Israel and Hamas at war, day 79 | Christmas at half mast in Bethlehem, fighting rages in Gaza

(Bethlehem) A veil of sadness envelopes Sunday the city of Bethlehem which celebrates a dark Christmas marked by the war in the Gaza Strip where the Israeli army has intensified its operations in 79^e day of a conflict which leaves civilians on the verge of famine according to the UN.

“Our heart, this evening, is in Bethlehem,” Pope Francis declared during Christmas mass in Rome, while the bombings on the small Palestinian territory under Israeli blockade for more than 16 years continued on Sunday.

A strike on houses in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip killed at least 70 people, according to a latest report from the Hamas Health Ministry.

On the Israeli side, the death of a soldier killed in Gaza brought to 154 the number of soldiers killed since the start of the ground offensive on October 27.

“We are paying a very heavy price for the war, but we have no choice but to continue fighting,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Sunday morning during a meeting with his government.

Later in the day, he said the Israeli army was “escalating the war in the Gaza Strip.”

The Hamas Health Ministry announced on Sunday that at least 60 people had been killed in an Israeli strike on houses in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

The ministry, which initially reported at least 45 deaths, said the Israeli strike destroyed at least three houses in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel in particular, after an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which left around 1,140 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the latest reports. official Israeli figures.

Palestinian fighters also kidnapped around 250 people, 129 of whom remain detained in Gaza, according to Israel. Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip, where thousands of bombs were dropped, left 20,424 people dead, mostly women, teenagers and children.

“Our people are dying”

A few hours before Christmas Eve, the atmosphere was one of sobriety in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, a center of Christianity.

A veil of sadness envelops the city which usually dresses up in its festive clothes. A few meters from the Basilica of the Nativity, an incubator has been installed, with, inside, a little Jesus lying on a red and white keffiyeh, AFP noted.

Palestinian Christians – around 50,000 including a thousand in Gaza – do not have the heart for the celebrations, largely canceled by the municipality, which said it was in mourning.

“How can I celebrate when my country is hurt? How can I celebrate when my city is destroyed, my family is displaced and my brothers and sisters are in mourning, our martyrs are not yet buried and others are under the rubble? “, is moved by Sister Nabila Salah, from the Catholic Church in Gaza.

In mid-December, a mother and her daughter were killed there by an Israeli sniper, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The Israeli army immediately announced that it was investigating the matter.

Upon his arrival in Bethlehem, the Latin patriarch Pizzaballa, large black and white keffiyeh around his neck, gave a short speech among a few dozen Christians.

“Our heart is with Gaza, with all the people of Gaza, with particular attention to our Christian community who are suffering, but I know we are not the only ones suffering,” he said.

“Tragedy”

On the humanitarian front, the situation is disastrous: most hospitals are out of service and in the next six weeks, the entire population risks experiencing a high level of food insecurity, which could go as far as famine. according to the UN.

“The decimation of Gaza’s health system is a tragedy,” World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus lamented on Sunday.

“The health system in southern Gaza is constantly collapsing and the north has no health services,” Hamas health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said on Sunday.

Despite the vote on Friday by the UN Security Council of a resolution calling for the “immediate” and “large-scale” delivery of humanitarian aid, this has not seen a significant increase.

The Jordanian army announced Sunday evening that its air forces had dropped aid to around 800 people taking refuge in St. Porphyry Church in northern Gaza.

For their part, Egyptian and Qatari mediators are still trying to negotiate a new truce, after a seven-day break in fighting at the end of November, which allowed the release of 105 hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners as well as the entry into Gaza of important humanitarian aid convoys.

According to a source within Islamic Jihad, the leader of this movement – ​​another Palestinian armed movement which fights alongside Hamas – arrived at the head of a delegation in Cairo.

Acts of torture?

Earlier in the day, the Israeli army announced that it had discovered “an arms depot adjacent to schools, a mosque and a medical center”, which contained “explosive belts suitable for children, dozens of shells mortars, hundreds of grenades and intelligence equipment.

As part of its operations, it indicates that it arrests “individuals suspected of being involved in terrorist activities”. “People who are found not to be participating in terrorist activities are released,” she assures.

But Palestinians released after being arrested in the Gaza Strip told AFP they had been tortured, which the army denies.

“They handcuffed our hands behind our backs for two days. We were not given anything to eat or drink, nor were we allowed to use the toilet, just blows and blows,” said Nayef Ali, 22.

Hamas on Sunday called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to investigate the arrests.

Violence on the Israeli-Lebanese border also continued on Sunday, raising fears of a regional conflagration. Since the start of the war, Lebanese Hezbollah has increased its firing from southern Lebanon to support its Palestinian ally and the Israeli army is responding with bombings.

Shots “coming from Lebanon” targeting in particular Avivim, a border agricultural village or that of Margaliot, near Kyriat Shmona, took place on Sunday afternoon, announced the Israeli army which responded “in the direction of the sources of launch “.