Hours before midnight tolled for Christmas in the Holy Land, Palestinian health officials reported at least 70 dead in an Israeli airstrike on central Gaza. The Israeli military spokesperson's office said it was looking into the report.
Israel reported the highest two-day death toll for its troops in more than a month.
The head of the Islamic Jihad militant group joined talks in Cairo, one small sign at least that diplomacy remained alive.
But in Bethlehem, the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank city where Jesus Christ is believed to have been born in a stable 2,000 years ago, clergy cancelled traditional celebrations for the first time in memory. (Read More)
