At least 68 Palestinians were killed following an Israeli air strike that hit a refugee camp in central Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry has said.
The deaths on Sunday (Christmas Eve) were the result of one of the bloodiest strikes since Israel declared war against Hamas following its incursion on 7 October.
The strike hit the Maghazi refugee camp, east of Deir al Balah.
It comes as the Israeli military said 15 soldiers were killed over the weekend – taking the total number of Israel Defence Force (IDF) personnel to have died in 11 weeks up to 481.
The IDF said it was reviewing the report of an airstrike in Maghazi and was committed to minimising harm to civilians.
Footage of the wounded being transported to hospitals was released by the humanitarian aid organisation, the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Image: Palestinians wounded were brought to the hospital in Deir al Balah. Pic: AP
Medics said a separate Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, killed eight Palestinians.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, Christmas celebrations were cancelled, in which tradition writes that Jesus was born.
The traditional nativity scene in Manger Square was surrounded by barbed wire and rubble.
Image: Bethlehem’s nativity scene in Manger Square surrounded by rubble and barbed wire
Fight on until ‘total victory’
The war has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly 85% of Gaza’s population, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry, but Israel is standing firm behind their goal of destroying Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement on Sunday the war was extracting a heavy price but added: “We are doing everything to safeguard the lives of our warriors.”
He said his country’s forces are going deeper into the Gaza Strip and that they will fight on until “total victory” over Hamas and the release of the remaining 129 captives.
But Hamas is still putting up tough resistance, evidenced by the deaths of the Israeli soldiers, four of whom were killed when their vehicle was struck by an anti-tank missile, the Israeli Army Radio said.
The IDF released further details of an operation to dismantle a network of Hamas tunnels, where the bodies of five hostages – Warrant Officer Ziv Dado, Sergeant Ron Sherman, Corporal Nik Beizer, Eden Zacharia, and Elia Toledano – were recovered.
Many Hamas fighters were killed and hundreds of weapons found, the IDF said, in what it said was the group’s northern headquarters in Gaza.
The tunnel network, which included two levels, passed beneath a school and a hospital and was connected to a shaft leading to the residence of the Commander of Hamas’ Northern Brigade, Ahmad Andur, the IDF said.
On Sunday, Islamic Jihad – a smaller group allied to Hamas – said a delegation led by its exiled leader Ziad al Nakhalah was in Egypt.
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Israel vows to continue war
His arrival followed talks attended by Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in recent days.
Both groups have said they will not discuss any release of hostages unless Israel ends its war in Gaza, while the Israelis say they are willing to discuss only a temporary pause in fighting.
It comes after the UN fell short of calling for a humanitarian ceasefire on 22 December, instead passing a resolution for increased aid to be transported into Gaza.
The US abstained from the vote, as Israel’s most powerful ally. The resolution sparked criticism from both Israel and Hamas.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Image: Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
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They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Yemen’s Houthi rebel group has said 15 people have been injured in “US-British” airstrikes in and around the capital Sanaa.
Most of those hurt were from the Shuub district, near the centre of the city, a statement from the health ministry said.
Another person was injured on the main airport road, the statement added.
It comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” following a missile attack by the group on Israel’s main international airport on Sunday morning.
It remains unclear whether the UK took part in the latest strikes and any role it may have played.
On 29 April, UK forces, the British government said, took part in a joint strike on “a Houthi military target in Yemen”.
“Careful intelligence analysis identified a cluster of buildings, used by the Houthis to manufacture drones of the type used to attack ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, located some fifteen miles south of Sanaa,” the British Ministry of Defence said in a previous statement.
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On Sunday, the militant group fired a missile at the Ben Gurion Airport, sparking panic among passengers in the terminal building.
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly caused flights to be halted.
Four people were said to be injured, according to the country’s paramedic service.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Image: Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
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Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.