WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

International criticism of Israel is growing over its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 18,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.

The U.S. is also asserting more pressure on it's ally.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top lieutenants today.

But after the meeting, Netanyahu said that Israel would continue fighting until it achieves -- quote -- "absolute victory."

In the minutes after an Israeli airstrike, sounds of panic and pain, the sirens of an ambulance blaring, voices of men shouting over one another as they dig through the rubble with their bare hands.

Hundreds crowded on the sidelines have no choice but to watch.

Two buildings believed to house members of Hamas were targeted here in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Central Gaza.

The attacks came a day after Hamas' supreme leader, who lives in Qatar, far from the war, said in a televised address that their governance of Gaza will last.

ISMAIL HANIYEH, Chairman, Hamas Political Bureau (through translator): Any bet on arrangements in Gaza or in the Palestinian cause in general without Hamas and the resistance factions is an illusion and mirage.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The Israel Defense Forces said fierce ground fighting continued in the north today, and more videos showing dozens of men, lined up single file hands in the air.

The IDF claims they are terror operatives who surrendered their weapons and will soon be interrogated.

YOAV GALLANT, Israeli Defense Minister: Hamas is a terror organization.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Today, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant hosted Sullivan for a series of meetings in Tel Aviv.

YOAV GALLANT: It will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: At an event in Maryland, President Biden said Israel's campaign needs to be more precise.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives, not stop going after Hamas, but be more careful.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But, in Rafah, the southern border town densely packed with Gazans who fled the north, the bombs keep falling.

U.N. officials also warn that Gaza's food crisis has reached a breaking point.

Crowds of people ran after aid trucks in Rafah, desperately helping themselves to food and making the continuous flow of aid near-impossible.

PHILIPPE LAZZARINI, Commissioner-General, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East: What is happening in Gaza should outrage anyone, should make us all rethink our values.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Even as international efforts for another humanitarian cease-fire continue, calls for peace mean nothing to the ones who each day bear the brunt of war.

FADEL SHAABAN, Displaced Gazan (through translator): These are all just empty words.

We are the ones who pay the price.