No fewer than 70 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Christmas Eve in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the centre of Gaza, Palestinian authorities in the besieged strip said.
Reports also indicated that 23 people were killed in another Israeli strike on Khan Younis, bringing the total number of deaths overnight to over 100. The figure marked the date as one of the deadliest.
The Palestinian health ministry said at least 12 women and seven children were among those who died in a late-night strike, which destroyed several houses in the refugee camp.
Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesperson for the health ministry, called the airstrike a “massacre”, adding that the death toll was likely to climb.
Footage from the camp showed dozens of injured, including children, being rushed to the nearby Al-Aqsa hospital, while some of the bodies were piled outside in body bags.
It comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will expand its Gaza ground offensive in the coming days despite international efforts to halt the fighting.
Speaking to members of his Likud Party yesterday, Netanyahu said the war “isn’t close to finished.”
Netanyahu spoke after returning from a visit to troops fighting inside Gaza. The comments came as Egypt is floating an ambitious proposal to end the Israel-Hamas war.
