Jan. 3: Several Hezbollah members killed in Israeli strikes as erupting tensions roil border

Heavy fighting reported in Gaza

Palestinian media outlets report on heavy airstrikes and fighting in central and southern Gaza.

Fierce battles are said to be taking place in the al-Maghazi Refugee Camp in central Gaza.

In addition, repeated airstrikes are reported in the southern metropolis of Khan Younis.

There is no comment from the IDF.

Four Hezbollah members said killed as Israel strikes terror cell in southern Lebanon

A local Hezbollah official and three other members of the Iran-aligned terror group were killed late on Wednesday in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon, two security sources tell Reuters.

The strike brings the death toll in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Wednesday to nine Hezbollah members in one of the deadliest days for the group since it began exchanging cross-border fire with Israel in October.

The IDF says in a statement that it carried out an strike against a terror cell operating in the southern Lebanese village of Yaroun.

תקיפת חוליית מחבלים, תשתית צבאית ואמצעי תצפית; צה"ל תקף מטרות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בשטח לבנון.

כוחות צה"ל תקפו לפני זמן קצר חוליית מחבלים שפעלה במרחב הכפר יארון. בנוסף, צה"ל תקף אמצעי תצפית ותשתית צבאית בה שהו פעילים של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה>> pic.twitter.com/AEjMjHOIwP

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 3, 2024

In another unspecified area of south Lebanon, the IDF says it targeted Hezbollah’s observation capabilities and other “military infrastructure” manned by the terror group’s operatives.

Several projectiles were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel a short while ago, which the IDF says all landed in open areas near the community of Goren.

Top Lebanese diplomat says Beirut asking Hezbollah to avoid war

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib in Beirut, Lebanon, December 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib tells CNN he is trying to convince Hezbollah to back off and keep the group from pushing Lebanon into war with Israel, but admits Beirut has little control over the powerful terror militia.

“It’s not like we can order them. We’re not claiming that but we can convince them and I think it is working in this direction,” he tells the station during a visit to Washington.

He says Lebanon does “not want any war” and fears the skirmishes between Israel and the terror group, which have been mainly limited to the border region, could spread.

“We don’t like a regional war because it’s dangerous to everybody. Dangerous to Lebanon, dangerous to Israel and to the countries surrounding Israel,” he says.

Bou Habib also accuses Israel of being behind a pair of bombs that went off at the tomb of Iran’s gen. Qassem Soleimani in which over 100 people were killed, without providing any evidence.

Hamas still has significant forces in Gaza, White House says

Palestinians walk past destroyed buildings in Gaza City on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. (AP/Mohammed Hajjar)

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says Hamas “still has a significant force posture inside Gaza, but Israel’s goal to defeat the terror group remains attainable.”

Kirby acknowledges, though, that while it’s possible for Israel to significantly degrade Hamas’s capabilities by eliminating the terror group’s leadership, the IDF won’t likely be able to “erase the group from existence.”

“You are probably not going to eliminate the ideology,” Kirby says, reiterating the US belief that only by presenting a viable path toward peace can the vision of Hamas be successfully combated.

Kirby notes that US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan held a phone call Tuesday with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a top aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to discuss the Israel-Gaza war and efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages held by terrorists in the Strip

“They discussed ongoing Israeli military operations and ongoing efforts to see if we can secure the release of the remaining hostages,” Kirby says.

Kirby insists that hostage talks are ongoing and serious, despite the growing understanding that the sides are at a crossroads.

Hezbollah names 3 members killed amid cross-border clashes

Hezbollah announces the deaths of three members of the terror group, bringing the number of operatives killed Wednesday to five, as the sides continue to exchange fire across the increasingly volatile border.

The three are named as Muhammad Akram Hamad, Abbas Hussein Zaher and Hassan Ali Daqiq.

The group claims it targeted a group of Israeli soldiers near Shomera on the border “with appropriate weapons” at 8:55 p.m.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah-affiliated al-Meyadeen news site reports Israeli strikes on the town of Naqoura, on the southern Lebanese coast.

There is no comment from Israeli military authorities.

Hezbollah has named 143 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 19 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and at least 19 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.

US not going anywhere, White House says amid jitters in wake of carrier departure

The US will “continue to maintain a significant military force presence in the Middle East,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says amid reported Israeli concerns about the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw one of the two aircraft carriers it moved into the Eastern Mediterranean following Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.

