Dec. 23: Thousands rally in Tel Aviv to press government for immediate hostage deal

Biden discussed ‘phasing’ of Gaza offensive with Netanyahu — White House

US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the “phasing” of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to a White House readout on the call, which hints at Washington’s desire for Jerusalem to move toward lower intensity fighting against Hamas.

Biden emphasized “the importance of allowing civilians to move safely away from areas of ongoing fighting,” the US readout says, as the administration continues raising its concerns regarding mounting civilian casualties in Gaza.

“The leaders discussed Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to include its objectives and phasing. The president emphasized the critical need to protect the civilian population including those supporting the humanitarian aid operation,” the statement reads.

Netanyahu and Biden also “discussed the importance of securing the release of all remaining hostages,” according to the White House readout.

Earlier this evening, Biden told reporters he had a long, private conversation with Netanyahu about the war but that he did not ask the Israeli premier for a ceasefire.

Shas spokesman signals potential break with PM after war, says public expects ‘new leadership’

Shas leader MK Aryeh Deri, right, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen during a Shas party meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on January 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In a possible indication that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be losing support among his key political allies following the colossal failures of October 7, the spokesperson for the Shas coalition party has said over the weekend that after the war, “most of the public expects to see a new, young” leadership and not “what we have known.”

Asher Medina makes the remarks in a column in the Haderech newspaper, the official mouthpiece for his ultra-Orthodox party, which has loyally supported and partnered with Netanyahu for many years and is part of a bloc of religious and right-wing parties that has promised for years to only join a Netanyahu-led government.

“Netanyahu may get good grades for the managing of the war,” he writes, “but on the day after, most of the public expects to see a new, young, determined, and mainly groundbreaking leadership. No longer what we have known. That has been enough for us.”

Medina notes that opinion polls have over the past few months consistently predicted a downfall for Netanyahu’s Likud party and the pro-Netanyahu bloc if elections are held.

After his column draws media attention, Medina tells Hebrew media outlets that he didn’t say that Shas’s position is that Netanyahu should be replaced. He says he wrote “a political commentary column, presenting my own opinion,” adding that most of it praised the premier. He says Shas “supports the prime minister and unity and definitely isn’t focusing on political questions.”

Ex-German leader Helmut Schmidt’s grave vandalized with swastikas

Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt speaking in Berlin on October 30, 2012. (Thomas Peter/AFP)

BERLIN, Germany — The graves of former West Germany chancellor Helmut Schmidt and his wife Loki have been desecrated with swastikas at a cemetery in Hamburg, police tell AFP.

“Swastikas painted in red were discovered Friday night on their tomb at the Hamburg cemetery and were immediately erased,” the police say.

No information was immediately available on the perpetrators or their motives, it said.

Schmidt, a Social Democrat, led what was then West Germany from 1974 to 1982. He died in November 2015 and Saturday was the date of his birth in 1918.

Wir leben nun in einem Land, in dem selbst der Sozialdemokrat Helmut Schmidt als Nazi gilt.

Was ist los mit diesem Land? pic.twitter.com/BXJC7igtfJ

— Ali Utlu (@AliCologne) December 23, 2023

Biden: I ‘didn’t ask for a ceasefire’ in today’s ‘private conversation’ with Netanyahu

US President Joe Biden says during a briefing with reporters in Washington, DC, that he had a “long conversation” today with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declining to comment on the content of the “private conversation.”

“I didn’t ask for a ceasefire,” Biden divulges in response to a journalist’s question.

Hebrew media reports have said the phone call lasted 45 minutes.

IDF officer recounts ordering tank fire on Be’eri home during hostage standoff on Oct. 7

A tank fires a shell toward a home in Kibbutz Be'eri during a hostage situation in which Hamas terrorists held 14 Israeli hostages in a home in Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7, 2023, in footage from a police chopper published by Channel 12 news on December 18, 2023. (Screenshot: Channel 12; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

An IDF officer has recounted a tough decision he made on October 7 to order a tank to fire two light shells toward a house in Kibbutz Be’eri in which Hamas terrorists had been holding 14 Israelis hostages during the Palestinian terror group’s onslaught — fire that killed at least one Israeli.

Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram tells The New York Times about the complex hostage situation, in which Hamas gunmen were using the hostages as human shields while firing at Israeli troops from inside local resident Pesi Cohen’s home.

Hiram says that around 4 p.m., after a gunman surrendered, a SWAT commander argued that more might follow suit, while he, Hiram, said the hostage situation must be resolved by nightfall.

