Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 22
Deir Al-Balah: Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Sunday killed at least 22 people, including five children, Palestinian medical officials said.
Also on Sunday, Israeli authorities allowed Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the leader of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, to enter Gaza and celebrate a pre-Christmas Mass with members of the territory’s small Christian community.
A strike on a school housing displaced people in Gaza City killed at least eight people, including three children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it struck Hamas militants sheltering there.
A strike on a home in the central city of Deir al-Balah late Saturday killed at least eight people, including three women and two children, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. Another six people were killed in separate strikes on Sunday, according to local hospitals.
Israel has carried out daily strikes in Gaza more than 14 months into the war with Hamas. It says it only targets militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians, but the bombings frequently kill women and children.
Israel and Hamas have recently appeared to draw closer to a ceasefire agreement that would include the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, but several obstacles remain, and the long-running indirect talks have repeatedly stalled.
Vatican envoy celebrates Mass with Gaza’s Christians
Dozens of worshippers gathered in the Holy Family Church in Gaza City as Pizzaballa and other clergy celebrated Mass. A Christmas tree was decorated with golden ornaments and twinkling white lights, and altar boys wearing red and white robes held candles. “For Christmas, we celebrate the light and we are wondering where the light is. This is one of the places where the light is,” Pizzaballa said.
The buzz of Israeli drones circling overhead, a sound that has grown ubiquitous across Gaza during the war, could be heard throughout the Mass.
The rare visit to Gaza by the Latin Patriarch came a day after Pope Francis had again criticised Israel’s actions in Gaza. Francis said Saturday that his envoy had been unable to enter the territory because of Israeli bombing. “Yesterday children have been bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war,” Francis said during his annual Christmas greetings at the Vatican.
The pope recently called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, a conclusion later reached by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The International Court of Justice is investigating genocide allegations brought against Israel by South Africa.
Israel, which was founded as a refuge for Jews after the Nazi Holocaust, adamantly rejects such allegations. It says it has made great efforts to spare civilians and is only at war with Hamas, which it accuses of genocidal violence in the attack that ignited the war.
Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in a surprise attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Around 100 hostages are still in Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