The US military presence includes the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower as well as an Amphibious Ready Group, which moved into the Eastern Mediterranean in recent days upon the departure of the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier, Kirby says during a press briefing.

The US is not interested in seeing the Gaza conflict spread, “but neither will we shrink from the task of defending ourselves, our interests and our partners,” Kirby says in reference to recent attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Report: Sara Netanyahu accused hostage families of helping Hamas

File: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara at his side, meets with representatives of families whose loved ones are being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, October 28, 2023. (GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara criticized relatives of hostages held in Gaza while tagging along with her husband and a top official during a meeting with the families Tuesday, Channel 12 news reports.

According to the station’s unsourced report, Sara Netanyahu told the families that their statements in the media were bolstering Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, drawing angry responses, including from some who shouted at the premier’s wife.

The report says that some relatives replied that freed hostages told of hearing their relatives through the media, helping fortify them during tough times.

According to the channel, the prime minister attempted to intercede on behalf of his wife, noting her concern for the plight of the hostages.

He told the families that while releasing prisoners in exchange for hostages’ freedom was not on the table, Israel is “mulling declaring the deportation of Sinwar from Gaza,” a likely reference to reports that Israel could allow Hamas leaders to leave the Strip and spare their lives, in exchange for the release of all remaining hostages, ending the war, the channel reports.

Governments often prefer to keep hostages out of the spotlight, knowing that public campaigns can drive up kidnappers’ demands. However, families are often reticent to suffer in silence, fearing that their loved ones will be forgotten and seeing public pressure as a key tool in getting their government to agree to painful concessions.

US unhappy with flow of aid into Gaza, focused on getting more in

US State Department spokesman Matt Miller says the Biden administration is not satisfied with the amount of food, water and humanitarian aid currently entering Gaza, and that the issue is the focus of talks between the countries.

“There’s not enough of it coming in. It’s too inconsistent and the number of trucks that get in every day, they need to go up dramatically, and they need to stay up,” Miller says.

“That continues to be the focus of our engagement and some very direct, candid conversations with the government of Israel as well as with other countries in the region that can play an important role,” the State Department spokesman adds.

Separately, Miller pushes back against the accusation of genocide leveled at Israel by South Africa at the International Court of Justice, saying the US is “not seeing any acts that constitute genocide” by Israel in its war against Hamas.

“Genocide is one of the most heinous atrocities that any individual can commit. Those are allegations that should not be made lightly,” he says, adding that the US does not think South Africa’s decision to pursue an ICJ probe was a “productive step to take at this time.”

During a subsequent White House briefing, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called South Africa’s submission meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”

Germans advised to leave Lebanon swiftly as war winds blow north

A picture taken from northern Israel shows smoke billowing from across the border in south Lebanon on January 3, 2024. ( Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

Germany is urging its citizens to leave Lebanon quickly, warning that the Israel-Hamas war could expand after a strike in Beirut killed a senior Hamas leader.

“All German citizens, who are still in Lebanon, are asked to register on the ELEFAND crisis preparedness list and to leave the country as quickly as possible,” writes the German foreign ministry on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The warning comes after a meeting Wednesday of the German government’s crisis unit.

“A further deterioration of the situation and expansion of the conflict cannot be ruled out, especially given the killing of Saleh al-Arouri,” the political number two of Hamas in Beirut on Tuesday, the ministry writes. “This applies above all to the southern part of Lebanon, up to and including the southern urban areas of Beirut.”

US: Arouri was ‘brutal terrorist,’ conflict no less stable now after assassination

US State Department spokesman Matt Miller says the Hamas deputy leader allegedly assassinated by Israel yesterday in Beirut was a “brutal terrorist centrally responsible for the attacks on October 7 and other attacks against innocent civilians going back well beforehand.”

Pressed whether the US feels the alleged Israeli decision to kill Saleh al-Arouri harms Washington’s desire to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spreading, Miller says the concern for escalation between Israel and Lebanon is not any higher today than it was at the beginning of the conflict.

While he appears to all but nod in approval of the assassination, Miller does say during the press briefing that the US was not informed in advance of Arouri’s assassination.

Miller doesn’t go as far as to confirm that Israel was behind the attack but says, “I’ll leave it to the government of Israel to speak to their actions.”

He also says Washington has no reason to believe that Israel was responsible for the deadly blasts earlier today near the grave of slain Iranian Guards general Qassem Soleimani.

“The United States was not involved in any way, and any suggestion to the contrary is ridiculous,” he adds while expressing condolences to the victims and their families.