Shortly thereafter, when the terrorists launched an RPG from the house, Hiram recounts telling the tank commander: “The negotiations are over. Break in, even at the cost of civilian casualties.”

Two light shells — designed to cause reduced damage and casualties — were then fired by the tank. Footage from a police chopper aired on Monday by Channel 12 news showed the tank fire.

Shrapnel from the second shell accidentally killed Adi Dagan, 68, and injured his wife, Hadas Dagan, 70.

During the entire hostage situation, which included intense fighting between the Hamas gunmen and IDF forces, all the terrorists were killed, along with 12 of the 14 Israeli hostages.

Hadas Dagan was one of the only two survivors, alongside Yasmin Porat, 44.

Dagan and her husband, who were residents of Be’eri, had earlier in the day given refuge to Porat and her partner, Tal Katz, who had both escaped the Hamas massacre at the Supernova rave near Re’im, where over 360 people were murdered and others kidnapped. Terrorists then broke into the home and took the four to Pesi Cohen’s home along with the rest of the hostages.

Dagan has recounted the harrowing incident in several interviews since October.

Today, the IDF responds to Hiram’s acknowledgment by praising the IDF commander and telling Channel 12: “The IDF will carry out a detailed and thorough investigation to completely clarify the details of what happened as soon as the operational situation enables this, and will publish its conclusions for the public.”

IDF strikes Hezbollah command center in response to border attacks from Lebanon

The IDF says fighter jets have hit a Hezbollah military headquarters in Lebanon in response to attacks on northern Israel today, including one that left a soldier moderately wounded.

The IDF also says it carried out artillery shelling at a number of areas near the border today, presumably to foil planned Hezbollah attacks.

Several projectiles were fired from Lebanon at areas in northern Israel, with the IDF saying it struck the launch sites.

In one of the Hezbollah attacks against the Manara area, a soldier was moderately wounded, the IDF says.

‘I just want to see my mother again’: Americans beg for help getting family out of Gaza

This undated image provided by Fadi Sckak shows a family photo of Abedalla Sckak with his wife Zahra Sckak and children. (Fadi Sckak via AP)

Fadi Sckak has already lost his father to the violence in Gaza. He wants to help his mother escape that fate.

“I just want to see my mother again, that’s the goal,” says Sckak, a university student in Sunnyvale, California. The 25-year-old is one of the Palestinian couple’s three American sons, including an active-duty US soldier serving in South Korea. “Being able to hold her again. I can’t bear to lose her.”

His mother, Zahra Sckak, 44, is holed up with an older, ailing American relative in a Gaza City building along with 100 others. She is among what the State Department says are 300 American citizens, permanent legal residents or their parents and young children still trapped by the fighting between Israel and the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

Relatives in the United States and other advocates are pleading for the Biden administration and Congress to help them flee.

Fadi Sckak’s mother is on her sixth day with only water from the sewers to drink and with little or no food and rescue hopes waning, he says. His dad, Abedalla, was shot and wounded last month, after a bombing forced the family to flee the building where they had been sheltering, and died days later without treatment, he claims.

Their son listened over the phone as his mother begged for help after the shooting. He could hear his 56-year-old father, who had diabetes and corresponding health problems, in the background, crying out in pain.

“He didn’t deserve a painful experience like that. To die, with no help, no one even trying to help,” Sckak says.

Some US citizens and legal residents and their immediate family are stranded near Gaza’s Rafah crossing into Egypt, desperately waiting for placement on a list of names provided by the US government that would authorize them to leave Gaza.

The State Department said yesterday that it has helped more than 1,300 people who were eligible for US assistance — American citizens, green-card holders and their immediate family members — make it through the Rafah crossing to Egypt. The department is tracking 300 more still seeking US help to escape; that includes what it says are fewer than 50 US citizens.

“US citizens and their families will make their own decisions and adjust their plans as this difficult situation changes,” the department says in a statement.

Netanyahu hails Biden’s Security Council stance, vows to complete all war goals in Gaza

US President Joe Biden, left, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, to discuss the the war between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 18, 2023 (Miriam Alster/Pool Photo via AP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says that during his phone call today with US President Joe Biden, the Israeli leader “voiced his appreciation for the US’s position in the Security Council,” referring to Washington’s prevention of a binding UN call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Netanyahu “clarified that Israel will continue the war until all of its goals are achieved,” which include toppling the Hamas terror group and bringing home the hostages being held by Palestinian terrorists in the Strip.

The White House has not yet released its readout from the call.

