‘Massacre’ as Israel steps up Gaza bombardment for Christmas

More than 100 people have been killed in Israeli air raids overnight in central Gaza.

At least 70 people were killed in strikes in central Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said late on Sunday. Attacks on the Bureij refugee camp saw the number of casualties rise to more than 100.

Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said the death toll at the Maghazi refugee camp was likely to rise.

“What is happening at the Maghazi camp is a massacre that is being committed on a crowded residential square,” he said.

Bodies have been piling up at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Dozens more are reported to be injured, and several houses have been destroyed in the attack. Families have been digging through the rubble in an attempt to find survivors.

The bombs fell on homes and buildings, reported Hani Mahmoud from Rafah in southern Gaza, destroying neighbourhoods and infrastructure, such as roads leading in and out of the refugee camps.

With the Bureij refugee camp also pounded overnight, some 100 people have been killed in the last 12 hours, he added. The vast majority of the victims are women and children.

“We were all targeted,” said Ahmad Turokmani, who lost several family members, including his daughter and grandson. “There is no safe place in Gaza anyway.”