At least 70 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in central Gaza on Sunday night, 24 December, and into Christmas Day, according to Palestinian health officials. Early hospital figures released said that at least 12 women and seven children were among the dead at the Maghazi camp, east of Deir al-Balah. The Palestinian Health Ministry spokesperson described it as a “massacre”. Israeli bombardment of Gaza has intensified in the last few days, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned recently that the war would soon intensify. The Israeli military responded by ordering residents of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis to relocate to Rafah on Tuesday, 26 December. “The area you are staying in is considered a fight zone; for your safety, you must immediately flee to known shelters in the Shabora neighbourhood, Zohor, and Tal Al Sultan in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip,” leaflets distributed on 26 December read. Thousands of displaced Palestinians sheltering in Gaza’s Khan Younis have been targeted on the same day. According to the Palestine Red Crescent, artillery shelling injured multiple displaced people by striking and damaging the upper floors of its…
