Netanyahu to Biden: “Israel Will Continue the War”

Gaza: A new Israeli raid has killed at least 70 people, and the Palestinian Health Ministry announced that the total number of Palestinian casualties has risen to 20,424. The Israeli army is also counting its losses: 8 more Defense Force soldiers were killed on Christmas night

During a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized that “the war against Hamas will continue until all its goals are achieved.” Netanyahu “expressed appreciation for the US position in support of Israel in the UN Security Council.”

For his part, the US President said that he “did not ask” Netanyahu for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. “I had a long conversation with Netanyahu, and it was a private phone call,” Biden told reporters. However, he stressed “the need to protect civilians,” including those supporting humanitarian aid operations, as well as “the importance of allowing civilians to safely leave areas where fighting is taking place.” According to Israeli media, the telephone conversation between Biden and Netanyahu lasted 45 minutes. The American president also discussed with Netanyahu a possible “change in the scale” of the Israeli offensive.

Meanwhile, Palestinian authorities condemned a new Israeli raid that killed at least 70 people. According to Hamas sources, Jewish state planes “struck the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip.” Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry, said the number of Palestinians killed in the war with Israel “has risen to 20,424.”

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations continue with heavy fighting in the Gaza Strip. A Defense Ministry spokesman said in Tel Aviv that “about 200 Hamas targets were hit in the last 24 hours.” “In the northern Gaza Strip,” he said, “Israeli troops discovered a Hamas weapons depot inside a civilian structure.” And on Christmas night, the Israeli army reported the death of 8 more soldiers killed in battles in the north and center of the sector, and the total number of soldiers killed in battle since the start of the ground operation was 152.

Amid the bloody fighting, the fate of dozens of hostages still in the hands of Hamas has faded into the background. The wife of Israeli Prime Minister Sarah Netanyahu has written to Pope Francis, asking for the Holy Father’s “personal intervention” in the Israeli hostage situation. “Your Holiness,” she wrote, “I ask for your personal intervention in this problem. Please use your influence to demand the release of the hostages unconditionally and without delay.”

Sarah Netanyahu, who said the pontiff’s intervention “could tip the balance and save precious lives,” also asked Pope Bergoglio to “address the Red Cross with a request to visit all the hostages and provide them with life-saving medications.”