Israeli airstrike kills more than 100 people in central Gaza refugee camp

Geoff Bennett:

The death toll in the Israel-Hamas war surged higher today, as Israel ramped up its strikes on Gaza. Health officials there reported 250 Palestinians died and another 500 were injured in the last 24 hours alone. All this comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to intensify the fight.

William Brangham has our report.

William Brangham:

Gaza woke up to one of its deadliest morning's of this war, an entire residential block in Deir al Balah, a city in Central Gaza, bombed into rubble.

Survivors at the Maghazi refugee camp dug through the debris with their bare hands, searching desperately for all that they have lost. On Friday, they were told by the Israeli military to move here. And now it is the site of death and devastation.

Oh Ahmed was one of those who came here, thinking it was safe.

Oh Ahmed, Displaced Gazan (through interpreter):

For the love of God, have mercy on us. For the love of God, have mercy on us. We're dying and no one is paying attention to us. We have lost our children, our homes, everything. We don't know where to go.

William Brangham:

There is grief and pain, shock and disbelief, tears and heartache. At the Al-Aqsa Hospital, their loved ones arrive in body bags, one after the other. Their loss is crippling, a father mourning his child and a son struggling to let go of his father.

As Gazans prayed for their dead, Egyptian officials reportedly proposed an initial plan to the end war. It includes a cease-fire, a phased release of all hostages, and the creation of a loosely defined Palestinian government of appointed experts. Hamas and its allied militant group, the Islamic Jihad, rejected the proposal of relinquishing control of the Gaza Strip, according to reports.

And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was heckled by families of hostages, vowed to continue the war.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister (through interpreter):

We are not stopping, and we will not stop until victory, because we have no other country, and we have no other way.

William Brangham:

In Vatican City, Pope Francis pleaded for peace in his Christmas message.

Pope Francis, Leader of Catholic Church (through interpreter): May peace come in Israel and Palestine, where war is devastating the lives of those peoples. I plead for an end to the military operations with their appalling harvest of innocent civilian victims.

William Brangham:

In the occupied West Bank, Bethlehem, where the Bible says Jesus was born, resembled a ghost town, a far cry from what a normal Christmas here looks like.

At the Church of the Nativity, residents marked a somber day with a prayer for peace.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham.