WASHINGTON, December 11. /TASS/. Israel is losing the war in the eyes of the world, US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont told CBS News.

"Israel is losing the war in terms of how the world is looking at this situation," he said, adding that Israeli forces "have now destroyed about half of the housing units in Gaza."

He also said that "it would be irresponsible for the United States to give Netanyahu another $10 bln to continue" military activities. The senator was hopeful that the United States would support a United Nations resolution on a Gaza ceasefire in the future. According to him, the move would make it possible to release the hostages held by Hamas and provide an enormous amount of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave.

However, Sanders noted that he did see a way to ensure a permanent ceasefire in the region. "I don't know how you could have a permanent ceasefire with Hamas who has said before October 7, and after October 7, that they want to destroy Israel. They want a permanent war. I don't know how you have a permanent ceasefire with an attitude like that," the US senator pointed out.

On December 8, the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution submitted by the United Arab Emirates, which called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. This was the second time that the US vetoed a resolution since the conflict escalated.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of border communities and taking people hostage. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on targets in the Strip, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria.