Gaza
The “safe” evacuation zone of Deir al-Balah is being hit amid some of the deadliest fighting of the war
Monday, December 25, 2023, 1:00 p.m. GMT
The Gaza Strip is facing some of the deadliest fighting yet in the current war as Israel expands its offensive just days after the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for more aid and urgent steps towards a sustainable ceasefire.
More than 100 people were killed late Sunday in Israeli airstrikes in the center of the besieged Palestinian territory, including at least 70 in bombings of an apartment block in the Maghazi refugee camp near Deir al-Balah, which health officials said is in Hamas-controlled territory Exclave said.
Deir al-Balah was also hit overnight, although it had previously been identified by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as an “evacuation zone” for Palestinians fleeing the fighting.
The Palestinian Red Crescent released footage from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah showing dazed and bloodied children covered in debris dust. There were also dozens of white body bags.
At the site of the Maghazi attack, people screamed and shouted in the dark as they tried to dig through the collapsed buildings for survivors.
“We were all targeted,” Ahmad Turkomani, who lost several family members including his daughter and grandson, told the Associated Press. “There is no safe place in Gaza anyway.”
The Israeli military said it was investigating the Maghazi incident.
The latest casualties came after an earlier announcement by Gaza's health ministry on Sunday that Israeli airstrikes had killed 166 Palestinians in 24 hours, one of the deadliest days of the 12-week-old conflict.
More than 20,400 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war in response to Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, in which the Palestinian militant group killed 1,140 people and took another 240 hostage.
This year's Christmas celebrations across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories have been canceled in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
Instead of the traditional parade and joyful midnight service in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, where Jesus is believed to have been born, Palestinian Christians held a subdued mass with hymns and prayers for peace.
“This day is supposed to be a day of love and happiness, but look around, there are no smiles on people's faces. Bethlehem is sad and dark. There are no decorations, no Christmas carols or a Christmas tree,” said Reverend Louis Salman. “I blame the decision makers who watch what is happening to the children in Gaza and do nothing.”
For Israel, the war has also brought with it what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described on Sunday as a “very high cost”: Since Friday, 15 Israeli soldiers have been killed in intense ground battles with Hamas, for a total of 156 combat casualties.
Hamas cells use IEDs, ambushes and their extensive tunnel network to inflict significant casualties on Israeli forces in urban warfare, aided by knowledge of the densely populated urban area.
Despite Friday's long-awaited UN Security Council resolution calling on all parties to urgently work towards a ceasefire, fighting on the ground has intensified since the collapse of the seven-day ceasefire in early December.
Israel has expanded its operations to the southern half of the 365 square kilometer area This is stoking fears among the territory's 2.3 million residents, almost all of whom have already sought shelter south of the Gaza River after the Israeli army told them it was safer there.
The UN has warned that a quarter of the population is hungry and that the increase in aid since December 17 represents only a fraction of what people need to survive in the cold and wet winter conditions.
The World Food Program said aid that had arrived was difficult to distribute because of the fighting and the lack of fuel and usable roads. In some cases, desperate people looted arriving relief vehicles.
Over the weekend, Israeli military chief of staff Herzi Halevi said his troops had largely gained operational control in northern Gaza and would expand the offensive further south, but residents still in Gaza City and Jabalia camp in the north said : The fighting had gotten worse.
Details emerged Monday of a ceasefire proposal put forward by Egypt, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, although the feasibility of the initiative was not immediately clear.
Qatar-brokered talks that led to a seven-day ceasefire in late November and the release of 100 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons appear to have stalled.
The Israeli security cabinet was expected to discuss the Egyptian plan on Monday evening. Hamas has so far rejected all proposals that do not include a complete ceasefire.
Islamic Jihad, a smaller Palestinian militant group allied with Hamas, said a delegation led by its exiled leader Ziad al-Nakhala was in Cairo on Sunday. His arrival followed talks attended in recent days by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who is based outside the Gaza Strip, in a positive sign that indirect talks are underway.
The three-stage plan would include an initial cessation of hostilities for at least a week and the release of all remaining Israeli civilian hostages in Gaza; then a week in which female soldiers would be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons; and finally a month-long negotiation period over the release of male soldiers in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal.
Washington, Israel's main ally, has called on Israeli officials to shift from large-scale air and ground operations in the Gaza Strip to a new form of war focused on precision strikes on Hamas leaders.
But despite growing international outrage over the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and growing criticism from the United States, Netanyahu declared that Israel would continue until a “complete victory” over Hamas was achieved.
“Without military pressure, we would not have been able to release more than 100 hostages,” Netanyahu said during a speech in the Knesset in Jerusalem on Monday. “And without military pressure we will not be able to release all the hostages.”
Families of the more than 100 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza watched Netanyahu's speech from the parliamentary gallery. Many of them held signs calling on Israel to reach an agreement and shouted “Now!”
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