Israel-Hamas war updates: Dozens killed, many buried in Israeli air strikes

In a post on X, Martin Griffiths, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, outlined the dire state of the health sector in the besieged Gaza Strip.

“Hospitals are barely functioning. Infectious diseases are rife and spreading fast in overcrowded shelters. Hundreds of people with war injuries are unable to receive care,” he wrote.

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We’ll soon be closing this live page. Here’s a recap of today’s events:

• At least 70 people have been killed in an Israeli air attack on Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp, which a Palestinian Health Ministry spokesperson describes as a “massacre”.
• Aid groups and UN agencies say Israeli bombardments make implementing the UN Security Council humanitarian aid resolution near impossible.
• The Israeli army says it retrieved the bodies of five Israeli captives from a tunnel in Gaza’s Jabalia region.
• More than 100 journalists have now been killed in Gaza since October 7, says the Gaza government’s media office.

Armed fighting has erupted, followed by explosions, after Israeli forces stormed the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

We are also getting reports that Israeli forces carried out a separate raid in al-Taawon, an Alawite neighbourhood also in Nablus.

[Translation: Israeli forces storm the Balata refugee camp in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.]

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned the killing of at least 70 people in an Israeli attack on a residential area in central Gaza.

The group urged Americans to press President Joe Biden and his government to put a stop to Israel’s bloody assault.

“The Biden administration’s callous indifference to – and active support for – the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing being carried out by the far-right Netanyahu government will stain our nation’s international reputation for generations to come,” said CAIR’s Ibrahim Hooper in a statement.

“The fact that President Biden admits that he did not even ask for a ceasefire in a recent conversation with Netanyahu speaks volumes about the administration’s heartless and immoral approach to the genocide in Gaza.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has appealed for the country to remain united, in a speech on national television. “This moment is a test. We will not break nor blink,” he said.

There has been widespread anger against his government, which many criticise for failing to protect civilians from Hamas’s October 7 attack and promoting policies that allowed Hamas to gain strength over the years. Prime Minister Netanyahu has avoided accepting responsibility for the military and policy failures.

“Over time, the public will find it hard to ignore the heavy price paid, as well as the suspicion that the aims that were loudly heralded are still far from being attained, and that Hamas is showing no signs of capitulating in the near future,” wrote Amos Harel, a military affairs commentator for the Haaretz newspaper.

The Jordanian military carried out its seventh airdrop to assist those trapped inside the Church of St Porphyrius in Gaza.

A Royal Air Force plane airdropped humanitarian aid and food supplies.

It is estimated about 800 civilians are in the church, primarily Christians, facing food shortages and a severe lack of necessities, according to a statement.

Translation: The Jordanian Armed Forces carry out an airdrop on Christmas Eve to help those trapped inside the Church of St Porphyrius in Gaza.

The UN Security Council has voted to allow more supplies into the Gaza Strip, but Israel’s bombardment and ground offensive continues unabated.

Hundreds more have been killed in Gaza since Friday’s UN Security Council vote for more aid.

So what practical impact will the resolution have?

Speaking to The Associated Press from a hospital bed in Rafah after his release, Khamis al-Burdainy of Gaza City said Israeli forces detained him after tanks and bulldozers partly destroyed his home. He said men were handcuffed and blindfolded.

“We didn’t sleep. We didn’t get food and water,” he said, crying and covering his face.

Another released detainee, Mohammed Salem, from the Gaza City neighbourhood of Shujaiah, said Israeli troops beat them. “We were humiliated. A female soldier would come and beat an old man, aged 72 years old.”

The Israeli army rejected the claims, saying detainees are “treated in accordance with international law”.

“While detained, the suspects are given sufficient food and water and treated according to protocol,” the army told the AFP news agency in a statement.

The Israeli army announced it retrieved the bodies of five Israeli captives from a tunnel in the Gaza Strip.

“Israeli forces have uncovered a network of tunnels in the Jabalia region, northern Gaza Strip, and retrieved the bodies of five Israeli hostages who were killed there,” army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a statement.