Released hostage Sharon Aloni Cunio pleads with government to secure release of the rest, including her relatives

Sharon Aloni Cunio (center) speaks at a rally for the hostages held in Gaza, at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, December 23, 2023. (Screenshot/courtesy)

Released hostage Sharon Aloni Cunio speaks at the Tel Aviv rally calling for the release of the abductees still held by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.

“My life stopped on October 7. I never imagined the disaster that happened on that day,” she says. “On the way to captivity, I saw things that I’ll never stop seeing. My twins, Emma and Yuli, 3, had zero tools to deal with this.”

“Every moment in the safe room [at her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, where they hid on October 7] was an eternity. We left the room to die quickly,” she adds. “Fifty-two days in which we didn’t know if we would live. Fifty-two days of no night or day. Fifty-two days which we didn’t know if they were really 52 days. My husband David has been there for 78 days and every day he doesn’t know if he’ll live or die.”

Also still held hostage are husband’s brother Ariel Cunio, his girlfriend Arbel Yehud and the latter’s brother, Dolev Yehud.

“I turn to the war cabinet — Emma and Yuli suffered enough,” she says. “I ask that returning the captives be the top priority, now, not in another year.”

IDF: Troops target more Hamas tunnels in southern Gaza, have found 30,000 explosives in war

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the military has further expanded operations in southern Gaza, especially against Hamas’s underground infrastructure.

“Upon their entry into new Hamas strongholds, troops are engaged in heavy battles,” Hagari says.

In the Khan Younis area, Hagari says, the IDF is working “very heavily” against the Palestinian terror group’s tunnels. “We’ve expanded combat engineering forces there… and we will expand the [99th] Division’s abilities [further] in the coming days,” he says.

He says that so far, ground forces have destroyed or seized some 30,000 explosives, including anti-tank missiles and RPGs, across the Gaza Strip.

In the area of the Gaza City neighborhoods of Daraj and Tuffah, Hagari says troops found a cache of weapons in a school, including many explosive devices, rockets and “strategic” capabilities belonging to Hamas’s naval forces, which he says could have been used against Israeli Navy vessels.

Netanyahu, Biden speak by phone, discuss war developments — White House

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just got off the phone with US President Joe Biden, the White House says.

The leaders discussed developments in the Israel-Hamas war, it says, adding that a full readout will be issued shortly.

US record producer Scooter Braun to Tel Aviv rally: ‘I found a nation of lions’

American record producer Scooter Braun speaks at a rally for the Gaza hostages held at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, December 23, 2023. (Screenshot/courtesy)

American record producer Scooter Braun tells the rally for the Gaza hostages in Tel Aviv that he “had to come and stand with my people.”

“I didn’t find a country filled with hate or anger — I found a nation of lions, filled with hope and courage and kindness and it let me know that the hostages will come home,” he says.

“Achshav,” says Braun — “now.”

Braun says he has met with survivors of the Supernova rave, where over 360 revelers were massacred on October 7 and many others were kidnapped. He adds that he will not stop using his voice in the music industry to bring up the topic of the hostages and adds, “Shame on my industry if it doesn’t start speaking up.”

Braun mentions his grandmother, a survivor of Auschwitz, and says the terrorists “made a very big mistake — they thought by acts of October 7, they would break the spirit of Israel, but they not only woke the Jewish people of Israel, but the Jewish people of the Diaspora.

“Am Yisrael Chai. Bring the hostages home.”

Rally for hostages kicks off; IDF ex-general says Israel able to ‘withstand price’ of deal

Israelis at a rally for the hostages held by terrorists in Gaza, at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, December 23, 2023. (Families of Hostages and Missing Forum)

A rally in support of returning all the hostages held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip kicks off at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.

IDF Maj. Gen. (res.) Eli Marom, a former commander of the Israeli navy, says: “I served in the IDF for 40 years and I believe and rely on its soldiers. They are there in Gaza, and on the northern border, fighting bravely for us.

“There is a task that is just as important — bringing home the hostages. Israel is strong enough to withstand the price that will be paid. The leadership has to make hard decisions and I’m sure that IDF can handle any condition that the cabinet will approve. Every day is a nightmare for them and their families,” he says, referring to swirling reports of talks for a deal that would see Israel free many Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for abductees.

In Gaza’s north, Gallant hints fate of Khan Younis will be the same; Gantz warns Hezbollah

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (left) and war cabinet Minister Benny Gantz in northern Gaza's Beit Hanoun, December 23, 2023. (Elad Malka/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz toured the northern Gaza Strip today and held an assessment with military officials.

The visit by the ministers to Beit Hanoun comes after the IDF Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade assumed responsibility for the area, after it had been fully captured by ground forces.