While some have pointed a finger at Israel over the bombings, which reportedly killed 103 people, threats of harsh responses from Iranian leaders pointedly do not accuse Jerusalem of involvement.

UN pushes back on Smotrich suggestion Gazans should leave

The United Nations is implicitly criticizing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for his calls to encourage Palestinians in Gaza to leave the territory, reiterating the 193-member world body’s strong opposition to forced displacement.

UN associate spokesperson Florencia Soto Niño tells reporters Wednesday that “no one should be advocating for mass displacement of Palestinians out of Gaza.”

On Wednesday, Smotrich wrote that 70% of Israelis support “voluntary migration” for Palestinians from Gaza to other countries.

Smotrich’s initial call encouraging Palestinians to leave Gaza was met with an international outcry including from Israel’s closest ally the United States, its top European ally Germany and neighboring Egypt.

Soto Niño stresses that Palestinian civilians should be safe in Gaza.

“Every person has the right to be protected from forced displacement from their home or residence, and so far 85% of this population has been internally displaced and is living in pretty dire conditions,” she says. “They have the right to return to their homes.”

Petitioners fete court ruling delaying recusal law

Both the Movement for Quality Government in Israel and the Yisrael Beytenu party are praising the High Court of Justice’s ruling postponing the implementation of a law meant to shield Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from being ordered to recuse himself from office, which both had petitioned against last year.

“I welcome the fact that the court accepted the petition of Yisrael Beytenu and determined that the law will only apply from the next Knesset, thereby preventing absurd situations,” MK Oded Forer says in a statement declaring that “there will be enough time to argue about the legal quibbles” but that “for now we will continue to work together, shoulder to shoulder, in order to defeat our enemy from the north and the south.”

The court ruled that the law, an amendment to Basic Law: The Government, will take affect at the beginning of the next Knesset term after the next general elections are held, making sure the measure cannot be used for Netanyahu as designed.

“The court’s decision is an important victory for the Israeli public; Basic Laws are not putty in the hands of the prime minister, that he can change overnight,” the Movement for Quality Government in Israel says in a statement. “The prime minister, who is facing serious criminal proceedings in which he is accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three different cases, cannot create a golden cage for himself without any possibility of him being declared unfit for office if he were to intervene as prime minister in his own criminal affairs.”

“Netanyahu’s coalition dragged the State of Israel into an unprecedented constitutional crisis, partly due to personal considerations of the Prime Minister,” agrees Labor MK Gilad Kariv in a post on social platform X. “Faced with the coalition’s unprecedented measures that undermined basic democratic principles, the Supreme Court also required unprecedented rulings in order to protect democracy and moral purity.”

Army probing strike on Red Crescent HQ in Gaza

The IDF has launched a probe into its bombing of the Palestinian Red Crescent headquarters in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis yesterday.

According to the Red Crescent, five people were killed and three others were wounded in the strike. At least 14,000 displaced people are sheltering in the building and a nearby hospital, it said.

In response to the report, the IDF Spokespersons Unit tells The Times of Israel that immediately after the incident was reported, an “operational investigation” was carried out “to draw immediate lessons.”

????الاحتلال يجدد قصفه لمقر جمعية الهلال الأحمر الفلسطيني في #خانيونس للمرة الثانية وعدد من الشهداء والجرحى بين صفوف النازحين البالغ عددهم14 الف نازح في مقر الجمعية ومستشفى الأمل المجاور له.#لست_هدفا❌#غزة pic.twitter.com/Tes6eJCO9m

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 2, 2024

“At the same time, the incident was transferred to the General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism, which is responsible for investigating unusual incidents that occurred during the fighting,”  it adds.

A military source tells The Times of Israel that Hamas’s use of civilian sites to fight Israel “is extensive and unprecedented.”

The source says entire neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip have been converted into “fighting complexes” for Hamas, which include “ambushes, command and control apartments, weapon depots, combat tunnels, observation posts, firing positions, booby-trapped homes and explosives in the streets.”

“Fierce battles against IDF forces have been taking place from these buildings since the beginning of the ground maneuver,” the source adds.

Justice minister accuses court of ‘harming unity’ with timing of rulings

Justice Minister Yariv Levin arrives for a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on December 10, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Justice Minister Yariv Levin criticizes the High Court for releasing two major rulings, both decided by small margins, during war, saying it “harms the unity of the people.”

