At midnight rocket launches and flares illuminate sky over Israel-Gaza border

Hamas' armed wing said the barrage was in response to "massacres against civilians" in Gaza.

Earlier on Sunday (December 31), Israeli jets intensified attacks on central Gaza, residents and medics said, as battles raged through the rubble of towns and refugee camps in a war Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would take "many more months" to end.

The stated goal of Israel's military is to eliminate Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that launched a surprise cross-border assault on Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and grabbing 240 hostages.

Israel's air and artillery bombardment has killed more than 21,800 people according to health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza, with many more feared dead in the rubble, and pushed nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes.

Reuters