Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Gaza on Monday and vowed to further intensify the offensive against Hamas, which denounced the death of a hundred inhabitants of that Palestinian territory devastated by more than two months of war.
In the last few hours, more than 100 people were killed in four Israeli bombardments, denounced the Ministry of Health of the Gaza Strip, ruled by Hamas since 2007.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue "fighting" and "intensify fighting in the coming days," according to a statement from his Likud party.
"It will be a long war that is not close to ending," he said, after a visit to the besieged territory, where Israel launched a ground and air offensive in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
On that day, Hamas commandos infiltrated southern Israel and killed some 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli data.
Along with other armed groups, they also abducted some 240 people and 129 remain captive in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
In response, Israel vowed to "annihilate" Hamas and launched an offensive that has already left 20,674 dead in Gaza, according to the Islamist movement, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union.
The Israeli air force bombed Gaza massively early Monday morning.
One of the bombings, near the village of al-Zawaida in the center of the territory, killed 12 people, according to Hamas. Another left 18 people dead in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave.
Gaza's Health Ministry also reported that at least 70 people were killed Sunday by Israeli shelling in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
Israeli troops during military operations in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. Photo: Xinhua
The Israeli military told AFP it was "investigating" this "incident".
Words of the Pope
From the Vatican, Pope Francis denounced in his Christmas message "the desperate humanitarian situation" of the Palestinians in Gaza and called for a ceasefire.
In Gaza, the war has caused widespread devastation and its 2.4 million inhabitants are suffering shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine due to the siege imposed by Israel two days after the Hamas attack.
Since then, the population has been desperately dependent on the influx of humanitarian aid.
Some 80% of the population has been displaced by the war, according to the UN, and many fled to the south of this narrow territory of 362 km2 and now subsist in tents, exposed to the cold.
The head of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, said that "the only way out is a humanitarian ceasefire."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Gaza Strip. AP Photo
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, lamented "the destruction of Gaza's health system," which he called "a tragedy."
Netanyahu, however, is adamant while admitting on Sunday that his country was paying "a high price for the war."
The Israeli military reported on Monday the death of two more soldiers, bringing to 17 the casualties suffered since Friday. In total, 156 Israeli military personnel have been killed since the start of Israel's ground offensive in Gaza in late October.
Palestinian fighters fired rockets into Israel on Monday. Most of them are intercepted by Israel's missile defense system.
Speaking to parliament on Monday that troops needed "more time" to rescue hostages still held captive in Gaza.
But his speech was interrupted by relatives of these hostages. "Now! Now!" they shouted at Netanyahu.
"What if I were your child," "80 days, every minute is hell," read the banners held up by families during the session.
In the evening, some of the relatives gathered outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, just before a planned meeting of the war cabinet.
"Free our hostages now! Whatever the price!" read one of the signs.
The Israeli military claimed to have found the vehicle of a hostage kidnapped by Hamas and killed "by mistake" by Israeli troops in a hospital compound in Gaza.
"The discovery of the vehicle directly links the hospital to the brutal events of October 7," he said. This information could not be independently corroborated.
Since the start of the war, the Israeli military has accused Hamas of using hospitals as "command centers" for its operations, which the group rejects.
The impacts of the conflict outside the borders of Israel and Gaza have raised fears of regional escalation.
Following the multiplication of attacks on ships in the Red Sea, mostly claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels, the United States accused Iran of being "deeply involved" in the planning of these aggressions, an accusation denied by Tehran.
Iran announced on Monday the death of a top Revolutionary Guards general in an Israeli bombing raid in Syria and President Ebrahim Raisi vowed that Israel will "pay" for killing a top military chief.
AFP Agency
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