Israel’s war on Gaza will continue, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told US Republican senators, despite mounting criticism from Democratic leaders about the growing humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Speaking to Republican senators via videolink on Wednesday, Netanyahu said his government would continue its efforts to defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to the lawmakers he addressed.

Netanyahu’s speech came after Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s Democratic majority leader and a Jewish American, in last week’s Senate address branded the prime minister an “obstacle to peace” in the region.

Schumer said Netanyahu was no longer fit to govern Israel because of his government’s “dangerous and inflammatory policies” particularly around getting aid into Gaza, as pressure mounts within the Democratic Party for the United States to discontinue its unconditional political and military support for Israel.