“I am sure that [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar is sitting in his bunker watching TV, he sees what Beit Hanoun looks like,” Gallant says in a video statement.

“This is also true for the Hamas commander who is now fighting against our forces in Khan Younis, he understands how the story ended for the Beit Hanoun battalion,” Gallant adds.

Gantz, in his remarks, warns the head of the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group, which has been carrying out daily attacks on northern Israel.

“This campaign is one of the most important that the State of Israel has experienced, it serves both the residents of the south and radiates to other arenas,” he says.

“I am sure that [Hassan] Nasrallah is looking at what is happening here [in Gaza] and does not want it to happen to him [in Lebanon],” Gantz adds.

IDF chief has held assessment in Gaza, saying ‘we still have a lot of work to do’

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi speaks to officers in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, December 23, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi held an assessment in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis today, the military announces.

“Impressive offensive, we still have a lot of work to do,” Halevi is quoted by the IDF as saying.

The IDF says Halevi held an assessment with the head of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, the commander of the 98th Division, Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus, and commander of the Givati Brigade, Col. Liron Betito.

IDF announces deaths of 5 troops killed in Gaza over weekend; ground op toll at 144

IDF soldiers the military says were killed in the Gaza Strip on December 23, 2023: L-R: Warrant Officer (res.) Alexander Shpits, Master Sgt. (res.) Shay Termin, Staff Sgt. Birhanu Kassie, Staff Sgt. Nir Rafael Kananian. (Courtesy)

The IDF announces the deaths of five soldiers killed during fighting in the Gaza Strip over the weekend, bringing the toll of slain troops in the ground offensive against Hamas to 144.

They are:

Staff Sgt. Nir Rafael Kananian, 20, of the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Beit Keshet.

Staff Sgt. Birhanu Kassie, 20, of the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Beit Shemesh.

Master Sgt. (res.) Shay Termin, 26, of the 55th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade’s 6623rd Battalion, from Rosh Pina.

Warrant Officer (res.) Alexander Shpits, 41, of the 55th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade’s 6623rd Battalion, from Karmiel.

Cpt. Oshri Moshe Butzhak, 22, a team commander in the Nahal Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Haifa.

Kananian, Kassie, Termin, and Shpits were killed on Friday in southern Gaza, while Butzhak was killed today in the Strip’s north.

Another five soldiers of the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit were seriously wounded in the battle in which Kananian and Kassie were killed, the IDF adds.

Netanyahu’s office denies seeking to preemptively strike Hezbollah days after Oct. 7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office casts as “incorrect” a Wall Street Journal report claiming US President Joe Biden talked the Israeli premier out of preemptively striking Hezbollah in Lebanon on October 11.

“Already on the first day of the war [against Hamas on October 7], Prime Minister Netanyahu decided that Israel would first work to achieve a decisive victory in the south, while deterring an attack in the north,” the Prime Minister’s Office says, adding that “this policy was adopted by the [war] cabinet.”

Additionally, previous reports have said that it was Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and military officials who wanted to attack Hezbollah before tackling Hamas — following the military doctrine that if you’re going to fight on two fronts, deal first with the more potent enemy — but Netanyahu overruled that, joined by war cabinet minister Benny Gantz who had just joined the small panel directing the war.

IDF airs bodycam footage from Hamas gunman who planned to attack troops, was then killed

The IDF releases footage obtained from a body camera of a Hamas operative who planned to attack Israeli military engineering vehicles in the Gaza Strip, showing him being killed by troops.

The IDF says troops of the elite Egoz unit operating in the Khan Younis area spotted the gunman approaching the forces, and opened fire.

After scanning the area, the body of the terror operative was found, along with the GoPro camera.

The IDF releases footage obtained from a body camera of a Hamas operative who planned to attack Israeli military engineering vehicles in the Gaza Strip, showing him being killed by troops.

The IDF says troops of the elite Egoz unit operating in the Khan Younis area spotted the… pic.twitter.com/3cBJDTyflU

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 23, 2023

Report: Israel was about to ‘preemptively’ hit Hezbollah when Biden convinced it not to

A picture took from the Israeli side of the border shows Lebanese security forces and Hezbollah supporters at the Israel-Lebanon border, October 7, 2023. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

Israel was about to ‘preemptively’ strike Hezbollah in Lebanon four days after Hamas’s October 7 massacres, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was talked out of the plan at the last minute by US President Joe Biden, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unnamed officials familiar with the details.

The report says that “Israel had intelligence — which the US deemed unreliable — that Hezbollah attackers were preparing to cross the border as part of a multipronged attack.”