The comment echoes Innovation, Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis, who argues that the court’s actions are splitting the people at a time when Israelis are putting aside their differences to fight “shoulder to shoulder.”

The court ruled Wednesday that a law shielding a sitting premier from recusal must be delayed, days after voiding a law that had curbed the court’s ability to use reasonableness as a factor in voiding laws.

Levin adds that “a democratically elected prime minister is replaced by a ballot and not by a verdict,” and claims the rulings prove the need for judicial reforms.

“The hasty and casual repeal of the Knesset legislation is further proof of the urgent need for a real balance between the branches of government,” he continues. “It is impossible to prevent the people from exercising their will in a proper democracy and to overturn the decisions of their representatives again and again.”

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi says both rulings are “null and void” because “they contradict basic laws enacted democratically by an elected parliament.”

“The court has no authority to discuss fundamental laws, not to reject their applicability, certainly not to disqualify them and not even to approve them,” claims the Movement for Governability and Democracy, a conservative group established by MK Simcha Rothman, one of the architect’s of the government’s judicial overhaul plan.

Joint statement from US, 11 others threatens Houthis over Red Sea attacks

Twelve nations led by the United States are jointly warning Yemen’s Houthi rebels of unspecified consequences unless they halt attacks on Red Sea shipping vessels.

“Let our message now be clear: we call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews,” says the statement released by the White House.

“The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways,” reads the statement.

It comes after several reports that President Joe Biden’s administration is considering direct strikes on the rebels if the attacks continue.

Signatories of the statement included Britain, which on Monday issued its own warning to the Houthis of “direct action,” as well as Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan.

The only regional country to sign is Bahrain, the tiny Gulf state that has particularly tense relations with Iran, which supports the Houthis.

Israel is not a signatory, and the statement does not mention the country or the war against Hamas which ostensibly sparked the Houthi attacks.

“These attacks threaten innocent lives from all over the world and constitute a significant international problem that demands collective action,” the statement reads.

Army ready for fight in north, IDF chief says, vowing to beef up border defenses

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (center) tours Israel's northern border, January 3, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

During a visit to the northern border, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the military is in a “very strong state of readiness in the north,” but remains focused on fighting Hamas.

The remarks come a day after Israel allegedly assassinated Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri in Lebanon. The Lebanese Hezbollah terror group, which has been carrying out daily attacks on northern Israel since October 8, has vowed to respond.

“We are in a very strong state of readiness in the north under my impression. I visit here a lot, I think readiness is at its peak,” Halevi says during an assessment with Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, the commander of the 210th Regional Division, Brig. Gen. Zion Ratzon, and commanders of reservist units on the border.

“We are very well prepared in all areas, and we are currently focusing on fighting Hamas,” Halevi says.

He says the war, despite the difficult circumstances that led to it, provides “some kind of opportunity to change the situation in a very significant way,” both in the south and north.

“We are looking ahead, we are going to change the routine defense, we are going to have at least in the next year many more forces on the borders, and we will reach something much stronger. Because this incident, as difficult as it is, and we will talk a lot more, it cannot repeat itself, that’s for sure,” Halevi adds, referring to Hamas’s October 7 massacres.

Threatening Israel, Nasrallah says Hezbollah not afraid of war, will fight with ‘no rules’

Supporters of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group raise their fists and cheer, as they listen to a speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah speaking via a video link during a ceremony to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Iran's Quds force General Qassem Soleimani, January 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is challenging Israel, saying the Lebanese terror group is not afraid of a fight and saying it will pull no punches if war does break out.

Nasrallah says his organization is not deterred from taking action, pointing derisively at a US warship that left the region and claiming Israel is struggling to make gains in Gaza.

He says Hezbollah’s cross-border shelling of Israel starting on October 8 had prevented a broader bombing campaign by Israel in Gaza, warning that there will be “no ceilings” and “no rules” to his group’s fighting if Israel launches a war on Lebanon.

He accuses Israel of being behind the assassination of Hamas No. 2 Saleh al-Arouri in a Beirut suburb a day earlier, calling it “a major, dangerous crime about which we cannot be silent.”

Addressing Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Nasrallah says Israel “will not succeed in achieving the war’s goals.”

He claims falsely that Israel is hiding thousands of casualties from Hezbollah attacks on the northern border, and that “hundreds of thousands” have left the country since October 7.

Iranian leaders vow revenge for blasts, but don’t name Israel

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is vowing a “harsh response” after twin blasts that killed at least 103 people at the tomb of slain general Qassem Soleimani, but Tehran pointedly appears to avoid blaming Israel for the attacks.

