The Israeli Army intensified bombings and attacks on the Gaza Strip, turning Christmas Eve 2023 into one of the deadliest nights since the Israeli offensive began two and a half months ago, with 250 dead and 500 injured in just 24 hours. This year’s Christmas has not brought peace, not even temporarily, but more death and destruction to Gazans.
In one of the worst attacks, at least 106 people were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli airstrike that destroyed entire inhabited buildings in the Al Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to hospital records. the AP agency could see. Since the brutal military campaign began after the October 7 attacks, most of Gaza has been devastated, more than 20,400 Palestinians have died, according to the Ministry of Health, and 2.3 million people have had to flee their homes. houses and move within the small territory. The UN warns that almost a quarter of the Gazan population is dying of hunger under intense fire and isolation imposed by Israel.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, did not waste the opportunity this December 25 to send a message of congratulations to Christians around the world for Christmas in which he justified his offensive, which falls on the civilian population: “We face monsters,” he said after wishing Christmas, “monsters who murdered children in front of their parents.” “It is a war of the entire civilization against barbarism,” he assured.
The Israeli political leader, questioned inside and outside its borders, visited Gaza again today and sent clear messages against the truce that a large part of the international community is demanding: “The war is nowhere near over.” “We are not going to stop, we continue fighting and we are going to intensify the fighting in the coming days,” he said.
Meanwhile, Egypt proposed this Monday an ambitious preliminary plan to end the war between Israel and Hamas with a ceasefire, a gradual handover of hostages and the creation of a Palestinian government of experts that would administer the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. , an Egyptian official and a European diplomat explained on Monday.
Netanyahu has multiplied this holiday weekend in half the world and also gave a speech to the Hebrew Parliament, which was interrupted by families of Israeli hostages held by Islamist commandos in Gaza.
When the prime minister stated that he needed “more time” to secure the release of the hostages still held by Hamas, several relatives cried out: “Now! Now!” A week-long truce in late November allowed the release of 105 hostages, 80 of whom were exchanged for 240 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails.
“What if it was your son?”, “80 days, every minute is hell,” could be read on the banners raised by the families in Parliament, which held a special session dedicated to the hostages. Netanyahu assured that he will “spare no effort” to secure his release, but warned that this would only be possible if “military pressure” was maintained.
“We cannot stop the war until we have achieved victory against those who attack our lives,” Netanyahu declared. “We will not stop until victory.”
From Gaza, the leader of Hamas in the enclave, Yahya Sinwar, issued his first message in 80 days since the start of the fighting. “It is a fierce, violent and unprecedented battle against Israel,” said Sinwar, who Israel assumes is hiding in underground tunnels in the Khan Yunis area, where much of the fighting is now centered, reports Efe.
“The Al Qasam Brigades (armed arm of Hamas) will destroy the occupation army, they are on the way to crushing it and will not submit to the conditions of the occupation,” added Sinwar, number two of the organization but the true leader of the group, since it controls political and military operations within the Strip, while the head of the movement’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, lives in exile in Qatar.