At least 70 dead after strike at al-Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza, Health Ministry says

WASHINGTON — 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 of Sunday 24 December 2023, we have received confirmation that the previously announced multi-national security initiative Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG) has now been set up and deployed to allow maritime commerce to pass through the Red Sea / Gulf of Aden and once again return to using the Suez Canal as a gateway between Asia and Europe,” Maersk said in a statement today.

“With the OPG initiative in operation, we are preparing to allow for vessels to resume transit through the Red Sea both eastbound and westbound.”

Maersk said it would release more details in the coming days. But it said it could again resort to diverting ship traffic depending on how safety conditions evolved.

On Tuesday, Maersk said it was rerouting ships around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. It said it would impose container surcharges for shipments from Asia to cover the extra costs associated with the longer journey.

Several other firms have stopped transiting the Red Sea over safety concerns in recent weeks, as has the oil company BP.

The U.N. Palestinian refugee agency has confirmed six more deaths of staff members, meaning 142 members of its U.N. team have been killed in Gaza since the war began.

According to today's situation report, at least two UNRWA staff members 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.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis lamented today that Jesus’ message of peace was being drowned out by the “futile logic of war” in the very land where he was born, as the pontiff led the world’s Roman Catholics into Christmas.

Francis, celebrating the 11th Christmas of his pontificate, presided at a solemn Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and spoke of the conflict in the Holy Land in his homily.

“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,” Francis said.

At the papal Mass for 6,500 people in St. Peter’s Basilica and more watching on screens in the square outside, Francis said the real message of Christmas is peace and love, urging people not to be obsessed with worldly success and the “idolatry of consumerism."

Francis said that while many might find it hard to celebrate Christmas in “this world that is so judgmental and unforgiving," they should try to remember what happened on the first Christmas.

“Tonight, love changes history,” he said.

The New York Police Department said it is aware of and actively investigating emails sent to synagogues around the city with potential bomb threats.

The agency said it has determined the emails to be a part of "another series of 'swatting,' or hoax threats, similar to campaigns that we have seen nationwide and in our city over the last few months."

The threats are "not considered credible," the NYPD said, but it added it will continue to provide resources to places of worship in the city.

The IDF said it is reviewing reports of "an incident" in the al-Maghazi refugee camp.

"Despite the challenges posed by Hamas terrorists operating within civilian areas in Gaza, the IDF is committed to international law including taking feasible steps to minimize harm to civilians," the IDF said.

At least 70 people have been killed in what have been described as attacks on the al-Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza, the Health Ministry said in a statement today.

Earlier in the day, the Hamas government media office accused Israel of bombing four homes inhabited by and belonging to Palestinian families. NBC News has not been able to independently verify the statement. The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In videos recorded by volunteers and posted on X, the Palestine Red Crescent Society also said its teams responded to bombings at homes in al-Maghazi.

The Associated Press reported that its journalists were at a nearby hospital and watched frantic Palestinians carry the dead and wounded, including children.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — The typically bustling biblical birthplace of Jesus resembled a ghost town today after Christmas Eve celebrations in Bethlehem were called off because of the Israel-Hamas war.

The festive lights and Christmas tree that normally decorate Manger Square were missing, as were the throngs of foreign tourists and jubilant youth marching bands that gather in the West Bank town every year to mark the holiday. Dozens of Palestinian security forces patrolled the empty square.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis that the only way to return that nation's hostages is to have complete victory over Hamas, according to an NBC News translation of a video statement on his X account.

"Citizens of Israel, we are deepening the fighting in the Gaza Strip. We will continue to fight until a complete victory over Hamas," Netanyahu said. "This is the only way to return our abductees, eliminate Hamas and ensure that Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel."

He said the government, its soldiers and its people are "united" in the cause. He also appeared to refer to the deaths of 14 soldiers over the weekend, saying the war comes with a " very heavy price" — the lives of Israeli troops.

"And we do everything to preserve the lives of our warriors, but one thing will not be done — we will not stop until we achieve victory," he said.

The Rev. Munther Isaac described the situation in Gaza as a "genocide" in his “Christ in the Rubble” service yesterday at Bethlehem’s Christmas Lutheran Church and said those in the occupied West Bank watch in worry that they are next.

"So here's my message: Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world. Gaza was hell before Oct. 7, and the world was silent," Isaac said. "Should we be surprised at that silence now? If you are not appalled by what is happening in Gaza, if you are not shaken to your core, there is something wrong with your humanity."

Isaac said those who "fail to call this genocide" willingly embrace darkness and sin. He added that he felt bad for those people, because while Palestinians will stand up again, he questioned whether those who are "complicit" in Gaza will ever recover.

"When we justify, rationalize and theologize the bombing of children, Jesus is under the rubble," Isaac told the congregation. "Jesus is under the rubble; this is his manger. He is at home with the marginalized, the suffering, the oppressed and the displaced."

At the end of his sermon, Isaac led the congregation in chanting the words "stop this genocide now."

The siege in Gaza has not been declared a genocide by the United Nations or the U.S., though the U.N.'s independent experts warned last month that failing to implement a cease-fire "risks this situation spiralling towards a genocide."