2023-12-25 12:14:44
Israel attacked the Gaza Strip once more this Monday and the Islamist movement Hamas reported that the bombings left many dead, on a Christmas in the Holy Land mourned by a conflict with no end in sight and a day following the death of 70 Palestinians in a Israeli bombing of a refugee camp.
In the West Bank – the other Palestinian territories, which are occupied and colonized by Israel – the municipality of Bethlehem, the city where according to Christian tradition Jesus was born, suspended most of the Christmas festivities and the streets, which are usually crowded with these dates, were almost deserted.
In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, the ruling Hamas movement said at least 18 people were killed in an Israeli bombardment of the city of Khan Yunis, the largest in the south of the territory.
Hours before the start of Christmas Eve celebrations yesterday, Pope Francis lamented the “roar of weapons” in the Holy Land, in his homily during a mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
“Our heart tonight is in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace continues to be rejected by the losing logic of war, with the roar of weapons that also today prevent him from finding a rest in the world,” said the pontiff.
Fadi Sayegh, a Palestinian Christian who spent Christmas Eve at Khan Yunis hospital to receive dialysis, said he is not celebrating Christmas this year.
“There is no joy. There is no Christmas tree or decorations, there is no dinner with the family and no celebration,” he told the AFP news agency.
The man stressed that he was praying that “this war will end soon.”
Israel, for its part, reported that its Army began a series of “tactical pauses” in the city of Deir al Balah, in the center of the Strip, to allow Palestinian civilians to resupply basic supplies.
“The Israel Defense Forces are allowing tactical pauses for humanitarian purposes to allow civilians in the Gaza Strip to replenish reserves such as food and water,” highlighted the Israeli body in charge of civil issues in the occupied territories (Cogat ) on your X network account (formerly Twitter).
The conflict broke out on October 7, with the multiple attack perpetrated by Hamas in Israeli territory, where they killed regarding 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped another 240, including twenty Argentines.
Israel therefore promised to “annihilate” Hamas and launched a ground and air offensive that has already left 20,500 dead in Gaza, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health.
Among those victims are 70 people killed yesterday by an Israeli bombardment of the Al Maghazi Palestinian refugee camp, in the center of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Army limited itself to stating that it is “investigating” this “incident.”
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra predicted that the death toll would likely rise because there were many families there at the time of the bombing.
Hamas also said another 10 people were killed in the Jabaliya camp in northern Gaza.
The conflict generated widespread devastation in many areas of Gaza and its 2.3 million inhabitants suffer from a lack of water, food, fuel and medicine, and depend almost exclusively on the influx of humanitarian aid.
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that his country pays “a high price for the war,” but assessed that “there is no option but to continue fighting.”
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