'We can't celebrate anything,' says Palestinian man amid one of Israel-Hamas war's deadliest nights
Strikes that began hours before Christmas Day persisted into Monday
Amid reports that Israeli airstrikes killed at least 100 people overnight, a Christian Palestinian man living in a refugee camp reflected on the 11-week battle between Israel and Hamas that has now stretched into Christmas.
"There's a big difference between the last year and this year," Hazem Saba told CBC News on Monday after one of the deadliest nights since the war began Oct. 7.
Saba and his family celebrated Christmas in their Gaza City home last year. Now displaced, they live in a refugee camp in Rafah where there is no church, he said.
"Our church [is] in Gaza and we can't go back to Gaza. I don't know if we can go for the next week, or next month or next year. So it's a big difference between both years," he said.
Saba added he and his family are among seven other clans living in the same dwelling with just two rooms and four bathrooms between them. With no electricity or water, he said "there's no safe place" in the region.
"There's a lot of death in Gaza. It's war. There's a lot of buildings destroyed in Gaza, so it's hard to celebrate something. Even our birthdays, we didn't celebrate. So we can't celebrate anything," he said.
"I'm praying to God to give us peace [and] asking all the international community to cease fire in Gaza."
At a funeral in Gaza on Monday, a line of Palestinians touched white shrouds containing the bodies of at least 70 people who Palestinian health officials said were killed by an Israeli airstrike targeting Maghazi in the centre of the besieged strip.
Palestinian media said Israel stepped up air and ground shelling in central Gaza.
What happened is something no human can take. What happened is not a typical war.- Abu Rami Abu Al-Ess
Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said many of those killed at Maghazi were women and children. Eight others were killed as Israeli planes and tanks carried out dozens of airstrikes on houses and roads in nearby al-Bureij and al-Nuseirat, health officials said.
Medics said an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza killed 23, bringing total Palestinian fatalities overnight to more than 100.
Local residents of central Gaza refugee camps said they had lived one of their worst nights since the war began.
"It is not just about bombing one house; we are talking about entire neighbourhoods," Abu Rami Abu Al-Ess told CBC News from a Maghazi refugee camp. "What happened is something no human can take. What happened is not a typical war."
Several residents made pleas on social media for people to afford them shelter as they have become homeless after leaving their homes in Bureij.
"I have 60 people in the house, people who arrived at my house believing that central Gaza area was safe. Now we are searching for a place to get to," said Odeh, a resident of the refugee camps.
The Israeli army said it was reviewing the report of a Maghazi incident and was committed to minimizing harm to civilians. Hamas denies the Israeli charge that it operates in densely populated areas or uses civilians as human shields.
The Palestinian Red Crescent published footage of wounded residents being transported to hospitals. It said Israeli warplanes were bombing main roads, hindering the passage of ambulances and emergency vehicles.
"They told us to move from the north [of Gaza] to the middle area and then to the south," said Rawaa Rafiq al-Nawasrah, who was interviewed by CBC News from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. "They bombed us in the south."
Clergy cancelled celebrations in Bethlehem, the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank city where Christian tradition says Jesus was born in a stable 2,000 years ago.
"Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world," the Pope said, presiding at Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Palestinian Christians held a candle-lit Christmas vigil in Bethlehem with hymns and prayers for peace in Gaza, instead of the usual celebrations.
There was no large tree, the usual centrepiece of Bethlehem's Christmas observances. Nativity figurines in churches were placed amid rubble and barbed wire in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
UN says conditions are catastrophic
Hamas and smaller militant ally Islamic Jihad, both sworn to Israel's destruction, are believed to be holding more than 100 hostages from among 240 they captured during their Oct. 7 rampage through Israeli towns, when they killed 1,200 people, according to the Israeli government.
Since then, Israel has besieged the narrow Gaza Strip and laid much of it to waste, with more than 20,400 people confirmed killed, according to authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza, and thousands more believed dead under the rubble.
The vast majority of the 2.3 million Gazans have been driven from their homes, and the United Nations says conditions are catastrophic.
Since a week-long truce collapsed at the start of the month, fighting has only intensified on the ground, with war spreading from the north of the Gaza Strip to the full length of the densely populated enclave.
The Israeli military said Monday that two soldiers had died in the past day, bringing to 158 the number killed since ground operations began on Oct. 20.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet on Sunday "the war is exacting a very heavy cost from us. However, we have no choice [but] to continue to fight."
He said in a video message that troops would fight deeper into Gaza until "total victory" over Hamas.
Israel has been under pressure from its closest ally the United States to shift operations to a lower-intensity phase and reduce civilian deaths.
On Saturday, Israel's military chief of staff said his forces had largely achieved operational control in the north of Gaza and would expand operations further in the south.
But residents say fighting has only intensified in northern districts.
Diplomatic efforts, mediated by Egypt and Qatar, on a new truce to free the remaining hostages held in Gaza have yielded little public progress, although Washington described the talks last week as "very serious."
Islamic Jihad said a delegation led by its exiled leader Ziad Nakhaleh was in Cairo on Sunday. His arrival followed talks attended by Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in recent days.
The militant groups have said they would not discuss any release of hostages unless Israel ends its war in Gaza, while the Israelis say they are willing to discuss only a pause in fighting.
With files from freelance journalist Mohamed El Saife and CBC's Yasmine Hassan