Live updates | Israel forges ahead with its offensive in Gaza despite US criticism

Israel forged ahead with its air and ground offensive on Wednesday in Gaza, drawing international outrage and rare criticism from the United States over the killing of thousands of civilians.

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to demand a humanitarian cease-fire, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but the assembly's message in favour of ending the Israel-Hamas war serves as an important barometer of world opinion.

Just hours before the vote, US President Joe Biden warned that Israel was losing international support because of its "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza.

The Israel-Hamas war has resulted in the deaths of over 18,400 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Israel says 113 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 240 hostages.

Here's what's happening in the war:

PALESTINIANS KILLED DURING ISRAELI RAID OF WEST BANK REFUGEE CAMP

TEL AVIV, Israel At least seven Palestinians were killed and a dozen were arrested during a two-day Israeli raid in the northern West Bank.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that troops operating in the Jenin refugee camp seized weapons, ammunition and explosives, and uncovered tunnel shafts, observation posts and six explosive laboratories.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said seven Palestinians were killed in Jenin on Tuesday.

The dense, urban refugee camp has long been a stronghold for Palestinian militants. Israeli forces have carried out frequent raids over the past two years that have often set off gunbattles with Palestinian fighters.

Israel seized the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.

Over 270 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Health Ministry.

AT LEAST 9 ISRAELI SOLDIERS ARE KILLED IN AN AMBUSH IN GAZA CITY, MEDIA SAY

TEL AVIV, Israel Israeli media say at least nine soldiers were killed in an ambush in Gaza City. The dead include Col. Itzhak Ben Basat, 44, the most senior officer to have been killed since the ground operation in Gaza began in late October; and Lt. Col. Tomer Grinberg, commander of the Golani Brigade's 13th Battalion.

Army Radio said troops who were searching a cluster of buildings lost communication with four soldiers who had come under fire, sparking fears of a possible abduction by Hamas militants. When the other soldiers launched a rescue operation, they were ambushed with heavy gunfire and explosives. Other Israeli media outlets carried similar accounts of the battle.

The military confirmed that a total of 10 soldiers were killed in Gaza on Tuesday. It did not respond to a request for comment about the circumstances.

Hamas said the ambush showed that Israel's offensive was a failure.

POPE FRANCIS RENEWS HIS CALL FOR PEACE IN GAZA

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis renewed his call for a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza on Wednesday and for the return of hostages taken by Hamas when its militants attacked Israel on October 7.

"May both sides involved have courage to take up the negotiations again, and I ask everyone to take on the urgent job of getting humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza. They are at the end of their rope and really need it," he said. "Free all the hostages immediately who saw some hope in the cease-fire a few days ago, may this great suffering for the Israelis and the Palestinians end. Please no to arms and yes to peace."

Francis has sought to maintain the Vatican's traditional neutrality in conflicts, but he has angered Israelis in particular with his generic reference to the war degenerating into "terrorism" without explicitly condemning Hamas for its initial attack.

2 MISSILES FIRED FROM HOUTHI-HELD TERRITORY MISS A SHIP NEAR YEMEN, A US OFFICIAL SAYS

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Two missiles fired from territory held by Yemen's Houthi rebels missed a commercial tanker near the key Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Wednesday, a US official said.

An American warship also shot down a suspected Houthi drone flying in its direction during the incident, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. No one was hurt in the attack, the official said.

The ship that was targeted, the oil and chemical tanker Marshall Islands-flagged Ardmore Encounter, was traveling north toward the Suez Canal in the Red Sea, satellite tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed. The vessel had been coming from India and had an armed security crew aboard it, according to data transmitted by the ship.

The Houthis did not immediately acknowledge the attack.