“The evil and criminal enemies of the Iranian nation once again created a disaster and martyred a large number of dear people in Kerman,” says Khamenei in a statement.

“This disaster will have a harsh response, God willing.”

Iranian President Esmail Raisi vows that “the perpetrators of this cowardly act will soon be identified and punished for their heinous act.”

Esmail Qaani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, praises Soleimani for his support of “Palestinian resistance,” but also does not explicitly blame Israel, according to comments carried by Iranian state media.

Ex-captive fears PM more interested in winning war than freeing hostages

Aviva Siegel speaks to PBS NewsHour on January 2, 2024. (Screen capture/PBS)

Aviva Siegel, who was released from Hamas captivity after 51 days, says she fears that the Israeli government’s desire to win the war in Gaza will come at the expense of the hostages.

Siegel’s husband Keith remains captive in Gaza, with over 100 others who were kidnapped on October 7.

“I have a feeling that [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu wants to keep the war going because he wants to win the war, but he can’t keep the war going and get the hostages out,” Siegel tells PBS NewsHour.

“He needs to go to a ceasefire and then get them out, and he needs to get them out now as quick as possible because 88 days are enough,” Siegel says.

Asked whether she thinks Netanyahu is prioritizing winning the war over bringing the hostages home, Siegel responds, “I’ve got a feeling that that’s why the war is continuing, he wants to win the war.”

Siegel, 62, recalls the moment when she was separated from her husband upon her release from Hamas captivity.

“They hardly let me. I said, ‘Sorry. I’m going to say goodbye to Keith’ because he was in a different room and I just pushed them and ran to Keith,” she recalls. “I gave him a big, huge hug. And I said, ‘You be strong for me, I’ll be strong for you’ because I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again.”

“And I’m strong for Keith now, but I want him back. He is 64-years-old, he has health problems and he needs to get out now with all the other hostages,” Siegel says.

Delaying recusal law, court president says democracies don’t legislate for individuals

Supreme Court Justice Uzi Vogelman during a court hearing on petitions against National Security Minister's police regulations bill, June 7, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Acting Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman writes in his decision to postpone implementation of the government’s recusal law that in democratic countries the legislative body must consider the interest of the general public when passing laws, and not design them for the benefit of one specific person.

He says, however, that when the Knesset formulated the recusal law — an amendment to Basic Law: The Government which shields a sitting prime minister from being ordered by the attorney general or the High Court to recuse himself — they did so for the benefit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The entire legislative process was done with the veil of ignorance lifted, and out of a stated goal and purpose to benefit a certain person — the current prime minister,” writes Vogelman.

He references both the explicit comments of some coalition MKs that the law was being passed for Netanyahu’s benefit, as well as comments by Netanyahu immediately after the passage of the legislation saying he was now free to involve himself in the judicial overhaul legislation without fear of being ordered to recuse himself as evidence of how the law was personally designed for the current premier.

“All of the above leads to the conclusion that within the scope of the doctrine of misuse of constituent authority, Amendment No. 12 [the recusal law] fails the test of generality,” writes Vogelman.

As such, implementation of the law must be delayed till the next Knesset to avoid the highly personal aspect of the amendment, Vogelman and the court majority have ruled.

Israel strikes Hezbollah in southern Lebanon

The IDF says fighter jets hit a number of Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon in response to repeated cross-border attacks carried out by the terror group.

Additionally, the IDF says tanks shelled a cell operating in south Lebanon.

Several rockets and missiles were launched by Hezbollah at northern Israel in the last few hours.

The IDF says fighter jets hit a number of Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon in response to repeated cross-border attacks carried out by the terror group.

Additionally, the IDF says tanks shelled a cell operating in south Lebanon.

Several rockets and missiles were launched by… pic.twitter.com/FmzFWfJtpa

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 3, 2024

The IDF says there are no injuries in the latest attacks, and troops are shelling the launch sites.

The announcement comes as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivers a highly anticipated address.

Arab MK slams US liberal over post spreading fear of Zionist doctors

Arab-Israeli MK Ahmed Tibi slams a far-left American who claimed patients should fear Zionist doctors.

“Realizing how many American doctors and nurses are Zionists and genuinely terrified for Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, South Asian and Black patients — even more than usual,” Saira Rao wrote in a Monday X post that has received more than 6 million views.

It is a lie. