12/25/2023 – 8:52
Radical Islamic group calls Israeli bombing of Al Maghazi on Christmas Eve a “massacre” and says at least 30 more people died in other refugee camps. Israel says it is “investigating the incident.” At least 70 people died and dozens were injured on Christmas Eve (24/12) in an Israeli airstrike on the Al Maghazi refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip, the group said. Islamic fundamentalist Hamas. The information could not be independently verified by DW. The Israeli military told the AFP news agency that it is “investigating the incident”.
“This is a new massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army in the Al Maghazi camp, where they bombed four houses of Muslim families,” said Ashraf al Qudra, spokesman for the Ministry of Health controlled by Hamas. The group is classified as terrorist by the European Union, the United States and Israel
According to the ministry, the health system in the south of the Palestinian enclave, where Israel is now concentrating its offensive, “is collapsing”, while in the northern half there are no longer functioning hospitals.
Ashraf al Qudra also accused Israeli troops of bombing the main road that connects several refugee camps in the central area of the enclave “to hinder access for ambulances and civil defense”.
Regarding the attack on Maghazi, medical sources from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital indicated that some bodies arrived fragmented as a result of the artillery and the attacks that hit several houses.
The hospital also reported that it received dozens of deaths and injuries in attacks on the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps, also in the center of the enclave, where Israeli troops ordered the evacuation on Friday, forcing the displacement of thousands of people under bombs.
At least 30 dead in other camps
Hamas also said that bombings continued this Monday, with at least 18 dead in the city of Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, and twelve dead in an attack on the village of Al-Sawaida, in the center of the Palestinian territory. The director of the Nasser hospital, the main one in the city of Khan Yunis, reported that people arrived with serious injuries that could be caused by “internationally banned weapons”, reported Wafa, the official news agency of the Palestinian National Authority.
In the north, the attacks continue mainly in the cities of Beit Hanun and Jabalia – in the latter, Hamas claims that 10 people died in the most recent attack. Gaza civil defense teams reported that in the north of the enclave, practically devastated by the fighting, there are hundreds of decomposing bodies due to difficult access, especially in the Jabalia refugee camp.
According to Hamas, intense Israeli bombing in the two and a half month offensive killed at least 20,400 Gazans – 70% civilians, including more than 8,000 children – and injured more than 54,000. The figures could not be independently verified by DW.
War will be long, says Netanyahu
The Israeli army said it had dismantled an underground military barracks in the Jabalia camp, which also led to an extensive network of Hamas tunnels.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his country pays “a high price for the war” but that “there is no choice but to continue fighting.”
“The war will be long,” he warned.
This Monday, the Israeli army reported the deaths of two soldiers, bringing the number of victims since Friday to 17. In total, 156 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of Israel's ground offensive in the Gaza Strip in late October – at least 20 of them by friendly fire or accidents.
The Israeli military claims to have recovered the bodies of five hostages – three soldiers and two civilians – in a network of tunnels in the north of the Gaza Strip.
In the statement, however, the Israeli army leaves open how the hostages died. Military spokesman Daniel Hagari highlighted that autopsies were still pending. Hamas recently said some hostages were killed in Israeli attacks on targets in the Gaza Strip. On the other hand, there were also threats of executing hostages.
Abbas calls for “end of river of blood”
On Sunday, Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for an end to the “river of blood” and the “immense sacrifices” of the Palestinian people in a Christmas greeting message.
“The river of blood, the immense sacrifices, the hardships and the heroic resilience of our people in their land are the path to freedom and dignity,” said the president of the ANP, which governs small parts of the occupied West Bank.
The occupied West Bank also had its deadliest year since 2002, the height of violence in the Second Intifada, with around 510 dead, more than half of them since October 7.
In Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, where according to Christian tradition Jesus was born, the city hall suspended most of the festivities and the streets, which are usually crowded at this time, were almost deserted.
Abbas expressed his hope that this Christmas will mark the end of the Israeli war against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories, wishing “prosperity and stability for the Palestinian people and all nations.”
“The sun of freedom and our independent state with Jerusalem as its capital is inevitably rising, almost within our reach,” said the president in his Christmas address.
“The Palestinian people are determined to continue their struggle to win their legitimate rights, the main one being the right to an independent and fully sovereign state, where they can live with dignity in their homeland,” he added.
The trigger for the current conflict was a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, when the terrorist group killed more than 1,200 people and took 240 hostages, according to figures from Israeli authorities. The attacks on the Gaza Strip began by air and, at the end of October, Israel began a land offensive, first in the north and then extended to the south.
Since the beginning of the current conflict, the Gaza Strip has been devastated and its 2.4 million inhabitants suffer from shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine due to the siege imposed by Israel. The population depends on the influx of humanitarian aid. According to the UN, around 80% of the population was displaced by the war.
The Israeli military estimates that it has killed around 7,860 terrorists since the start of the war – which would correspond to almost 40% of the number of more than 20,400 deaths declared by the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health. The information provided by both parties could not be independently verified by DW.
le (AFP, EFE, ots)
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