Israel-Gaza war live: at least 70 killed in Israeli strike on refugee camp – as it happened (2024)

We are now closing this blog. Thank you for following developments. You can read all our coverage about the conflict here.

Here is where things stand:

• An Israeli strike on Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Sunday has killed at least 70 people, Palestinian health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said. “What is happening at the Maghazi camp is a massacre that is being committed on a crowded residential square,” al-Qudra said, adding that the death toll is likely to climb.

• “People in Gaza haven’t experienced hunger until this war,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said, warning of a “man-made famine” in Gaza as Israel continues its attacks across the strip. In a tweet on Sunday, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees added: “Now it is widespread & WFP warns about a looming famine. That would be nothing less than a man-made famine & a stain in our common humanity. We cannot let it happen.”

• Israel’s war on Gaza is enacting a “very heavy price” on Israeli soldiers, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement on Sunday, Agence France-Presse reports. “This is a difficult morning, after a very difficult day of fighting in Gaza,” Netanyahu said after the Israeli army announced that 14 soldiers had been killed in Gaza since Friday. Another soldier was killed on Sunday, the army said, bringing the total number of troops killed in Gaza to 154 since Israel’s ground assault that began on October 27. Meanwhile, Israeli strikes have killed over 20,200 Palestinians in Gaza, leaving more than 53,600 injured.

• Thousands of Moroccans took to the streets in Rabat on Sunday in opposition against Israel’s war on Gaza and Morocco’s normalization with Israel. The crowd in Rabat of about 10,000 people denounced what protest leaders called a “war of extermination,” Agence France-Presse reports.

• A Qatari Armed Forces aircraft carrying 14 tons of aid for Palestinians in Gaza has arrived in El Arish, Egypt on Sunday, the Qatari state news agency QNA announced. Sunday’s aid delivery brings the total number of Qatari aircrafts sent to Gaza to 50, with a total of 1,548 tons of aid.

• Four trucks carrying 33 tons of aid from UNRWA and the World Food Programme have made its way into Gaza, UNRWA reported on Sunday. The aid trucks consists of 84 packages of biscuits and 16 pallets of easy-to-open food cans.

Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza have led to the closure of main roads between several refugee camps including al-Bureij, Maghazi and Neusirat, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society announced.

The road closures have hindered the work of rescue teams responding to Israel’s attack on Maghazi refugee camp which has killed at least 70 Palestinians on Sunday evening.

Here are some images coming through the newswires of pro-Palestine protests held around the world over the weekend in which thousands of demonstrators demanded for a ceasefire in Gaza where Israeli strikes have killed over 20,200 Palestinians, including over 8,000 children:

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has released video of its teams transporting Palestinians injured by Israel’s strike on the Maghazi refugee camp on Sunday which has killed at least 70 Palestinians:

The death toll in the Israeli strike on Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Sunday has risen to 70 Palestinians killed, Palestinian health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said.

He condemned the attacks as a “massacre” and added that the death toll is likely to climb.

Israel’s military spokesperson’s office said that it is looking into the attack while Hamas issued a statement calling the attack “a horrific massacre” and a “new war crime.”

An Israeli strike on Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Sunday has killed at least 60 people, Palestinian health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, Reuters reports.

“What is happening at the Maghazi camp is a massacre that is being committed on a crowded residential square,” al-Qudra said, adding that the death toll is likely to climb.

Videos posted onto social media of what appeared to be the aftermath of the strike showed rows of bodies wrapped in white cloth as survivors mourned those killed.

In a tweet on Sunday, UNRWA said that it is “hard to wish those celebrating ‘Merry Christmas’, with ongoing loss, grief and destruction” across Gaza as the strip faces intense Israeli bombardment.

“Our teams are doing the impossible to help people in need. We mourn the loss of more UNRWA colleagues killed in #Gaza, now 142, the majority with their families,” the UN agency for Palestinian refugees added.

Here are some images coming through the newswires from Bethlehem, where Christmas celebrations have been cancelled as the region mourns the war in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed more than 20,000 Palestinians since 7 October:

At least 16 Palestinians were killed and several houses damaged by an Israeli airstrike on Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian health officials from the Shuhada Al-Aqsa hospital said, Reuters reports.

The officials added that the death toll was likely to climb.

“People in Gaza haven’t experienced hunger until this war,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said, warning of a “man-made famine” in Gaza as Israel continues its attacks across the strip.

In a tweet on Sunday, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees added:

“Now it is widespread & WFP warns about a looming famine. That would be nothing less than a man-made famine & a stain in our common humanity. We cannot let it happen.”

In a UN-backed report released earlier this week, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said that Gaza’s entire population of 2.3 million is facing crisis levels of hunger as the risk of famine increases daily amid Israeli bombardment.

Israel’s war on Gaza is enacting a “very heavy price” on Israeli soldiers, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement on Sunday, Agence France-Presse reports.

“This is a difficult morning, after a very difficult day of fighting in Gaza,” Netanyahu said after the Israeli army announced that 14 soldiers had been killed in Gaza since Friday.

Another soldier was killed on Sunday, the army said, bringing the total number of troops killed in Gaza to 154 since Israel’s ground assault that began on October 27.

“The war is exacting a very heavy price ... but we have no choice but to keep fighting,” Netanyahu said in a statement, adding: “We are continuing with full force until the end, until victory, until we achieve all of our goals: the destruction of Hamas, the return of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to the state of Israel.”

He went on to add: “This will be a long war ... [until] Hamas is eliminated and we restore security.”

In an announcement on Saturday, the Gaza health ministry reported that 20,258 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes since 7 October. More than 53,688 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli strikes, the ministry added. Across Gaza’s 2.3 million population, nearly 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced as a result of Israel’s attacks.

Independent UN human rights experts have warned that Palestinians are at “grave risk of genocide”, despite Israel’s claims that it is targeting Hamas, not civilians across the strip.

Pro-Palestine protestors took to the streets across multiple US cities including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles in calls for an end to Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

The Guardian’s Ed Helmore reports:

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters waved the pan-Arab colors flag and wore the symbolic Palestinian keffiyeh in a series of coordinated “No Xmas as Usual in a Genocide” rallies and marches across the US on Saturday.

Organizers with Shut It Down for Palestine said the organization had focused its protests on the second-most popular shopping day of the year – the day before Christmas Eve – as part of ongoing civic and commercial disruptions. Organizers said they planned to “organize actions to boycott, disrupt and rally at commercial centers”.

Co-ordinators with Shut It Down for Palestine decried Israel’s assault on Gaza as one of “incredible cruelty”.

“This Christmas, occupation forces are sniping Christians sheltering in their besieged churches in Gaza and Christians in Bethlehem have declared that their celebrations are canceled,” the group posted. “People everywhere must continue to declare that there can be no Christmas as usual during a genocide!”

For the full story, click here: