Source: Mondoweiss.net
Israel’s Netanyahu vows to continue war “until victory” as Western leaders call for ceasefire. In the West Bank, Israeli forces have killed nine Palestinians in the past 24 hours.
Casualties
- 18,800+ killed* and more than 51,000 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 297 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
- Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
- 450 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 1,682 injured.
*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on December 16. Due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Health in Gaza has not been able to regularly and accurately update its tolls since mid-November. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 20,000.
Key Developments
- Israeli tanks and snipers surround Holy Family catholic church in north Gaza, fire at Palestinians, killing mother and daughter sheltering inside.
- Israeli forces bomb YMCA in Gaza, which shelters 300 displaced people, injuring and killing several Palestinians.
- Israeli PM Netanyahu vows to continue “war until victory, despite international pressure,” takes pride in preventing a Palestinian state.
- Palestinian women and children make up 70 percent of causalities in Gaza Strip, thousands remain missing under rubble.
- UNRWA director says Israel’s bombardment created a reality on the ground “which in fact will push more and more Palestinians out of Gaza.”
- PA Ministry of Health says Israel killed 505 Palestinians in occupied West Bank and Jerusalem since January, 111 of them children.
- PA Commission of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs says female prisoners from Gaza detained at Damoun Prison face daily punishment, including beating and strip searches.
- Israeli drone missiles bomb Mahmoud Samer Jaber’s house and Al-Manshiya neighborhood in Nour Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem.
Israeli forces kill two Palestinians inside Catholic church in Gaza
Israeli forces killed two Palestinians with sniper bullets on Saturday in Al-Zaytoun neighborhood and injured seven others while they were sheltering inside the Holy Family church in Gaza.
Israeli tanks surrounded the catholic parish and fired at Palestinians who moved inside its courtyard, Wafa news agency reported. Israeli fire killed Nahida Khalil Boulos Anton and her daughter, Samar Kamal Anton, inside the church’s compound, where 600 displaced people, most of them Palestinian Christians, were sheltering from the Israeli bombardment….