It continues: “Israeli warplanes were in the air awaiting orders when Biden spoke to Netanyahu on October 11, and told the Israeli prime minister to stand down and think through the consequences of such an action,” saying it could spark a regional war.

The report says the Biden administration has been focusing its efforts ever since on preventing an escalation that would require Washington’s military intervention.

Iran denies US claims it is involved in Houthi ship attacks

Iran’s deputy foreign minister denies US accusations that Tehran is involved in attacks by Yemeni rebels on commercial ships, claiming the group is acting on its own.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have launched more than 100 drone and missile attacks, targeting 10 merchant vessels in the Red Sea, according to the Pentagon, in solidarity with Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas.

Yesterday, the White House publicly released US intelligence that Iran provided drones, missiles and tactical intelligence to the Houthis, who control vast parts of Yemen including the capital, Sanaa.

“The resistance [Houthis] has its own tools… and acts in accordance with its own decisions and capabilities,” Iran’s deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri tells Mehr news agency.

“The fact that certain powers, such as the Americans and the Israelis, suffer strikes from the resistance movement… should in no way call into question the reality of the strength of the resistance in the region,” he adds.

Rocket sirens blare in Ashkelon, Gaza border town

Rocket alarms sound in Ashkelon and in the Gaza border area town of Zikim.

There are no immediate reports of impacts or injuries.

IDF says it killed head of supply for Hamas’s military wing

The IDF announces it killed a Hamas official in charge of supply for the terror group’s military wing, during an airstrike in southern Gaza’s Rafah yesterday.

In a statement, the IDF says Hassan al-Atrash was responsible for the supply and production of weapons for Hamas, as well as smuggling weapons from various countries into the Gaza Strip.

It adds that al-Atrash was also involved in supplying weapons to terrorists in the West Bank.

The IDF publishes footage of the strike.

Palestinian media reported Friday that at least three people were killed in the airstrike.

בהמשך לחיסול אתמול ברפיח, צה״ל ושב״כ חיסלו באמצעות מטוס קרב את חסן אטרש, אחראי על סחר, ייצור והצטיידות באמצעי לחימה של הזרוע הצבאית של חמאס.
בנוסף לקח חלק בהברחת אמצעי לחימה ממדינות שונות לרצועת עזה. בתקופה האחרונה היה מעורב בהברחת אמצעי לחימה גם ליהודה ושומרון>> pic.twitter.com/7fo6o44Ixa

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 23, 2023

UN warns Swedish dual national faces execution in Iran ‘shortly’

Swedish-Iranian researcher Ahmadreza Djalali is seen in Barcelona, Spain, in 2014, before Iran sentenced Djalali to death for allegedly spying for Israel. (Vida Mehrannia via AP)

GENEVA, Switzerland — The United Nations warns that an Iranian-Swedish citizen is facing imminent execution in Iran after a Swedish court upheld the conviction of a former Iranian prison official.

“Disturbing news that Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali could be shortly executed on charges of ‘enmity against God,'” the UN human rights office says on X.

Djalali was sentenced to death in 2017 on espionage charges that have been denounced as baseless by Stockholm and his supporters.

Before his arrest in Iran in April 2016, Djalali was a visiting professor in disaster medicine at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, a Belgian research university.

The UN rights office says his execution could take place soon “despite failures to respect fair trial and due process standards.”

“Iran must stop this execution.”

Sweden’s Foreign Ministry says that “the circumstances in which Ahmadreza Djalali had been detained make for a serious threat to his health.”

The comments come amid fears that a Swedish appeals court decision confirming the conviction of former Iranian prison official Hamid Noury could jeopardize the fate of several Swedish prisoners in Iran.

TV report: Israel believes drone fired at tanker off India was launched directly from Iran

Israel believes the drone fired at a tanker off the coast of India a short while ago was launched directly from Iran, Channel 12 reports, although this remains unconfirmed.

The ship, said to be a Liberia-flagged chemical/products tanker, sustained damage but there were no casualties, two maritime agencies said, with one reporting, without confirmation, that the vessel is linked to Israel.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the strike, which comes amid a flurry of drone and missile attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on a vital shipping lane in the Red Sea in solidarity with Gaza.

However, as the attack occurred some 200 nautical miles southwest of Veraval, India, it is unlikely to have been carried out from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

AFP contributed to this report.

Senior Hezbollah official says group offered to open all-out war, Hamas didn’t think it would halt Gaza op

Senior Hezbollah official Nawaf Musawi says the Hamas terror group believes another major front on the northern border would not stop Israel’s campaign in the Gaza Strip.

“We asked our brothers in Gaza what could we do? If to initiate an all-out war in Lebanon. Would that stop the war in Gaza or not?” Musawi tells Lebanon’s al-Manar TV network.

“Their response was no, it would not stop it, the war in Gaza will not end, only with Israel’s victory inside Gaza,” he says.

The border between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating exchanges of fire since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, raising fears of a broader conflagration. Tens of thousands of Israelis have been evacuated from northern border towns, which have been repeatedly targeted by the Hezbollah terror group.

Since hostilities began in October, more than 140 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but also more than a dozen civilians, three of them journalists, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, four civilians and eight soldiers have been killed, according to officials.

مسؤول ملف الموارد والحدود في #حزب‌_الله السيد #نواف_الموسوي:
سألنا الأخوة في اليوم التالي لعملية #طوفان_الأقصى، ماذا يمكن أن نفعل، هل لو قمنا بهذا الأمر (الحرب الشاملة) سيقف القتال على #غزة، قالوا "لا"، لن يتوقف الهجوم على غزة الا بانكسار المقاتل الاسرائيلي في غزة. https://t.co/rUJvFEpKnO pic.twitter.com/LPgqre0xA0

— Bahraniyah (@Bahraniyah) December 22, 2023

Rocket sirens sound in Nahal Oz

Incoming rocket alerts are activated in the southern Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

No injuries or damage are immediately reported.

Southern communities close to the border were evacuated after the outbreak of war on October 7.

Iran’s Khamenei calls on Muslim countries to block fuel from reaching Israel

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressing an audience from Kerman and Khuzestan in Tehran, December 23, 2023. (Khamenei.ir/AFP)

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls on Muslim countries to prevent the delivery of fuel and other products to Israel, which he claims “prevents water from entering the Gaza Strip.”

His comments come as a drone strike reportedly damaged a ship off the coast of India. The US on Friday said Iran has been “deeply involved” in the planning of attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, disrupting global shipping.

“Muslim nations should demand from their regimes to stop assistance to Israel and break ties with it,” Khamenei says, at a meeting with people from the Khuzestan and Kerman provinces in Tehran.

On October 9, two days after Hamas carried out its devastating massacre in southern Israeli communities, Israel cut off the piped water it sends into Gaza, which amounts to some nine percent of the coastal enclave’s water supply in peacetime. It has since reopened some of the supply to designated humanitarian zones.

Khamenei also claims again that Israel will one day be wiped off the face of the Earth.

“God willing, this promise is one of the certainties of the future. Young people, see that day with your own eyes. With God’s help and strength, and with God’s permission and glory, this will happen, and God willing, I hope that you the youth will see that day with your own eyes.”

Khamenei says Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom are indistinguishable in the eyes of the international community due to their support of the ongoing military offensive in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7 shock onslaught.

“The US shamelessly vetoes the Security Council resolution for a ceasefire, unmasking the face of the Western civilization,” he says, referencing Washington’s efforts to block such measures.

“The great victory of the Palestinian nation is that they discredited the West and the US and their false claims of human rights.”

Iran, which supports Hamas financially and militarily, has hailed the terror group’s murderous October 7 attack as a “success” but denied any direct involvement.

Rockets sirens sound in northern towns

Sirens warning of incoming rocket fire sounded a short time ago in the northern towns of Kiryat Shmona and Manara, near the Lebanon border.

There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Sirens sound in north for suspected drone infiltration; IDF says false alarm

A suspected drone infiltration alarm sounded in the Upper Galilee, near the Lebanon border, a short time ago. The alerts were activated in the communities of Yiftah, Ramot Naftali, Malkia and Dishon.

The IDF now says the sirens were a false alarm.

The Hezbollah terror group has carried out several attacks on northern Israel using explosive-laden drones, though there have also been numerous false alarms.

Flooding in northern Israeli towns and roads amid heavy rain

Flooding is reported in northern Israeli towns amid heavy rains, leading to closures in some areas.

Roads have been intermittently shut down near Karmiel, Nazareth, at the Golani Junction and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, videos show overflowing streets in many communities.

הצפות בנשר pic.twitter.com/vylTbudojR

— NWS news (@nws_report) December 23, 2023

כפר קאבול בצפון, בכל שנה הצפות גדולות ברחובות הכפר. pic.twitter.com/5i3EhpAX4q

— Asslan Khalil (@KhalilAsslan) December 23, 2023

Two East Jerusalem residents shot dead in unclear circumstances

Two residents of East Jerusalem were shot dead in unclear circumstances near Anata, police say.

Magen David Adom paramedics called to the scene declared the men dead.

The murder of the two, aged 21 and 31, is being investigated. The incident is believed to be criminal in nature.

Gaza rockets target south after pause of nearly 48 hours

After a lull of nearly 48 hours, rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel.

The attack sets off sirens in the largely evacuated border community of Kfar Aza.

Locals report seeing four interceptor missiles downing the incoming projectiles.

There are no reports of injuries or damage.

The rate of rocket fire from Gaza has slowed significantly in recent weeks, as the IDF expands its ground offensive against Hamas.

Four interceptions reported over Gaza border communities following rocket fire from Gaza. pic.twitter.com/KhOQa4wnrp

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 23, 2023

Drone strike hits allegedly Israel-linked ship off India’s coast — maritime agencies

A drone strike has damaged a ship off the coast of India but caused no casualties, two maritime agencies say, with one reporting the merchant vessel was linked to Israel.

The attack caused a fire on board, says the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, or UKMTO.

Ambrey, a maritime security firm, says the “Liberia-flagged chemical/products tanker… was Israel-affiliated” and had been on its way from Saudi Arabia to India.

The ostensible Israeli affiliation has not been made clear.

Both agencies say the attack occurred 200 nautical miles southwest of Veraval, India. They do not name the vessel.

Israeli forces in Gaza captured over 200 terror operatives in past week — IDF

IDF troops seen operating in the Gaza Strip in this handout photo released December 23, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF and Shin Bet say more than 200 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror operatives were captured in the Gaza Strip over the past week, and taken for questioning.

The joint statement says hundreds of suspects were detained in the Strip over the past week, of which more than 200 were brought to Israel to be interrogated by the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504.

It says some of the captured Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives were hiding within the civilian population, and later surrendered to troops.

So far since the beginning of the ground offensive, more than 700 terror operatives have been captured and brought to Israel, the IDF says.

IDF says it carried out wave of strikes against Hezbollah sites

File: Smoke billows after an Israeli raid over Lebanon's southern village of Aita al-Shaab near the border with Israel on December 22, 2023 (Hasan FNEICH / AFP)

The IDF confirms carrying out a wave of strikes against Hezbollah sites overnight and this morning.

It says the targets include a military compound and other infrastructure used by the terror group.

The IDF says it also carried out artillery shelling along the border, presumably to foil planned Hezbollah attacks.

Troops in northern Gaza battle, kill numerous Hamas gunmen, IDF says

During ground operations in the southern part of Gaza City, the IDF says troops of the Yiftah Reserve Brigade carried out an ambush against Hamas, leading to dozens of terror operatives being killed.

The IDF says the troops opened fire in a deceptive manner to cause dozens of gunmen to flee into a building used as a command center. The building was then struck by a fighter jet.

Also in the southern Gaza City area, the IDF says Yiftah Brigade snipers killed several Hamas gunmen who were preparing to attack troops.

Other buildings identified by the brigade as being used by Hamas in the area were struck by aircraft, the IDF adds.

In an unspecified area of Gaza City, the IDF says troops of the 14th Reserve Armored Brigade identified a group of Hamas gunmen and called in an airstrike.

In the Shati camp area of Gaza City, the IDF says the 14th Brigade identified a further three Hamas gunmen who had opened fire at them. The brigade called in an airstrike to kill the three operatives.

The incidents in Gaza City indicate that while the IDF has operational control over the area, it is still battling smaller Hamas cells.

Meanwhile, in central Gaza, the IDF says the 179th Reserve Armored Brigade found a cache of weapons in a children’s daycare center, including mortars, RPGs and other explosives.

במסגרת הפעילות הקרקעית במרחב עיסא שבדרום העיר עזה, לוחמי צוות הקרב החטיבתי יפתח (11), כהערכות למארב מתוכנן, ביצעו ירי להטעיה שהוביל לבריחת עשרות מחבלים לתוך מבנה ששימש כמפקדת חמאס>> pic.twitter.com/h4e7wwCaUo

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 23, 2023

Israeli airstrikes reported in southern Lebanon

The Israeli Air Force is carrying out strikes in the area of Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon, according to local media reports, amid the ongoing fighting along the border.

There is no immediate confirmation from the military.

UN chief: ‘Nothing can justify’ horrific Hamas Oct. 7 terror attacks; Israel’s offensive causing massive aid obstacles

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says “nothing can possibly justify the horrific terror attacks launched by Hamas on 7 October, or the brutal abduction of some 250 hostages.”

