Singapore has joined 152 other nations in calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as Israel faces growing diplomatic isolation in its war on the enclave.

In a Facebook post on Dec 13, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said Singapore co-sponsored the United Nations General Assembly resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire “because we are deeply troubled by the continuing devastation and rising civilian casualties in Gaza”.

Three-quarters of the 193 member states voted in favour on Dec 12. Only eight countries joined the United States and Israel in voting against, while another 23 abstained.

The UN General Assembly convened the emergency session after the US on Dec 8 vetoed a binding Security Council resolution – also co-sponsored by Singapore – for a ceasefire, saying that halting the fighting would allow Hamas to regroup and plan more attacks similar to the devastating Oct 7 assault on Israel which it led from Gaza.

“The humanitarian ceasefire called for in the resolution adopted today will greatly facilitate the urgent provision of aid,” Dr Balakrishnan said.

“Singapore also urges all parties to comply with their obligations under international law, especially international humanitarian law,” he added.

“Innocent lives must be protected, even as Israel exercises its right to defend its citizens and territory after the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas on Oct 7, 2023.”

He said Singapore is also calling for the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” still being held by Hamas.

The UN General Assembly vote on Dec 12 has no legal force but was the strongest sign yet of eroding international support for Israel’s actions.

“The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians,” the leaders of Canada, Australia and New Zealand said separately in a joint statement calling for a ceasefire.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for Social and Family Development, said in a Facebook post on Dec 13 that the non-binding resolution “is a positive development”.

“We pray for peace to prevail and for urgent humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza immediately,” he said.

Former president Halimah Yacob, in her own Facebook post on Dec 12, also urged people to “stand on the side of humanity”.

The Palestinian Authority welcomed the resolution and urged countries to pressure Israel to adopt the ceasefire.

A Hamas official in exile, Mr Izzat El-Reshiq, in a statement on Telegram echoed that reaction, saying Israel should “stop its aggression, genocide and ethnic cleansing against our people”.

Before the vote, United States President Joe Biden said Israel still has support from “most of the world”, including the US and the European Union, but it is losing it due to the “indiscriminate bombing that takes place”.

Mr Biden also said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needed to change his hardline government, and that ultimately, Israel “can’t say no” to an independent Palestinian state – something that Israeli hardliners oppose.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will travel to Israel this week, and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit the Middle East next week.

With intense fighting now being waged simultaneously in the north and south of Gaza, Israeli troops on Dec 13 reported their worst combat losses for more than a month, including a colonel, the highest-ranking officer yet killed in the ground campaign.

Warplanes again bombed the length of Gaza, and aid officials said the arrival of rainy winter weather worsened the conditions for hundreds of thousands of families sleeping rough in makeshift tents.

The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have already been made homeless.

Israel launched its campaign to annihilate Hamas, which controls Gaza, with global sympathy after fighters stormed across the border fence on Oct 7, killing 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and seizing 240 hostages.

But since then, Israeli forces have besieged the enclave and laid much of it to waste, with more than 18,000 people confirmed killed, according to Palestinian health authorities, and many thousands more feared lost in the rubble or beyond the reach of ambulances.

The war has also led to starvation and caused diseases to spread, according to the UN and the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel flooding Gaza tunnels, reports say

After pummelling north Gaza, Israel has expanded its attack to the south since a temporary truce collapsed on Dec 1.

Israeli tank shelling on Dec 12 was focused on the centre of Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s main city, residents said.

After nightfall, Israeli air strikes on Khan Younis killed 11 Palestinians, including two children, health officials said.

In the southern town of Rafah, which borders Egypt and where the Israeli army in December told civilians they would be safe, Gazans said the shelling was some of the heaviest in days.

Israel’s military said that over the past day, it hit several posts that were used to fire rockets at its territory, raided a Hamas compound where it found about 250 rockets among other weapons, and struck a weapons production factory.

Israel on Dec 13 said eight more of its soldiers had been killed in Gaza fighting, taking the total to 114 since ground operations began on Oct 20.

An elderly Palestinian, Mr Tawfik Abu Breika, earlier said his residential block in Khan Younis was hit without warning by an Israeli air strike that brought down several buildings and caused casualties.

“The world’s conscience is dead, no humanity or any kind of morals,” Mr Breika told Reuters news agency as neighbours sifted through rubble.

“This is the third month that we are facing death and destruction.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Israeli military has begun pumping seawater into Hamas’ tunnel complex, where the militant group is believed to be hiding hostages, fighters and munitions and basing hit-and-run attacks on Israeli troops.

Mr Biden said he had heard unconfirmed reports that there were no hostages in the tunnels.

Some hostages freed during the truce reported they had been held in tunnels.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. REUTERS

• Additional reporting by Raul Dancel