Palestinian pastor Munther Issac says if Jesus was born today, he’d be born under the rubble of Gaza as Israeli forces flattens entire neighborhoods to create buffer zones in north, east, and south of the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed that he did not ask the Israeli government for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday.
I had a long talk with Netanyahu today [Saturday] and it was a private conversation, Biden told reporters, answering a question that he did not ask for a ceasefire during Christmas?
Biden’s statement follows a vote in the UN Security Council on a resolution calling for allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza but stopped short of pushing a halt to Israel’s hostilities.
To avoid a Zionist veto, UNSC members postponed the vote several times to tone down the language. Although the USA abstained, the resolution was described as toothless and meaningless as it allowed Israel’s to continue bombing the Gaza Strip.
The president emphasized the critical need to protect the civilian population including those supporting the humanitarian aid operation, and the importance of allowing civilians to move safely away from areas of ongoing fighting, a White House statement said on Saturday.
On Saturday evening, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said that at least 20,258 martyrs were killed and 53,688 were injured in Israeli massive carpet bombardment since October 7, 2023.
The Israeli military announced that 14 soldiers were killed in armed battles with Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip over the weekend.
Avi Dichter, the Israeli Minister of Agriculture, said that Israeli forces should keep bombing Gaza from land, air, and sea as there was no fair play in this ethnic war.
Israel has two main goals: the return of almost 130 remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip and destroying Hamas. Even in the case of releasing all captives, the Israeli military would continue the one sided destruction war.
Israel has been systemically destroying residential neighborhoods in north Gaza in Al-Shujaiya, Al-Rimal, and Beit Hanoun to create a buffer zone in the north and east of the Gaza Strip after Palestinian fighters killed several Israeli soldiers in urban battles in these areas.
Israeli forces also attempted to invade the border area between the Gaza Strip and Egypt from Karm Abu Salem Crossing.
Israel is planning to create a buffer zone by occupying a 14 km-long stretch, a move which could inflame ties with Egypt, in order to separate Gaza from the Sinai Peninsula and take direct control of the Rafah Crossing.
On Saturday, Hamas’ Izz El-Din Al-Qassam Brigades fired rockets on the Israeli town of Ashkelon and said it feared that five Israeli captives were killed in Israeli bombardment after it lost contact with the group in charge of them.
Hamas military spokesperson Abu Ubaida said that among them are the three hostages who pleaded last week with the Israeli government to release them and not let them grow old in captivity.
The resistance movement also announced on Saturday that it recycled two Israeli missiles that did not explode and used them to blow up five Israeli tanks in Jabalia, north of Gaza.
Hamas also said that it targeted four Israeli jeeps in an ambush in Juhr Al-Diek, east of Gaza City, one of the first areas Israeli forces invaded in late October, 2023.
The Israeli military announced that it arrested 700 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants in the Gaza Strip since late October. Yoav Gallant issued a warning to Hamas’ leader, Yahya Al-Sinwar, over the weekend, saying that he could hear Israeli vehicles approaching.
In total, 485 Israeli soldiers and officers were killed since the October 7 attack launched by Palestinian fighters on settlements and military bases near the Gaza Strip.
According to official military figures, 152 Israeli assassins have been killed since the land invasion began in late October, 2023. The plan is to root the Palestinians out and send into the Sinai desert as to live as reborn refugees
Evidence mounts of widespread violations of mass arrests, forced disappearances, torture, ill-treatment and even killings of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jail. Estimates show that Israeli authorities are currently detaining 1,200 to 1,400 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Instead of a decorated tree in Manger Square opposite the Church of Nativity, the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Tourism organized an artwork piece called Nativity under the Rubble to symbolize the agony and destruction in Gaza.
This is a message to the whole world that the whole world is celebrating Christmas, but not Bethlehem. Bethlehem this year is celebrating Christmas in a different way with a message to the whole world that Palestine is suffering.
Mondoweiss / ABC Flash Point News 2023.
