Palestinians mourn kin killed within the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip exterior a morgue in Khan Younis on Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023.
Mohammed Dahman/AP
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Mohammed Dahman/AP
Palestinians mourn kin killed within the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip exterior a morgue in Khan Younis on Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023.
Mohammed Dahman/AP
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — A minimum of 68 individuals have been killed by an Israeli strike in central Gaza, well being officers stated Sunday, whereas the variety of Israeli troopers killed in fight over the weekend rose to 17.
Related Press journalists at a close-by hospital watched frantic Palestinians carry the lifeless, together with a child, and wounded following the strike on the Maghazi refugee camp east of Deir al-Balah. One bloodied younger lady appeared surprised whereas her physique was checked for damaged bones.
The 68 fatalities embrace no less than 12 girls and 7 kids, in line with early hospital figures.
”We have been all focused,” stated Ahmad Turkomani, who misplaced a number of members of the family together with his daughter and grandson. ”There is no such thing as a protected place in Gaza anyway.”
Earlier, the Well being Ministry in Gaza gave the demise toll as 70. The Israeli army had no fast remark.
As Christmas Eve fell, smoke rose over the besieged territory, whereas within the West Financial institution Bethlehem was hushed, its vacation celebrations known as off. In neighboring Egypt, tentative efforts continued on a deal for an additional change of hostages for Palestinians held by Israel.
The warfare has devastated elements of Gaza, killed roughly 20,400 Palestinians and displaced virtually all the territory’s 2.3 million individuals.
The mounting demise toll amongst Israeli troops — 156 because the floor offensive started — may erode public help for the warfare, which was sparked when Hamas-led militants stormed communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 and taking 240 hostage.
Israelis nonetheless largely stand behind the nation’s said objectives of crushing Hamas’ governing and army capabilities and releasing the remaining 129 captives. That is regardless of rising worldwide strain towards Israel’s offensive, and the hovering demise toll and unprecedented struggling amongst Palestinians.
A Palestinian girl stands in her dwelling after an Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023.
Hatem Ali/AP
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Hatem Ali/AP
A Palestinian girl stands in her dwelling after an Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023.
Hatem Ali/AP
HAMAS EXACTS A PRICE
”The warfare exacts a really heavy value from us, however we now have no selection however to proceed combating,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated.
In a nationally televised speech, Israeli President Isaac Herzog appealed for the nation to stay united. ”This second is a check. We won’t break nor blink,” he stated.
There was widespread anger towards his authorities, which many criticize for failing to guard civilians on Oct. 7 and selling insurance policies that allowed Hamas to realize energy over time. Netanyahu has prevented accepting accountability for the army and coverage failures.
”Over time, the general public will discover it onerous to disregard the heavy value paid, in addition to the suspicion that the goals that have been loudly heralded are nonetheless removed from being attained, and that Hamas is exhibiting no indicators of capitulating within the close to future,” wrote Amos Harel, army affairs commentator for the Haaretz newspaper.
The Israeli army stated it had accomplished the dismantling of Hamas’ underground headquarters in northern Gaza, a part of an operation to take down the huge tunnel community and kill off prime commanders that Israeli leaders have stated may take months.
Efforts towards negotiations continued. The pinnacle of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, arrived in Egypt for talks. The militant group, which additionally took half within the Oct. 7 assault, stated it was ready to contemplate releasing hostages solely after combating ends. Hamas’ prime chief Ismail Haniyeh traveled to Cairo for talks days earlier.
Israeli troopers carry the flag-draped casket of Workers Sgt. Birhanu Kassie throughout his funeral at Mt. Herzl army cemetery in Jerusalem, Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023.
Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
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Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
Israeli troopers carry the flag-draped casket of Workers Sgt. Birhanu Kassie throughout his funeral at Mt. Herzl army cemetery in Jerusalem, Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023.
Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
INSIDE GAZA
Israel’s offensive has been probably the most devastating army campaigns in latest historical past. Greater than two-thirds of the 20,000 Palestinians killed have been girls and kids, in line with the Well being Ministry in Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
On Friday, Israeli airstrikes on two houses in Gaza killed 90 Palestinians, together with dozens from an prolonged household, in line with rescuers and hospital officers. One of many houses, positioned in Gaza Metropolis, turned one of many deadliest airstrikes within the warfare after 76 individuals from the al-Mughrabi household have been killed, stated Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Protection division.
The Palestinian Purple Crescent stated a 13-year-old boy was shot and killed in an Israeli drone assault whereas inside al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, part of Gaza the place Israel’s army believes Hamas leaders are hiding.
An Israeli strike in a single day hit a home in a refugee camp west of the town of Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt. A minimum of two males have been killed, in line with Related Press journalists within the hospital the place the our bodies have been taken.
A minimum of two individuals have been killed and 6 others wounded when a missile caught a constructing within the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
And Palestinians reported heavy Israeli bombardment and gunfire in Jabaliya, an space north of Gaza Metropolis that Israel had claimed to regulate. Hamas’ army arm stated its fighters shelled Israeli troops in Jabaliya and Jabaliya refugee camp.
Israel faces worldwide criticism for the civilian demise toll but it surely blames Hamas, citing the militants’ use of crowded residential areas and tunnels. Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes since Oct. 7. It says it has killed hundreds of Hamas militants, with out presenting proof.
Israel additionally faces allegations of mistreating Palestinian males and teenage boys detained in houses, shelters, hospitals and elsewhere in the course of the offensive. It has denied abuse allegations and stated these with out hyperlinks to militants are shortly launched.
Chatting with the AP from a hospital mattress in Rafah after his launch, Khamis al-Burdainy of Gaza Metropolis stated Israeli forces detained him after tanks and bulldozers partly destroyed his dwelling. He stated males have been handcuffed and blindfolded.
”We did not sleep. We did not get meals and water,” he stated, crying and overlaying his face.
One other launched detainee, Mohammed Salem, from the Gaza Metropolis neighborhood of Shijaiyah, stated Israeli troops beat them. ”We have been humiliated,” he stated. ”A feminine soldier would come and beat an previous man, aged 72 years previous.”
Israeli military troops are seen close to the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023.
Ariel Schalit/AP
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Ariel Schalit/AP
Israeli military troops are seen close to the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023.
Ariel Schalit/AP
INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE
The United Nations Safety Council has handed a watered-down decision calling for the speedy supply of humanitarian assist for hungry and determined Palestinians and the discharge of all of the hostages, however not for a cease-fire.
However it was not instantly clear how and when deliveries of meals, medical provides and different assist, far beneath the each day common of 500 earlier than the warfare, would speed up. Vehicles enter via two crossings: Rafah, and Kerem Shalom on the border with Israel. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, stated 123 assist vans entered Gaza on Sunday,
The pinnacle of the World Well being Group, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, reiterated U.N. requires a humanitarian cease-fire, including on social media that ”the decimation of the Gaza well being system is a tragedy.”
Amid issues a few wider regional battle, the U.S. Central Command stated a patrol ship within the Purple Sea on Saturday shot down 4 drones launched from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, some time two Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles have been fired into worldwide delivery lanes.
The Iran-backed Houthis say their assaults are aimed toward Israel-linked ships in an effort to cease the Israeli offensive in Gaza.