Dozens killed as Israel ramps up Gaza strikes on Christmas Day

Israel’s war Cabinet to meet tonight to discuss hostage situation, official says

Josh Lederman

Israel’s war Cabinet will meet tonight to discuss the hostage situation, among other topics, an Israeli official told NBC News.

Officials estimated last week that there are 129 Israelis and foreign nationals still being held hostage in Gaza.

Netanyahu visits Israeli troops in Gaza, tells them, ‘Do not stop’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited IDF soldiers in northern Gaza after a bloody weekend for the troops, with more than a dozen killed.

During his visit, Netanyahu expressed pride in the troops, telling them that he was “unusually impressed.” He said he had two things to tell the soldiers, the first being that their lives are important and leadership will do their best to keep them safe.

“Second thing — don’t stop,” he told them. “Anyone who talks about stopping — no, do not stop. The war continues to the end. Until they are finished, no less than that.”

12 Red Crescent ambulances leave to rescue teams in northern Gaza

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said today that a dozen of its ambulances have left Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, for Gaza City to evacuate its teams and volunteers in northern Gaza.

“This came after Israeli forces compelled them to evacuate the ambulance center in Jabalia, raided the building, and destroyed the ambulances,” it said in a statement on X.

The group also said that 21 injured people will be evacuated from the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, along with another 12 people from the Al-Shifa Hospital.

Pope Francis blasts weapons industry, calls for peace in Christmas Day appeal

Pope Francis on Monday blasted the weapons industry and its “instruments of death” that fuel wars as he made a Christmas Day appeal for peace in the world and in particular between Israel and the Palestinians.

Speaking from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to the throngs of people below, Francis said he grieved the “abominable attack” of Hamas against southern Israel on Oct. 7 and called for the release of hostages. And he begged for an end to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the “appalling harvest of innocent civilians” as he called for humanitarian aid to reach those in need.

Francis devoted his Christmas Day blessing to a call for peace in the world, noting that the biblical story of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem sent a message of peace. But he said that Bethlehem “is a place of sorrow and silence” this year.

Dozens arrested in West Bank, prisoner advocacy groups say

Israeli forces have arrested at least 35 people in the occupied West Bank since yesterday, a pair of prisoner advocacy groups in a statement

Children were among those detained, the Commission for the Affairs of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners and the Palestinian Prisoners Club said.

The arrests were mostly made in the Jenin camp, they said. Israeli forces also raided the town of Nablus, “accompanied by widespread sabotage and destruction operations,” the statement said. Since Oct. 7, about 4,730 people have been arrested by Israeli forces, it added.

NBC News could not immediately verify the arrests.

Israel and Hezbollah trade fire over Lebanese border

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said today in a statement that it had targeted Israeli soldiers at a barracks in northern Israel.

The statement said that it carried out the attacks in “support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”

Shortly afterward, the Israel Defense Forces said on Telegram that fighter jets had “struck a series of Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon, including Hezbollah military compounds, terrorist infrastructure, and operational infrastructure.”

NBC News could not independently verify either claim, but Israel has been exchanging fire with the Iran-backed militants since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

Gaza on the brink of famine, World Food Programme says

Gaza is on the brink of a famine as more than half-million people face catastrophic levels of hunger, the World Food Programme’s chief economist said yesterday in a video on X.

“We can still avoid this famine. But we need to make sure that people have food, people have water, they have shelter, they have sanitation,” Arif Husain said.

For that to happen, border crossings into the enclave need to open up, he said, before calling for a humanitarian cease-fire.

Only a few dozen aid trucks are being let into the Gaza Strip on a daily basis. Hundreds would enter before Oct. 7., when Hamas launched a multipronged attack on Israel.

Christmas in Bethlehem

Worshippers attend Christmas morning mass at the Saint Catherine’s Church, in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Nuns pray inside the Grotto, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the Church of the Nativity.

This aerial view shows people unfurling a giant Palestinian flag as they gather at the Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity.

Iran denies role in Indian Ocean tanker strike

Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected American accusations that it had a role to play in a drone attack that struck a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean.

Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani was quoted today by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying the U.S. claims were “endless.”

“The U.S. government has attracted the world nations’ public hatred with its measures and support for the Israeli regime,” Kanaani was quoted as saying. He added that Iran was committed to maritime safety.

Hamas leader killed as Israeli operations go on in Khan Younis, IDF spokesperson says

A warplane killed a Hamas leader in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, as Israel’s continue to engage in sea, ground and air operations across the Gaza Strip, an IDF spokesperson said in a statement today.

Avichay Adraee added that militants “holding a rocket-propelled grenade in their hands” had also been “eliminated by an Air Force plane.”

An IDF brigade found weaponry inside a building, Adraee added, saying its troops destroyed Hamas infrastructure inside home of a militant.

NBC News has not independently verified the claims.

Maersk prepares to resume shipping operations in Red Sea

Denmark’s Maersk is preparing to resume shipping operations in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the company said today, citing the deployment of a U.S.-led military operation designed to ensure the safety of commerce in the area.

The shipping giant paused sending vessels through the Bab el-Mandeb strait earlier this month because of attacks against its ships. That rendered the Suez Canal, which is key to global commerce, unusable for most routes.

The U.S. said Tuesday it was launching a multinational operation to protect commerce in the Red Sea from Iran-backed Yemeni militants, who have been firing drones and missiles at international vessels since last month in what they say is a response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

As a result of this, Maersk said it was “preparing to allow for vessels to resume transit through the Red Sea both eastbound and westbound.”

Mother of Vermont shooting victim says leaders contributing to hate

Ali Velshi

Elizabeth Price, a former U.N. consultant who contributed to the 2014 post-reconstruction plans in the Gaza Strip, is intimately familiar with the region’s cycle of violence.

However, that cycle hit even closer to home when her 20-year-old son, Hisham Awartani, and his two friends were shot in Vermont in a possible hate crime. The incident left her son partially paralyzed, but Price and her family remain hopeful.

“He draws great strength from his experience of being Palestinian. Even though he has had this terrible thing happen to him, he’s luckier than many Palestinians right now,” Price said.

142 UNRWA staff members killed in Gaza

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency said today that six more staff members had been killed in Gaza, bringing the total to 142 since the war began.

Today’s situation report said at least two of its staff were killed in airstrikes near a school in Rafah last week. Information about the four other deaths was not provided.

The agency said 301 internally displaced people have been killed sheltering in UNRWA facilities since Oct. 7, with more than 1,000 others injured in its installations.

It cited the current death toll provided by Ministry of Health in Gaza in its report, adding that 53,320 Palestinians have been injured.

Catch up on NBC News’ latest coverage of the war