He states this in the first of several posts, in which he later also says Israel’s “offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza.”

In his first post on X, Guterres says he repeats his “call for all remaining hostages to be released immediately and unconditionally.”

Nothing can possibly justify the horrific terror attacks launched by Hamas on 7 October, or the brutal abduction of some 250 hostages.

I repeat my call for all remaining hostages to be released immediately and unconditionally.

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) December 22, 2023

The post follows the passage of a UN Security Council resolution that calls to immediately speed up the aid delivery into Gaza while also “creating the conditions” for an end to the Israel-Hamas war, sparked by the terror group’s October 7 attacks in which thousands of terrorists indeed Israel by land, sea, and air, and killed 12,00 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages.

“As difficult as it might appear today, the two-state solution – in line with UN resolutions, international law and previous agreements – is the only path to sustainable peace,” he wrote in an earlier post. “Any suggestion otherwise denies human rights, dignity and hope to the Palestinian people.”

Guterres this week watched the IDF’s 47-minute documentary of Hamas atrocities from October 7 in a private screening at UN headquarters, after considerable pressure from Israeli officials, Channel 12 reported on Tuesday. Guterres had not attended previous screenings organized by Israeli officials at the UN, citing scheduling difficulties.

The footage includes harrowing scenes of murder, torture and decapitation from the Hamas slaughter in southern Israel, including raw videos from the terrorists’ bodycams.

According to Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, Guterres said after watching the footage that the Hamas onslaught was “humanity at its worst.”

Guterres has faced significant backlash from Israeli officials since the outbreak of war due to comments that have been interpreted by some as anti-Israel and pro-Hamas.

In October, the UN chief appeared to suggest that the impetus for the devastating Hamas assault was the Jewish state’s control of Palestinian territories, despite Israel having unilaterally withdrawn from Gaza in 2005.

“It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,” Guterres said, prompting both Erdan and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to call for his resignation.

More recently, Cohen accused Guterres of supporting Hamas and again called for his resignation after the UN chief wrote a letter pressing for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. Cohen also condemned Guterres’s decision to invoke a rare clause in the UN charter to urge Security Council intervention.

On December 9, the US vetoed a Security Council resolution backed by almost all council members and dozens of other nations demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood criticized the council after the vote for its failure to condemn Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacres in Israel, or to acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself.

In another post on X today, Guterres says that since the outbreak of war on October 7 “136 of our colleagues [at UN agencies] in Gaza have been killed in 75 days – something we have never seen in
UN history.”

“Most of our staff have been forced from their homes. I pay tribute to them & the thousands of aid workers risking their lives as they support civilians in Gaza,’ he writes.

And in another post today, Guterres says: “The way Israel is conducting this offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza. An effective aid operation in Gaza requires security; staff who can work in safety; logistical capacity; and the resumption of commercial activity.”

EU ‘deeply shocked’ over food insecurity in Gaza following UN famine warning

BRUSSELS — Two senior European Union officials say they are “deeply shocked” at an assessment that the entire population of Gaza is at risk of acute food insecurity following over two months of war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 onslaught that killed 1,200 people and saw about 240 taken hostage.

“This is a grave development and should be a wake-up call for the whole world to act now to prevent a deadly human catastrophe,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic says in a statement.

“We urgently need continued, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to avoid a further worsening of an already catastrophic situation,” they say. “The lack of access to basic staples is creating a situation of famine.”

An Integrated Food Security Phase Classification assessment released Thursday said that “hostilities, including bombardment, ground operations and besiegement of the entire population have caused catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity across the Gaza Strip.”

Just over two million people live in Gaza. About 85% of them are estimated to have been forced to flee their homes.

Biden says he’s ‘heartbroken’ over killing of Israeli-American hostage in Gaza

An undated photo of Judi Weinstein and Gadi Haggai (Courtesy)

US President Joe Biden says he is “heartbroken” over news that Israeli-American hostage Gadi Haggai was killed in Hamas captivity.

Haggai’s kibbutz announced earlier Friday that he was murdered, without offering additional details.

He is one of the eight US citizens and Green Card holders still in Gaza.

Biden reaffirms the pledge “we have made to all the families of those still held hostage: we will not stop working to bring them home.”

“We continue to pray for the well-being and safe return of his wife, Judy. Their daughter joined by phone my meeting with the families of hostages last week,” Biden says. “Those families bravely shared with me the harrowing ordeal that they have endured over the past months as they await news of their loved ones. It’s intolerable.”

“Today, we are praying for their four children, seven grandchildren, and other loved ones and are grieving this tragic news with them,” he adds.