TRANSCRIPT
A senior official from the World Health Organization spent Christmas Day at a hospital in central Gaza Strip that was treating those injured during Israel's offensive.
Emergency Medical Team Coordinator Sean Casey says the hospital's emergency room is far beyond its capacity.
“The doctors and nurses here are doing their best. Their best is never going to be enough until there's a cease-fire. There's no way to keep up with the scale of injuries and, trauma, and suffering that's coming through these doors 24 hours a day, seven days a week. While this battle, while this war is ongoing, this has to stop.”
The UN backed World Food Programme warned at the weekend that the proportion of households in Gaza affected by high levels of acute food insecurity is the largest ever recorded globally.
WFP Chief Economist Arif Husain says the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza is facing crisis levels of hunger and the risk of famine is increasing each day.
“Just to put that in perspective in terms of the world, right now we have about 129,000 people who are in this type of catastrophic situations worldwide and in Gaza alone, you have over 500,000 people which is like four times more and, you know, what is what is really disturbing is not just the scale of this or the magnitude of this crisis but also at the speed that it has happened.”
In his Christmas Day address in the Vatican, Pope Francis blasted the weapons industry for fueling wars around the globe.
The Pope said he grieved the attack of Hamas against southern Israel on October 7th which he described as 'abominable' and called for the release of hostages.
And he begged for a ceasefire.
Italian then voiceover: "I plead for an end to the military operations with their appalling harvest of innocent civilian victims, and call for a solution to the desperate humanitarian situation by an opening to the provision of humanitarian aid. May there be an end to the fueling of violence and hatred. And may the Palestinian question come to be resolved through sincere and persevering dialogue between the parties, sustained by strong political will and the support of the international community. Dear brothers and sisters let us pray for peace in Palestine and Israel.”
Egypt is reported to have put forward a plan to Israel, Hamas, the United States and European governments for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The plan would see Israel fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip, and all the hostages held by Hamas, along with many Palestinian prisoners in Israel, freed.
A united Palestinian government would take over from Hamas in Gaza.
Israel is understood to be discussing the plan but observers say it is unlikely that they would accept all its proposals.
Reuters is reporting that Hamas has rejected the deal, though Hamas denies that.
Assistant Professor Tamer Qarmout from the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera that America's sanctions against Hamas and Israel's vow to destroy the movement will be a stumbling block.
“For any reconciliation efforts and for any reconstruction and political process to be re-initiated you need Hamas, you have to engage with Hamas. It's the elephant in the room. So the Americans have to realise this, they have to recognise this.”
More than 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza and some of their relatives in Israel gathered outside the Kirya base in Tel Aviv as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the War Cabinet were expected to meet..
Some booed Prime Minister Netanyahu as he spoke in Israel's parliament about needing more time to free the hostages.
Shaked Shechter, the sister of Romi Gonen, who was kidnapped on October 7th from a music festival, says the families of the hostages are not being kept informed.
“We know that nothing is moving right now , but we need someone to talk to us. We need someone to tell us what they are going to do. We need everyone to know that Romi and many more hostages are still held in Gaza, and we want people to remember them and not to forget that they are there, and they need to come home.”
Hamas and its smaller militant ally, Islamic Jihad, are believed to be holding more than 100 hostages from the 240 initially captured on October 7th.
Benjamin Netanyahu has been in Gaza visiting Defence Force troops, and told personnel that they would continue until they had achieved total victory.
Hebrew then voiceover “October 7 is not over. It is not over. We have to make sure that it never happens again, this requires what each and every one of you is asking for, just to continue until the end, until the end, and I'm just proud of your determination. It’s not easy, on the other hand it is easy, simply to continue to the end. And I salute you. I salute you like this, thank you.”
The Hamas-controlled Gazan health ministry says 166 Palestinians had been killed in the past 24 hours, taking the total Palestinian death toll to 20,424.
Tens of thousands have been wounded, with many bodies believed trapped under rubble.
Almost all of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced.
The Israeli military said nine soldiers had been killed in the past day, bringing to 155 its published combat losses since it began its ground incursion.
