No let-up in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza

Israel pounded Gaza on Monday, exacerbating the dire conditions for civilians with no end in sight to the war that the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says has killed more than 20,000 people in the Palestinian territory.

The Health Ministry said an Israeli air strike killed at least 70 people on Christmas Eve at the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, the AFP news agency reported. According to the Associated Press, Gaza officials said more than 100 were killed in several airstrikes. Neither figure could be independently confirmed.

It came as Christmas observances in Bethlehem, the revered birthplace of Jesus Christ in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, were largely scrapped amid the conflict, leaving the usually vibrant streets with only a handful of worshippers and tourists.

Pope Francis marked Christmas with a call for peace, urging the release of the hostages and an end to the war.

“My heart grieves for the victims of the abominable attack of October 7, and I reiterate my urgent appeal for the liberation of those still being held hostage,” the Pope said during his “Urbi et Orbi” blessing. “I plead for an end to the military operations with their appalling harvest of innocent civilian victims, and call for a solution to the desperate humanitarian situation by an opening to the provision of humanitarian aid.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday the war was exacting a “very heavy price,” as the death toll of soldiers killed in the conflict continued to mount. “But we have no choice but to keep fighting,” he said, adding: “This will be a long war.”

The Associated Press said efforts were continuing in Egypt, which borders Gaza to the South, to get the sides to agree to another humanitarian pause in the fighting, but no agreement appeared imminent.

Separately, the AP cited a senior Egyptian official and a European diplomat as saying Egypt has proposed an ambitious plan to end the war. The official said the plan, with Qatar’s input, calls for a cease-fire, a phased hostage release and the creation of a Palestinian Government of experts to administer the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank. The proposal doesn’t meet Israel’s goal of eliminating Hamas and apparently doesn’t comply with Israel’s stated intent to keep military control over Gaza after the war.

The news agency quoted two security sources in Egypt as saying Hamas and the Islamic Jihad have already rejected our proposal.

The war erupted when Hamas militants broke through Gaza’s militarized border and attacked Southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing some 250 hostages. Israel vowed to crush Hamas and launched a retaliatory military campaign in Gaza, including extensive aerial bombardment.

(CBS)

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