Violent Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip leaves more than 100 dead
Today (Monday), Israel continues to bomb the Gaza Strip, as civilian starvation threatens after a sad Christmas night for the Palestinians in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, under the weight of the war that has been going on for more than two months, while the bombing in the Palestinian Strip did not stop for a moment.
Israeli air strikes killed at least 78 people on Christmas Eve, one of the bloodiest nights since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli strikes began hours before midnight and continued until Christmas Day today (Monday). Local residents and Palestinian media said that Israel intensified air and ground bombardment on Bureij in the central Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said that at least 78 Palestinians were killed in the latest Israeli air strike, which hit several homes in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. He added that many of them were women and children, according to a Reuters report.
Early Monday, a bombing killed 12 people near the small village of Al-Zawaida (central), according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The ministry said in a statement that a bombing in Khan Yunis (south) claimed the lives of at least 18 people. Israel launched about fifty successive strikes on the center of the Gaza Strip.
Citizens look at bodies at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah after a violent Israeli bombardment on central Gaza (AP)
The weekend witnessed a large number of deaths in the densely populated Gaza Strip, which has been controlled by the Hamas movement since 2007, which Israel, the United States, and the European Union consider a “terrorist organization.”
On the Israeli side, more than 15 soldiers were killed during the past three days. On Monday morning, the Israeli army announced the killing of two more soldiers, bringing to 156 the death toll of forces operating on the ground in Gaza.
Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of Sergeant Birhanu Kasi during his funeral in Jerusalem yesterday (AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday: “We are paying a very high price for the war, but we have no choice but to continue fighting.” He stressed in his Christmas message: “We are facing monsters,” considering that “this is not only a battle for Israel against these savages, but also a battle of civilization against barbarism.”
No Christmas tree, no decorations
“In war, no one feels the holiday spirit,” said Palestinian Christian Fadi Al-Sayegh, who spent Christmas Eve in the dialysis department of a hospital in Khan Yunis, where Israel has intensified its operations in recent days.
This refugee, who is now far from his remaining family in Gaza City, added: “We should have been praying now and visiting the holy places, but we are under bombardment and war. There is no joy for Eid, no Christmas tree, no decorations, no family dinner, and no celebrations,” stressing: “I pray that the war will end as soon as possible.”
The conflict led to the deaths of 20,424 people in the Gaza Strip, most of them women, teenagers and children, according to the latest report issued by the Ministry of Health in Gaza. 1.9 million people, or 85 percent of the Strip’s population, were forced to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who came to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem in the West Bank, wearing a black and white keffiyeh around his neck, said on Sunday: “We must stop these hostilities and turn the page.”
In this city, the birthplace of Jesus Christ according to Christian traditions, the Palestinian municipality canceled a large part of Christmas celebrations and an atmosphere of sadness prevails.
A model showing a dead child inside an incubator in front of the Church of the Nativity in support of Gaza, in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank (Reuters)
In front of the Church of the Nativity, the Christmas grotto was absent this year, and was replaced by a symbol of the massacre to which the citizens of Gaza were subjected, with two gray statues of the Virgin Mary and Joseph amidst rubble and behind barbed wire.
Student Nicole Najjar (18 years old) told Agence France-Presse, “It is very difficult to celebrate any occasion while our people are dying.”
“The losing logic of war”
“Our heart this evening is in Bethlehem,” Pope Francis said during Christmas Mass in Rome, denouncing the “losing logic of war.”
In Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Israa Abu Al-Awf (27 years old) collapsed after Sunday’s bombing of a residential neighborhood where she had taken refuge. She told Agence France-Presse: “Enough suffering! “Let’s stop making these children suffer, let’s stop imposing this painful future on them.” She added: “I tell you, Netanyahu, every child (…) will grow up wanting to avenge his father, mother, and uncle (…) An entire army will rise up to take revenge on Israel again. Let’s stop this.”
Fires in the Gaza sky caused by Israeli strikes (Reuters)
The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains catastrophic. Most hospitals there are out of service, and in the next six weeks, the entire population faces the risk of a high level of food insecurity, which could lead to famine, the United Nations says.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said yesterday (Sunday) that “the destruction of the health system in Gaza is a tragedy.”
Although the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on Friday calling for the delivery of humanitarian aid “immediately” and “on a large scale,” no significant increase was recorded in this area.
The Jordanian army announced on Sunday evening that its planes dropped aid for about 800 people who took refuge in St. Porphyry Church in the northern Gaza Strip.
As for the Egyptian and Qatari mediators, they are still trying to negotiate a new truce after a seven-day cessation of fighting at the end of November, which allowed the release of 105 hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners, in addition to the entry of large humanitarian aid convoys into Gaza.
A source in the Islamic Jihad movement stated that the movement’s Secretary-General, Ziad al-Nakhalah, arrived at the head of a delegation to Cairo.
Acts of torture
In a related context, the Israeli army announced yesterday (Sunday) that it had discovered “a weapons warehouse adjacent to schools, a mosque, and a medical center” containing “explosive belts suitable for children, dozens of mortar shells, hundreds of hand grenades, and intelligence equipment.”
He said that, as part of his operations, he arrests “people suspected of involvement in terrorist activities,” stressing that those “who are proven not to participate in terrorist activities are released.”
However, Palestinians who were released after being arrested in the Gaza Strip told Agence France-Presse that they had been subjected to torture, which the army denies.
Nayef Ali (22 years old) confirmed: “They tied my hands behind my back for two days. We had nothing to drink or eat and they did not allow us to use the toilets… beatings and just beatings.”
Yesterday (Sunday), Hamas called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to investigate these arrests.
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2023-12-25 06:48:32
