DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — At least 70 people were killed in Gaza in one of the deadliest attacks of the war, health authorities said Sunday, as the number of Israeli soldiers killed in combat over the weekend rose to 15.
Associated Press journalists at a nearby hospital watched desperate Palestinians carrying the dead, including a baby, and the wounded after the attack on the Maghazi refugee camp east of Deir al-Balah. A young girl covered in blood looked stunned as her body was examined for broken bones.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said the number of victims was likely to rise. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
“We were all targeted,” said Ahmad Turokmani, who lost several family members including his daughter and grandson. “There is no safe place in Gaza anyway.”
As Christmas Eve arrived, smoke rose over the besieged area, while in the West Bank, Bethlehem was silent and holiday celebrations were canceled. In neighboring Egypt, tentative efforts to reach an agreement on another hostage exchange against Palestinians held by Israel continued.
The war has devastated parts of the Gaza Strip, killing about 20,400 Palestinians and displacing nearly all of the territory's 2.3 million people.
The rising death toll among Israeli troops – 154 since the ground offensive began – could undermine public support for the war, which was sparked when Hamas-led militants stormed communities in southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 and taking 240 hostage took.
Israelis still largely support the country's stated goals of dismantling Hamas's government and military capabilities and releasing the remaining 129 prisoners. This is despite increasing international pressure against Israel's offensive and the rising death toll and unprecedented suffering among Palestinians.
Hamas is demanding a price
“The war exacts a very high price from us, but we have no choice but to keep fighting,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
In a nationally televised speech, Israeli President Isaac Herzog appealed for the country's unity. “This moment is a test. We will neither break nor blink an eye,” he said.
There was widespread anger against his government, which many criticize for failing to protect civilians on October 7 and for pursuing policies that have allowed Hamas to grow in strength over the years . Netanyahu has avoided taking responsibility for military and political failures.
“Over time, the public will find it difficult to ignore the high price that has been paid, as well as the suspicion that the loudly proclaimed goals are far from being achieved and that Hamas shows no signs of capitulating in the near future.” wrote Amos Harel, military commentator for Haaretz newspaper.
The Israeli military said it has completed dismantling Hamas' underground headquarters in northern Gaza. This is part of an operation to destroy the vast network of tunnels and kill senior commanders that Israeli leaders say could last months.
Negotiation efforts continued. Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah arrived in Egypt for talks. The militant group, which was also involved in the Oct. 7 attack, said it was prepared to consider releasing hostages only after fighting ends. Top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh traveled to Cairo for talks days earlier.
INSIDE GAZA
Israel's offensive was one of the most devastating military campaigns in modern history. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, which makes no distinction between civilians and combatants, more than two-thirds of the 20,000 Palestinians killed were women and children.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said a 13-year-old boy was shot dead in an Israeli drone strike at Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, a part of Gaza where the Israeli military believes Hamas leaders are hiding.
An Israeli strike overnight hit a house in a refugee camp west of the city of Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt border. At least two men were killed at the hospital where the bodies were taken, according to Associated Press journalists.
At least two people were killed and six others injured when a rocket hit a building in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
And Palestinians reported heavy Israeli bombing and shooting in Jabaliya, an area north of Gaza City that Israel supposedly controlled. Hamas's military wing said its fighters fired on Israeli troops in Jabaliya and the Jabaliya refugee camp.
Israel has faced international criticism over the high civilian death toll, but blames Hamas and points to the militants' use of crowded residential areas and tunnels. Israel has carried out thousands of airstrikes since October 7th. It says it killed thousands of Hamas militants without providing evidence.
Israel is also accused of mistreating Palestinian men and teenagers detained in homes, shelters, hospitals and elsewhere during the offensive. It has denied allegations of abuse and said those who have no ties to militants will be released quickly.
Khamis al-Burdainy of Gaza City spoke to the AP from a hospital bed in Rafah after his release, saying Israeli forces had detained him after tanks and bulldozers partially destroyed his home. He said the men were handcuffed and blindfolded.
“We didn't sleep. We didn’t get food or water,” he said, crying and covering his face.
Another released detainee, Mohammed Salem from the Shijaiyah district of Gaza City, said Israeli troops beat her. “We were humiliated,” he said. “A female soldier came and beat an old man, 72 years old.”
INTERNATIONAL PRINT
The United Nations Security Council has passed a watered-down resolution calling for the rapid delivery of humanitarian aid to hungry and desperate Palestinians and the release of all hostages, but not a ceasefire.
But it was not immediately clear how or when deliveries of food, medical supplies and other supplies, which were well below the prewar daily average of 500, would be accelerated. Trucks enter through two border crossings: Rafah and Kerem Shalom on the border with Israel. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Border Crossing Authority, said 123 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Sunday.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated U.N. calls for a humanitarian ceasefire, adding on social media that “the decimation of the health system in Gaza is a tragedy.”
Amid concerns about a larger regional conflict, U.S. Central Command said a Red Sea patrol ship shot down four drones launched from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen on Saturday, while two Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles were fired at international shipping lanes .
The Iran-backed Houthis say their attacks are aimed at Israeli-linked ships to stop the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Jack Jeffery in London contributed to this report.
___
For more AP coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war