Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra reported that an Israeli airstrike on the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza killed 70 people, although the number is expected to rise.
The Israeli military spokesman said it was reviewing the report.
The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which rules Gaza, issued a statement calling the airstrike a “horrendous massacre” to ensure it was “a new war crime.”
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Christmas does not end the war in Gaza; Despite the messages of peace, deaths and injuries are increasing daily in the Palestinian territory, where the population no longer knows where to flee, while the Israeli army also suffered casualties on one of the highest days since the start of the war. .
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 166 Gazans have been killed and 384 injured in the coastal enclave in the past 24 hours as a result of heavy Israeli shelling, bringing the total to 20,424 dead and 54,036 injured since the fighting began. armed conflict, controlled by the Islamic movement group Hamas.
Israel has ordered the evacuation of eight towns in central Gaza so residents can move to the city of Deir al Balah, where five massacres have occurred in the past 48 hours.
“You can’t go anywhere in Gaza,” many people displaced by the Israeli offensive complain, as for those displaced for more than two and a half months of war, an even greater escape is not assured.
“There is no safe zone in the Gaza Strip,” Sabri Abdelrahim told EFE at the Bureij refugee camp, where more than 150,000 people were expelled by Israel.
Many don’t want to leave, but the bombings make them think about it and eventually the majority decide to flee, repeating the images of cars and trucks full of people, others in carts pulled by donkeys with what they have left.
Children, the elderly, women, but also mattresses, blankets, kitchen utensils and canned goods, as Israeli planes fly overhead.
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Fourteen soldiers have been killed in Israeli ranks in the past 48 hours, one of the deadliest days in their army since the ground offensive in the enclave began.
A total of 153 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting since the ground offensive began on October 27, according to official army data, more than the 119 who died in the 2006 Lebanon War.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lamented: “The war is having a very heavy impact on us, but we have no choice but to continue fighting” to “destroy Hamas” because “that is the only way to save our kidnapped people.” to return. ” “”, although “it takes some time” and “has a very high price”.
You may be interested. Without medicine, hygiene or food, infections in Gaza spread indefinitely
The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which sparked the war, killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped about 240 people and took them to Gaza.
Israel’s military said it had struck more than 200 Hamas “terrorist targets” in the past 24 hours and killed dozens of militants in joint operations with Shin Bet, the country’s domestic intelligence service.
Not only have more than 200 Hamas and Islamic Jihad “terrorists” been arrested in the past week, nearly 800 since the start of the war, many of whom have been taken to Israel for interrogation.
Sad Christmas in Gaza
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for an end to the “river of blood” and the “tremendous sacrifices” of the Palestinian people in a message for Christmas, a festival that takes on special significance in Bethlehem, where Christian tradition marks the birth of Jesus celebrates.
“The hardship and heroic resilience of our people in their land are the path to freedom and dignity,” said the president of the Palestinian Authority, which governs small areas in the occupied West Bank.
Every December 24, Bethlehem hosts a traditional parade of brass bands before the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem arrives on foot to celebrate Mass at St. Catherine’s Church, the Catholic Church of the Nativity.
But this year, Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa – the Vatican’s religious envoy to the Holy Land – came in a solemn procession, without music or celebration, to mourn the high number of Palestinian deaths in the war.
No carols, no pilgrims, nothing beats a typical Christmas in Bethlehem, as the war in Gaza turned this Christmas Eve into a sad day at the place where the birth of Jesus is venerated.
“It’s a very sad Christmas,” the patriarch lamented.
This year, Jesus appears in front of the Christmas Basilica on Manger Square amid rubble and barbed wire, just like the children who die every day in Gaza.
Source: La Neta Neta
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