No further details were provided and the exact circumstances of the incident remain unclear.

The announcement came a day after the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, said it lost contact with a group responsible for five Israeli captives because of Israeli air attacks.

Denmark’s Maersk is preparing to resume shipping operations in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, citing the deployment of a US-led military operation designed to ensure the safety of commerce in the area.

The shipping giant paused sending vessels through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait earlier in December because of attacks against its ships. That rendered the Suez Canal, which is key to global commerce, unusable for most routes.

“We have received confirmation that the previously announced multinational security initiative … has now been set up and deployed to allow maritime commerce to pass through the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden and once again return to using the Suez Canal as a gateway between Asia and Europe,” Maersk said in a statement.

Maersk said it would release more details in the coming days. But it said it could again resort to diverting ship traffic depending on how safety conditions evolved.

Several other firms have stopped transiting the Red Sea on safety concerns in recent weeks as has oil major BP.

Spain says it will not join a US-led coalition to protect Red Sea shipping from attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is in the process of putting together a coalition and needs the support of the radical left party Sumar, which opposes US foreign policy.

The Houthis welcomed Spain’s stance with Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein al-Ezzi saying, “We highly appreciate Spain’s refusal to be drawn into American and British lies on the issue of maritime navigation.”

On Thursday, the Pentagon said 20 countries have joined the US-led coalition to protect the key shipping lane.

Daniel Hagari, the Israeli army spokesman, says Israel is fighting a “complex and complicated war”.

“We discovered a network of tunnels in Jabalia and recovered the bodies of three kidnapped soldiers and civilians,” he said.

“We continue to deepen our military operations in Khan Younis. Hamas cannot be destroyed without deaths among our ranks.”

More than a dozen Israeli troops have died in combat over the past few days. Israelis still largely stand behind the country’s stated goals of crushing Hamas’s governing and military capabilities and releasing the remaining 129 captives.

That support has stayed mostly steady despite rising international pressure against Israel’s offensive, the soaring death toll and unprecedented suffering among Palestinians.

The military spokesman of the Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, released a statement:

• We targeted the invading forces with missiles and anti-fortifications and anti-personnel devices and clashed with them from zero distance.
• Our fighters have confirmed the killing of 48 Zionist soldiers, the wounding of dozens, and have carried out 24 combat missions during the past four days.
• In the same time period, our fighters have destroyed 35 military vehicles, completely or partially.
• Our fighters rained down a missile attack on the city of Tel Aviv.
• Fighters pounded the headquarters, command rooms, and gatherings of soldiers with mortar shells and short-range missiles on all fronts.

Hamas has praised the position of Palestinian Christians for limiting their celebration of Christmas this year given the brutal Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip.

“The holidays of our Christian people this year come in light of the ongoing fascist aggression launched by the Israeli occupation against all of our Palestinian people,” Hamas said in a statement.

“The decision of the Palestinian Christians confirms that our people are united on the path to standing firm on our land, preserving our identity, and protecting our Islamic and Christian sanctities.”

The typically bustling biblical birthplace of Jesus resembles a ghost town after Christmas Eve celebrations in Bethlehem were called off because of the war.

The festive lights and Christmas tree that normally decorate Manger Square are missing along with the throngs of foreign tourists and jubilant youth marching bands that gather in the West Bank town each year to mark the holiday. Dozens of Palestinian security forces patrolled the empty square.

“This year, without the Christmas tree and without lights, there’s just darkness,” said Brother John Vinh, a Franciscan monk from Vietnam who has lived in Jerusalem for six years.

Vinh said he always comes to Bethlehem to mark Christmas, but this year was especially sobering. He gazed at a nativity scene in Manger Square with a baby Jesus wrapped in a white shroud, reminiscent of the thousands of children killed in the fighting in Gaza.

“Our message every year on Christmas is one of peace and love, but this year it’s a message of sadness, grief and anger in front of the international community with what is happening and going on in the Gaza Strip,” Bethlehem’s Mayor Hana Haniyeh said in an address to the crowd.