Israel's war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip will last "for many more months", Israel's army chief Herzi Halevi said on Tuesday. The war "will continue for many more months, and we will work with different methods so that our achievements are preserved for a long time", Halevi said at a press conference. His announcement came as fresh Israeli strikes rained down on the besieged Palestinian enclave, hitting “100 targets in 24 hours”, and killing at least 30 people, according to the Gazan health ministry. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded.
Summary:
- Internet and telephone services were cut again across the war-torn Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel said.
- Israel's war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip will last "for many more months", Israel's army chief Herzi Halevi said
- Israel said it had struck "100 Hamas targets in 24 hours". At least 30 people were killed in the strikes, according to the Gazan health ministry.
- In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal late Monday, Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insisted peace can only be achieved in Gaza if Hamas is destroyed, the territory demilitarised and Palestinian society "deradicalised".
- At least 20,915 people have been killed and 54,918 injured in Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. Israeli officials say 1,139 were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel, among them 695 Israeli civilians including 36 children.
Key developments from Monday:
- Israels Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited the Gaza Strip and vowed to step up the army's assault in the Palestinian territory.
- Pope Francis called for the end of the war in Gaza in his annual Christmas Day “Urbi et Orbi” mass, and urged for the liberation of hostages.
Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the largest in the enclave, receives data from every hospital in the strip. Hospital administrators say they keep records of every wounded person occupying a bed and every body arriving at a morgue. The ministry also collects from other sources including the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”. The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP, Reuters)
