At least 78 killed by Israeli strikes in one of war's deadliest nights, say Palestinian officials

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 78 people in Gaza, Palestinian health officials said, in one of the besieged enclave's deadliest nights of Israel's 11-week-old battle with Hamas.

Strikes that began hours before midnight persisted into Monday. Residents and Palestinian media said Israel stepped up air and ground shelling against al-Bureij in central Gaza.

At least 70 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting Maghazi in central Gaza, Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said, adding that many were women and children.

Local residents of central Gaza refugee camps said they had lived one of their worst nights since the war began. Israeli planes and tanks carried out dozens of airstrikes on houses and roads in al-Bureij and nearby al-Nuseirat and al-Maghazi.

Several residents made pleas on social media for people to afford them shelter as they have become homeless after leaving their homes in Bureij. "I have 60 people in the house, people who arrived at my house believing that central Gaza area was safe. Now we are searching for a place to get to," said Odeh, a resident of the refugee camps.

The Israeli army said it was reviewing the report of a Maghazi incident and was committed to minimizing harm to civilians. Hamas denies the Israeli charge that it operates in densely populated areas or uses civilians as human shields.

The Palestinian Red Crescent published footage of wounded residents being transported to hospitals. It said Israeli warplanes were bombing main roads, hindering the passage of ambulances and emergency vehicles.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza killed eight Palestinians.

Clergy cancelled celebrations in Bethlehem, the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank city where Christian tradition says Jesus was born in a stable 2,000 years ago.

"Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world," the Pope said, presiding at Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Palestinian Christians held a candle-lit Christmas vigil in Bethlehem with hymns and prayers for peace in Gaza, instead of the usual celebrations.

There was no large tree, the usual centrepiece of Bethlehem's Christmas observances. Nativity figurines in churches were placed amid rubble and barbed wire in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Hamas and smaller militant ally Islamic Jihad, both sworn to Israel's destruction, are believed to be holding more than 100 hostages from among 240 they captured during their Oct. 7 rampage through Israeli towns, when they killed 1,200 people, according to the Israeli government.

Since then, Israel has besieged the narrow Gaza Strip and laid much of it to waste, with more than 20,400 people confirmed killed, according to authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza, and thousands more believed dead under the rubble.