministry in the territory.
Four more Palestinians, including a child, have died of malnutrition and starvation in the past 24-hours, the health ministry said, raising deaths from such causes to at least 435 people, including 147 children, since the war started.
"There is artillery fire, air strikes, quadcopter and drone gunfire. The bombing never stops," said Aya Ahmed, 32, sheltering with 13 relatives in Gaza City.
"The world doesn't understand what is happening. They (Israel) want us to evacuate south - but where will we live? There are no tents, no transport, no money."
Palestinians say the cost of a lift to the south has soared, in some cases topping $1,000 (€850).
Israeli forces control Gaza City's eastern suburbs and in recent days have been pounding the Sheikh Radwan and Tel Al-Hawa areas, from where they would be positioned to advance on central and western areas where most of the population is sheltering.
The Israeli military said that four military personnel had been killed during combat in southern Gaza.
Israeli media reported that they were killed in the early hours of the morning in Rafah.
"The situation is indescribable - crowds everywhere, the sound of explosions, women and men crying and screaming as they walked while carrying their belongings," said Shadi Jawad, 47, describing his family's ordeal as they fled their home yesterday.
During the journey, their belongings fell off their truck when it got a flat tyre.
"As we were putting the belongings back on it, I looked up at the sky and prayed 'God, send a missile to take us out and relieve us".
The offensive has sparked international outrage, with the territory already devastated by nearly two years of war and the Gaza City area gripped by a UN-declared famine.
Meanwhile, internet and phone lines were cut off across Gaza, a sign that ground operations were likely to escalate imminently.
"The disconnection of internet and phone services is a bad omen. It has always been a bad signal something very brutal is going to happen," said Ismail, who only gave one name.
He was using an e-SIM to connect his phone, a dangerous method as it requires seeking higher ground to receive a signal.
The Palestinian Telecommunications Company said in a statement that its services had been cut off "due to the ongoing aggression and the targeting of the main network routes".
'Unfit for human dignity'
"The military incursion and evacuation orders in northern Gaza are driving new waves of displacement, forcing traumatised families into an ever-shrinking area unfit for human dignity," World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
"Hospitals, already overwhelmed, are on the brink of collapse as escalating violence blocks access and prevents WHO from delivering lifesaving supplies," he warned.
Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital said it had received the bodies of 20 people killed in Israeli strikes since midnight.
More than 60 people had been killed by Israeli fire yesterday, according to Gaza's civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas authority.
The military incursion and evacuation orders in northern #Gaza are driving new waves of displacement, forcing traumatised families into an ever-shrinking area unfit for human dignity.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) September 18, 2025
The injured and people with disabilities cannot move to safety, which puts their lives in grave… pic.twitter.com/d4WwjqWNrE
The Israeli military said it continued to target "Hamas terror infrastructure" and also operated in the southern areas of Rafah and Khan Yunis.
Media restrictions in the territory and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence or the Israeli military.
The US-backed offensive began on Tuesday and came as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime.
Navi Pillay, who headed the investigation, said, she hoped Israeli leaders would one day be jailed.
"I see similarities" to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, she said, pointing to "the same kind of methods"
Israel rejected the findings and slammed it as "distorted and false".
Israel says the extent of hunger in Gaza has been exaggerated and blames Hamas for the continuation of the war, saying it could end it now if it surrendered, freed the hostages, disarmed and disbanded.
Hamas says it will not disarm until a Palestinian state is established.
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Yesterday, the Israeli military announced "a temporary transportation route via Salah al-Din Street", as images showed fresh bombardments.
Its Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said the corridor would remain open for just 48-hours.
The United Nations estimated at the end of August that about one million people were living in Gaza City and its surroundings.
Israel says 350,000 of them have fled.
"Enough, we want to be free. We want to live, we don't want to die," said Gaza City resident Mohammed al-Danf.
The families of hostages taken by Palestinian militants in their October 2023 attack protested the Gaza City offensive in front of Netanyahu's house in Jerusalem.
"My boy is dying over there. Instead of bringing him back, you have done the exact opposite - you have done everything to prevent his return," Ofir Braslavski, whose son Rom is held captive in Gaza, said addressing the prime minister.
Israeli attacks have killed at least 65,141 people in Gaza since October 2023, mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
The current stage if the war began when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Of the 251 people taken hostage by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.
Additional reporting AFP/Reuters
