GAZA: Even on Christmas day, the land where Jesus Christ was born remained in the crosshairs of the Israeli military, which continued its relentless bombing of Gaza, as well as launching raids in West Bank cities such as Bethlehem, on Sunday.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Monday that war with Israel since early October has killed at least 20,674 people in the Palestinian territory.

The ministry added that 54,536 people have been wounded since the start of Israeli hostilities.

The health ministry said that an Israeli air strike killed at least 70 people at the Al-Maghazi refugee camp.

Biblical Bethlehem also among West Bank towns raided by Israeli forces

Palestinian health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said the toll was likely to climb, adding: “What is happening at the Maghazi camp is a massacre that is being committed on a crowded residential square”.

Before dawn, an Israeli strike “targeting a house” in the central Al-Zuwaida area killed at least 12 people, mostly women and children, the Gaza health ministry said.

In a separate attack, the ministry said 18 people were killed in an overnight strike on Khan Yunis.

Meanwhile, festivities in Bethlehem, the revered birthplace of Jesus Christ in the occupied West Bank, were effectively scrapped amid the conflict and Israeli raids, leaving the city’s usually vibrant streets with only a handful of worshippers and tourists.

Christmas day in the occupied West Bank began with an attack on the Jenin refugee camp and several arrests, according to Al Jazeera.

The raid on Monday morning followed several others across the territory, which saw dozens of arrests and the shooting in the neck of a 17-year-old boy.

On Monday, the Jenin-based Freedom Theatre, a popular symbol of peace and hope that was recently raided and vandalised by Israeli soldiers, described how Israeli forces lit up the sky “with flare bombs” whilst raiding the camp.

Regions in and near Nablus, Jericho, Ramallah and Bethlehem — which Christians believe is the birthplace of Jesus Christ — were also raided overnight by Israeli forces, Al Jazeera reported.

In the village of Burqa, northwest of the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces arrested at least 20 people, including senior citizens.

Moreover, Palestinian news agency Wafa said that a 17-year-old boy was injured after he was hit in the neck when Israeli forces fired live ammunition during a raid in the town of Aqaba, north of Tubas.

In southern Gaza, an AFP correspondent reported heavy bombings through the night in Rafah and Khan Yunis. In the north, live AFPTV footage on Monday morning showed a long plume of smoke extending across the horizon.

Grasping empty containers, dozens of Gazans waited on a street in Rafah for food to be distributed.

“Now there is real hunger. My children are dying of hunger,” said one of them, Nour Ismail.

Vast areas of Gaza lie in ruins and its 2.4 million people have endured dire shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine, alleviated only by the limited arrival of aid trucks.

Eighty percent of Gazans have been displaced, according to the UN, many fleeing south and now shielding against the winter cold in makeshift tents.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2023