ISRAEL vowed yesterday to keep up its attacks on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank until it crushes Hamas following one of the deadliest single battles of the war for its soldiers, even as it faces mounting international calls for a ceasefire and unease on the part of its closest ally, the United States.

This comes as supporters of the Palestinian cause on US campuses continue to face a clampdown by authorities.

At least nine Israeli soldiers were killed in an ambush on Tuesday in the dense Gaza City neighbourhood of Shijaiyah, marking one of the deadliest attacks that Hamas has carried out since the ground invasion of Gaza began.

The dead included two high-ranking officers. Israeli authorities say 116 soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive, which began on October 27.

Support for Hamas has surged among Palestinians, while Israel’s most important ally, the US, has expressed growing discomfort over the level of civilian deaths.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late on Wednesday: “We are continuing until the end, there is no question. 

“I say this even given the great pain and the international pressure. Nothing will stop us.”

Israel’s air and ground assault, launched in response to Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, has killed more than 18,600 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Nearly 1.9 million Palestinians have been driven from their homes, with most seeking refuge in the south, even as Israel has continued to strike what it says are militant targets in all parts of the territory, often killing women and children.

New evacuation orders, issued as troops pushed into the southern city of Khan Younis earlier this month, have pushed UN-run shelters to breaking point and forced people to set up tent camps in even less hospitable areas.

Meanwhile, 41 student protesters at Brown University in the US were arrested, and a week-long sit-in at Haverford College, outside Philadelphia, ended on Wednesday.

Student activists began their sit-in of administrative offices on December 6 demanding that college President Wendy Raymond publicly call for a ceasefire in Gaza, ending it after being threatened with disciplinary action.

Julian Kennedy, an organiser with Haverford Students for Peace, accused Haverford of betraying its Quaker pacifist roots.

Ellie Baron, a protest organiser, said: “Just because the sit-in is over, doesn’t mean our efforts are over. We are extraordinarily upset that our president refuses to call for a ceasefire.”