A veil of sadness envelopes Sunday the city of Bethlehem which is preparing for a dark Christmas marked by the war in the Gaza Strip where the Israeli army has intensified its operations in 79e day of a war which leaves civilians on the verge of famine according to the UN.
The bombings continued on Sunday, without respite, from north to south of this territory which has been under Israeli blockade for more than 16 years and where 85% of the population has been displaced by the fighting.
Smoke rose into the sky over Khan Yunis after the strikes, while a strong explosion, filmed by AFP from southern Israel, shook the center of the territory.
“The war will be long,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned his government, paying tribute to the 153 soldiers killed since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza on October 27.
“We are paying a very heavy price for the war, but we have no choice but to continue fighting,” he said.
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 dead, mostly civilians, according to the latest official Israeli figures.
Palestinian fighters also kidnapped around 250 people, 129 of whom remain detained in Gaza, according to Israel. Israeli retaliatory bombings in Gaza, where thousands of bombs were dropped, left 20,424 people dead, mostly women, adolescents 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. This year, no gigantic tree, no flamboyant nativity scene, little joy, noted an AFP journalist.
Palestinian Christians – around 50,000 including a thousand in Gaza – do not have the heart for the celebrations, largely canceled by the municipality, unable to ignore the fate of their fellow citizens, besieged and bombed in Gaza.
“Many of them are dying for this land, it’s very difficult to celebrate something while our people are dying,” Nicole Najjar, an 18-year-old student, told AFP on Place de la Mangeoire.
Upon his arrival in the square, the Latin patriarch Pizzaballa, large black and white keffiyeh around his neck, gave a short speech among a few dozen Christians in Bethlehem.
“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.
“No place is safe”
The humanitarian situation in Gaza, a narrow coastal strip wedged between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean, is dire: most hospitals there are out of service and in the next six weeks the entire population risks suffering a level high levels of food insecurity, leading to famine, according to the United Nations.
In Rafah, the border town with Egypt, Palestinians mourned their killed relatives.
Umm Amir Abou al-Awf was injured in the hand and leg when a strike hit her house on Sunday morning in Tel al-Sultan, west of Rafah. “Where is the victory they talk about? Nothing was done except killing civilians. They keep telling us that Rafah is safe, but no place is safe,” the 27-year-old woman told AFP.
The United States, Israel’s historic ally, is increasingly insisting, in the face of heavy Palestinian civilian losses, that Israel favor more targeted operations in its war against Hamas.
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.
Discussions with Egyptian officials must focus in particular on “stopping Zionist aggression” and “the exchange of prisoners”.
In northern Gaza, soldiers discovered “a weapons depot adjacent to schools, a mosque and a medical center” which contained “explosive belts suitable for children, dozens of mortar shells, hundreds of grenades and intelligence equipment,” the army announced on Sunday.
“No more hate”
Despite the vote on Friday by the UN Security Council of a resolution calling for the “immediate” and “large-scale” delivery of humanitarian aid, vital for the population of Gaza, this has not been experienced a significant increase.
“In order for aid to reach those who need it, for hostages to be released, for further displacement to be avoided and above all, for these devastating human losses to stop, a humanitarian ceasefire is essential. the only way out,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Sunday.
“War defies logic and humanity, and prepares for a future of more hatred and less peace,” he added.
In Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of refugees are sheltering in makeshift camps, the population is rushing for insufficient food rations.
“People’s situation is very, very difficult. We are heading towards a very serious famine,” Bakr al-Naji, a displaced person from Gaza City who volunteers with a charity, told AFP.
In Jabaliya, in the north, residents carrying jerrycans fetch water from a well. “People come from far away, queue and find nothing. This water is not even good for cleaning, it contains germs, diseases, I, at my age, have to drink it,” testifies Abu Loai al-Biri, a gray-haired man.