Palestinian President Says Israeli Bombing Targets Muslims and Christians

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the series of Israeli bombings was indiscriminate and hit Muslims and Christians. This was stated while drawing parallels between Israel's intensive attacks on the Gaza Strip and the Nakba incident in 1948.

"The birthplace of Christ, Bethlehem (a Palestinian city in the West Bank), is experiencing unprecedented sadness," he said, citing Antara.

He said that the current Israeli aggression reminded him of the 1948 Nakba. "Nakba" or which means "Catastrophe" was an event when nearly 800,000 Palestinians were forcibly evicted from their homes and land in 1948, following the formation of Israel.

On Christmas Day, Abbas said that Israeli forces brutally bombed the Evangelical Baptist Hospital, the Orthodox Cultural Center, the Greek Orthodox Church Hall, and the Church of the Holy Family, as well as mosques, schools, and hospitals in Gaza.

He also said that "this attack does not differentiate between a Muslim and a Christian," according to the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa.

"The occupation's aggression targets Christians, all our people, and Islamic and Christian holy places in Jerusalem and the West Bank," Abbas said.

The Palestinian president called for Christmas to be "a moment to stop war and aggression against our people in Gaza and the entire occupied Palestinian territory."

He stressed that the Palestinian people will "continue to fight for the realization of a free, independent and fully sovereign state."

Earlier in a message of solidarity from Christian church leaders, Christian communities in the Palestinian territories announced that Christmas celebrations, including the lighting of Christmas trees, would be canceled due to the war in Gaza.

Since the attack carried out by the Palestinian Hamas resistance group, Israel has continued to attack the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli onslaught killed at least 20,424 Palestinians, most of whom were women and children, and injured 54,036 others, according to health authorities in the enclave.

On November 10, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman revised the official death toll from the Hamas attack on October 7 by lowering the figure from 1,400 to 1,200.

Since then, Israel has not released any further information regarding the number of victims killed.

Israeli attacks have devastated Gaza and left some of the coastal region's housing damaged or destroyed.

In addition, nearly two million people in this densely populated enclave were forced to flee amid scarcity of food and clean water.