Gaza news roundup: Israel committing “horrific crimes” against starving civilians; Israeli military’s significant losses and mass-arrest propaganda; US veto at the UN security council; the State Department’s humanitarian fig leaf; and the pressure builds on the Gaza-Egypt border. Maureen Clare Murphy covers the latest developments on day 66 of the war.

• The Electronic Intifada

Khaled El-Hissy writes about the loss of his dear friend Mohammed Hamo, The Electronic Intifada contributor who was killed with his father in an Israeli strike on the Sabra neighborhood in northern Gaza. “Mohammed will never die because his spirit is within me.”

• The Electronic Intifada

A mother and son are taking shelter in a shipping container after being uprooted repeatedly by Israel’s violence. “They do not have proper blankets now that temperatures have decreased,” Aseel Mousa writes from Gaza.

• The Electronic Intifada

“His was a mission to tell the story of Gaza and its people,” Asem al-Nabih writes about his dear friend Refaat Alareer, the assassinated writer and teacher. “We honor Refaat by continuing that mission.”

• The Electronic Intifada

In the earlier stages of this war, Khan Younis was depicted as a safe zone by Israel, writes Ruwaida Amer in Gaza. “The ‘safe south’ has become our graveyard,” a displaced man tells her.

• The Electronic Intifada