STORY: Israel continues bombing Gaza amid mounting death toll
SHOOTING TIME: Dec. 23-24, 2023
DATELINE: Dec. 25, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:13
LOCATION: GAZA, Palestine/TEL AVIV, Israel
CATEGORY: POLITICS/MILITARY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of damage following an Israeli airstrike in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip
2. various of displaced people in Deir el-Balah
3. various of Israeli military operation in Gaza (courtesy of IDF)
4. SOUNDBITE (English): NADAV TAMIR, Tel Aviv resident
5. various of Tel Aviv (file)
6. various of an Israeli cabinet meeting (courtesy of GPO)

STORYLINE:

Israel continued Sunday bombing targets across the Gaza Strip, with both Palestinian and Israeli sides reporting mounting death tolls.

The Israeli military said its ground, aerial, and naval forces struck approximately 200 locations in Gaza over the past day. 

The Gaza-based Health Ministry updated Sunday that at least 166 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll to 20,424, a majority of whom were women and children.

The Israeli army said 15 Israeli soldiers were confirmed killed in Gaza over the past weekend, bringing the overall number of slain Israeli soldiers to 154 during its ground offensive in Gaza, which was launched in retaliation for a Hamas assault on Oct. 7 that left about 1,200 Israelis died and more than 200 captivated.

SOUNDBITE (English): NADAV TAMIR, Tel Aviv resident
"I have relatives in some of the communities next to Gaza. Some of them are killed, murdered. Some of them are abducted in the hands of Hamas.
I believe that now for the majority of Israelis, (the priority) is to get the hostages back home. We need a two-state solution and the two-state solution can only be achieved with a strong diplomatic orchestration that will include the consensus in the international world around the two-state solution." 

Despite acknowledging the "very heavy price" on soldiers' lives during the ongoing 78-day offensive, in a video statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, "We are intensifying the war in the Gaza Strip."

He cautioned that the war would not end soon, reiterating that the conclusion of the war is contingent on when Hamas is eliminated and the hostages held in Gaza are released.

Speaking at a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu denied media reports saying Washington prevented Israel from taking military action in Lebanon.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Gaza, Palestine and Tel Aviv, Israel.
(XHTV)