Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli troops in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, vowing amid growing calls for a cease-fire that their war with Hamas "will continue until the end, until we finish it."

Netanyahu entered northern Gaza on Monday where he was briefed on the military's fight in the region, according to a release from his office that said he was told about "the quantity of enemy war material that had been found in almost every home and the soldiers' determination to continue with full force."

The prime minister told his troops that he was "extraordinarily impressed" and that Israel is "proud" of them.

He said he was there to tell them that Israel will ensure their safety and that the war they are fighting will continue, despite the growing international calls for a cease-fire.

"We are not stopping," he said, according to the release. "Whoever talks about stopping — there is no such thing. We are not stopping."

His visit follows one of the deadliest single days of the 80-day conflict, with Gaza health officials stating 250 Palestinians were killed on Sunday. At least 70 people were killed in an Israeli strike late Sunday on the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. The death toll in the conflict has risen above 20,000 Palestinians, with most of the dead being children and women.

As Netanyahu was in northern Gaza, staff of the World Health Organization was visiting Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza that was treating patients wounded in the strike that hit the nearby refugee camp.

Al-Aqsa Hospital staff reported to the WHO that it had received around 100 causalities.

"The hospital is taking in far more patients than its bed capacity and staff can handle," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"Many will not survive the wait. It is currently running five operating theatres in the hospital and two more are being supported by [Doctors Without Borders], but it is still not enough."

Sean Casey, emergency medical teams coordinator at the WHO, posted a video of himself in the hospital, in which he said he had just left the resuscitation room where medical staff tried to save a 9-year-old boy named Ahmed. He said Ahmed had suffered head injuries after being hit by shrapnel and rubble from a building that was struck while he was crossing the street in front of the shelter in which he and his family were staying.

"His brain matter was exposed. He was taken to a hospital … but there's nothing anybody can do for him," he said, adding that Ahmed was being "treated with sedation to ease his suffering as he died."

"We're seeing kids like Ahmed dying unnecessarily because of bombing and fighting and because the health system doesn't have the capacity to even come close to managing these kinds of complex cases among the hundreds and the thousands of cases that come through these doors in front of me every day," he said.

"This is an unacceptable situation."

The WHO said the strike on the camp and the lack of capacity of hospitals to deal with the casualties is more reason why a cease-fire is needed.

The U.N.'s World Food Program also called for a cease-fire Monday, stating that nine out of 10 Gazans are eating less than one meal a day.

Arif Husain, chief economist at the WFP, said in a video posted to X that there is still time to avoid a famine in Gaza, but a cease-fire is needed.

"We need to make sure that people have food, people have water, they have shelter, they have sanitation. And for all those things to happen we need border crossings open, and that is only possible if there is a humanitarian cease-fire," he said.

Latest developments in Israel-Hamas war
Jerusalem (AFP) Dec 26, 2023 –

The Israel-Hamas war saw regional tensions spike on Tuesday, with explosions reported off the coasts of Egypt and Yemen, deadly US military action in Iraq and strikes from Lebanon.

Hamas launched an unprecedented attack against Israel from Gaza on October 7, killing about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants seized about 250 hostages, of whom 105 Israelis and foreigners have been released. Several others have been killed, including by friendly fire.

Determined to destroy Hamas, Israel is conducting a relentless air and ground offensive that has left vast areas of Gaza in ruins and killed at least 20,915 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

On day 81 of the war, here are five key developments from the past 24 hours:

– UN appoints coordinator –

The United Nations named an outgoing Dutch finance minister as its humanitarian coordinator for Gaza following last week's watered-down Security Council resolution which called for aid to be delivered to the coastal territory "at scale".

Sigrid Kaag's appointment comes as the people of Gaza face a dire humanitarian emergency, with aid slowed to a trickle by Israel's continued bombardment of the densely populated strip.

She will start work on January 8, the UN said in a statement.

– Fresh bombing –

Global pressure for a ceasefire has mounted but Israel pressed on with its war on Hamas.

The army said it had struck more than 100 targets in 24 hours, including Hamas military sites, tunnel shafts and other infrastructure, in Jabalia, northern Gaza, and Khan Yunis in the south.

The health ministry in Gaza said the bodies of 30 people killed in strikes were brought to Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis.

– West Bank violence –

Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli army raid on the Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Israel's army said its troops were attacked during a "counter-terrorism" operation.

– Yemen, Sinai, Lebanon –

US military forces shot down more than a dozen attack drones and several missiles fired by Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels at shipping in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said.

The Huthis earlier said they "carried out a targeting operation against a commercial ship" they identified as MSC United, and launched a number of "drones against military targets" in southern Israel.

Explosions were heard off the coast of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, state-linked media said, with the Israeli military later saying it had intercepted an "aerial target".

The military also said an anti-tank missile fired by Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group wounded nine soldiers, while Hezbollah announced the death of two of its fighters.

– Deadly strikes in Iraq –

US strikes targeting pro-Iranian forces in Iraq killed one member of the security forces and wounded 18 other people, Iraq's government said.

The US carried out the strikes after it said three American military personnel were wounded, one critically, in an attack on Monday.

The United States has repeatedly targeted sites used by Iran and its proxy forces in Iraq and Syria in response to dozens of attacks on American and allied forces in the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which opposes US support for Israel.