Israeli aircraft and artillery continue to massively bombard the Gaza Strip on Monday 80e day of a conflict which offers no respite to civilians threatened with famine according to the UN, despite international pressure for a ceasefire.
Early Monday, a bombing killed 12 people near the small village of Al-Zawaida (center), according to the Hamas health ministry.
According to an AFP correspondent, intense bombings took place overnight in Rafah and Khan Younes, in the south of the overpopulated Palestinian territory, subject to an Israeli blockade for more than 15 years and a total siege for more than two months.
In Khan Younes, strikes left at least 18 dead. At least 70 people were also killed in a strike on Sunday on the al-Maghazi refugee camp, according to Hamas. Asked by AFP, the Israeli army indicated that it was “investigating” this “incident” and respecting international law.
PHOTO SHADI TABATIBI, REUTERS
View of the site of a strike in the al-Maghazi refugee camp on December 25
On the Israeli side, more than fifteen soldiers have died in the last three days. On Monday morning, the army announced the death of two new soldiers, bringing to 156 its casualties since the start of the ground offensive in the Palestinian territory 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 insisted on Sunday.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, after an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which left around 1,140 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the latest official Israeli figures.
“Losing logic”
Hamas 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, according to the Hamas government.
“We are facing monsters,” insisted Benjamin Netanyahu in his Christmas message addressed to Christians around the world. “This is a battle, not only of Israel against these barbarians, but also a battle of civilization against barbarism. »
In this context, the Palestinians did not have the heart for Christmas celebrations, largely marked by the war. “ […] Nobody feels the holiday spirit,” sighed to AFP Fadi Sayegh, a Palestinian Christian who spent New Year’s Eve stuck with his dialysis in a hospital in Khan Younes.
PHOTO MOHAMMED SALEM, REUTERS
A Palestinian patient receives dialysis treatment at a hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on December 24.
“We must stop these hostilities and turn the page,” pleaded Sunday the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who came to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem in the West Bank with a black and white keffiyeh around his neck.
Pope Francis denounced Sunday, during Christmas mass in Rome, “the losing logic of war”.
Nearly three months after the start of the conflict, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where 85% of the population has been displaced, is desperate, various UN agencies have been reminding us for several days.
PHOTO IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA, REUTERS
The displaced Hazem Saba found refuge with his wife Ghada at his father-in-law’s house in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on December 25.
The United States, Israel’s historic ally, is increasingly insisting, in the face of heavy Palestinian civilian losses, that Israel favor more targeted operations.
Desperate and hungry
In Rafah, Israa Abou Al-Awf breaks down after a strike on Sunday on the residential neighborhood where she is taking refuge.
“Enough suffering!” Let’s stop making these children suffer, let’s stop imposing this painful future on them,” begs this 27-year-old woman to AFP. “I tell you, Netanyahu, every child […] will grow up wanting to avenge his father, his mother, his uncle. […] An entire army will rise up to take revenge on Israel again, let’s stop this! »
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 and the residents lack everything.
PHOTO IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA, REUTERS
Displaced Palestinians receive medicine in a tent set up by volunteers in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on December 24.
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.
Most hospitals are out of service in Gaza and in the next six weeks the entire population risks experiencing a high level of food insecurity, leading to famine, according to the UN.
On Saturday, a new mission led by the World Health Organization (WHO) visited hospitals in Gaza City, including the delivery of more than 19,000 liters of fuel oil to al-Chifa hospital, the largest in the Palestinian territory, which was besieged by the Israeli army in November, its boss, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced on Sunday evening on X.
One of the aid trucks carrying food was stopped and stormed by desperate and hungry people, he added.