An Israeli army tank driving inside the Gaza Strip amid continuing battles between Israel and Hamas. /Menahem Kahana/AFP

Israeli strikes battered Gaza, whose health officials reported at least 100 killed throughout the besieged territory in the last 12 hours, as the war put a damper on Christmas.

The death and destruction in the central Gaza Strip overnight was concentrated in the Maghazi and Bureij refugee camps, killing 70. 

The bombs hit homes and buildings, destroying neighborhoods and infrastructure, including roads leading in and out of the refugee camps.

The Israeli army said it was "reviewing the incident," adding it was "committed to international law including taking feasible steps to minimize harm to civilians."

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Khalil al-Degran, a spokesman from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, told Al Jazeera about the situation at the health facility following Israeli air attacks on central Gaza, which also targeted the Maghazi and Bureij refugee camps overnight.

He said a large number of people, both killed and injured, are still under the rubble, and that several wounded people lost their lives because there were no supplies to treat them with.

Gaza's health ministry also said an Israeli air strike "targeting a house" near the central village of Al-Zawaida killed at least 12 people, mostly women and children.

In a separate attack, the ministry said 10 members of one family were killed in an Israeli strike on their house in the northern Jabalia camp. It added that strikes on Khan Yunis in the south killed at least 18 people. 

Israel's war cabinet is discussing Egypt's proposed formula for a truce. 

But Israeli forces have also bombed Aita al-Shaab and its surroundings in southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, at least 20 people were arrested after Israeli forces stormed the village of Burqa, northwest of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

Severe food and water shortages

Since the UN Security Council resolution passed on Friday for boosting aid to Gaza, the scale of air raids has only increased in magnitude. There is a huge gap between the level of destruction being caused by Israeli forces and the promise of more aid. 

​​The UN says nearly two million people in Gaza are facing severe food and water shortages. It is estimated that 96 percent of the available water supply is unfit for human consumption. Israeli forces have bombed wells and desalination plants in north Gaza.

At least 20,424 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7. The revised death toll from Hamas's attack on Israel stands at 1,139.

Hamas and other Palestinian fighters also took around 250 hostages, of whom 105 have been released and several killed, including by friendly fire.

The Israeli army said two more soldiers had been killed, taking to 17 the number of troops killed since Friday and 156 since Israel's ground assault began.

'There were only beatings'

Palestinians apprehended by Israeli forces in Gaza have been subjected to torture in custody, including beatings and food deprivation, two released detainees and a medic said.

Troops "tied our hands behind our backs for two days," said Nayef Ali, 22, detained in Gaza City. "We were not allowed to eat or drink. There were only beatings."

The Israeli army rejected the claims, saying detainees are "treated in accordance with international law."

Eighty percent of Gazans have been displaced, according to the UN, many fleeing south and now shielding against the winter cold in makeshift tents.

The head of the UN refugee agency, Filippo Grandi, called for an end to the suffering.

"A humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza is the only way forward," he wrote on X. "War defies logic and humanity, and prepares a future of more hatred and less peace."

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, said the health system in Gaza is being destroyed.

"The decimation of the Gaza health system is a tragedy," he posted on social media. "We persist in calling for ceasefire now."

The UN health agency has long been sounding the alarm about the state of health care in Gaza, where only nine out of 36 hospitals remain partially functional.

'The resistance still stands'

Tamer Qarmout, a Doha Institute for Graduate Studies professor, told Al Jazeera Israel has not achieved the "undisputed victory" it wanted from this war.

"Hamas still stands, the resistance still stands in the Gaza Strip, and this myth of Israel having control over any neighborhood of the Gaza Strip is not true," Qarmout told the news outlet.

"We have seen in some incidents the moment the Israeli forces withdrew from some neighborhoods inside Gaza and the north, you will see Hamas forces re-emerge immediately. So unless they want to reoccupy the entire Strip and stay there for years, I don't think this target or goal is achievable," he added.

Christmas festivities were effectively scrapped in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, with few worshippers or tourists on the usually packed streets.

In the center of town, a huge Palestinian flag had been unfolded with a banner declaring: "The bells of Bethlehem ring for a ceasefire in Gaza."

Pope Francis appealed for peace, saying: "Our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war."

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