December 24 is the eve of Christmas Eve, a traditional Christian holiday. However, just as the United States and the West and other religious countries were celebrating Christmas, on the evening of the 24th local time, Israel carried out "fierce and intensive" air strikes on the Maghazzi refugee camp and Buraiji refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, as well as the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people.
Al Jazeera criticized Israeli airstrikes under the headline "Christmas Eve Big**". Reuters called it "one of the deadliest single attacks" launched by Israel during the current round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Pope Francis, who was presiding over Mass, also condemned it that night.
Medical personnel are rescuing the injured, **screenshot.
According to the report, on the evening of the 24th, the Israeli army launched an attack on the Maigazi refugee camp, blowing up four houses and causing a large number of casualties. Shortly thereafter, heavy air strikes were carried out on the Buraiji refugee camp and the city of Khan Younis. The air raids continued until the early morning of the 25th local time.
The Maighazi refugee camp, located in central Gaza, was very densely populated in the early stages of the war when it received a large number of civilians evacuated from northern Gaza. In a report titled "Christmas Eve", Al Jazeera said that Israel had taken a very systematic approach in recent days, intensifying its attacks on central areas such as Megazi, with the aim of "forcing the local population to continue to evacuate to the south".
According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Israeli air strikes on the night of the 24th have killed at least 70 people, most of them women and children. Given the large number of bodies of victims and survivors trapped under the rubble, the exact number is far from determined.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society tweeted a number of stories about transporting the wounded, and in a separate statement, it blamed Israeli airstrikes for closing the main road between camps in central Gaza, blocking the passage of ambulances and first responders. A spokesman for the Palestinian health department also said that a large number of injured people could not be treated in time due to Israeli air strikes.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society accuses the Israeli army of obstructing relief with airstrikes, screenshot of the tweet.
A social passage has been circulated showing dozens of bodies piled up outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital near the camp after the attack on the Maqazi refugee camp** It also claimed that 68 members of the same family were killed in an Israeli air strike. Al Jazeera said the authenticity of the paragraph had been verified by the station's reporters.
Screenshot of social ***.
It is worth mentioning that December 24 is Christmas Eve, and the faithful begin the celebration of Christmas Eve. At the time of the deadly attack, Pope Francis was presiding over an evening mass at the Vatican "in the shadow of the Gaza War", attended by 6,500 people.
Pope Francis tweeted on the evening of the 24th: "Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, and the Prince of Peace is once again rejected by the futile logic of war and armed conflict. Even today, armed conflict prevents peaceful kings from finding a foothold in the world. The "Prince of Peace" usually refers to Jesus.
According to reports, Bethlehem is the holy place of the Church, considered to be the birthplace of Jesus by the Christians, located in the West Bank and south of Jerusalem. In modern times, Bethlehem is a Muslim majority, but has the second largest community of apostles in Palestine.
Screenshot of Pope Francis' tweet.
According to Al Jazeera and CNN, on the evening of the 24th local time, Palestinian followers in Bethlehem held a brief celebration in the evening. Contrary to the bustle of the past, Bethlehem is now almost frequented by tourists, Christmas trees and holiday decorations are not on the streets, and religious ceremonies and parades have been canceled.
A sense of tragedy is hanging over the city, which is considered the birthplace of Jesus," CNN said, adding that many of the disciples in Bethlehem have relatives and friends in Gaza. A pastor in Bethlehem told Al Jazeera: "We have never seen anything like this, and we have never seen this city become like this. Bethlehem has never been so sad as it is now. ”
One of the Bethlehem residents said: "My son asked me why I didn't have a Christmas tree this year, and I didn't know how to explain ......In the past, we would celebrate with the Christians, but now it's not the same as it used to be, and it's a very bad situation. ”
Deserted Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, photo via Al Jazeera.
Nearly three months into the new Israeli-Palestinian conflict, more than 20,000 people have died in the Gaza Strip since 7 October, most of them women and children. Reuters said that after the end of the week-long truce agreement earlier this month, the Israeli army has stepped up ground and air offensives, and the fighting has spread from northern Gaza to the whole of Gaza, while ceasefire talks have reached a stalemate.
Despite pressure from the international community and US and Western allies, Israel's Netanyahu** insisted on expanding the war in the Gaza Strip until a "complete victory" was achieved. As the fighting became increasingly severe, on the 24th local time, a spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, an armed faction affiliated with Hamas, said that in the past four days, the group had killed at least 48 Israeli soldiers.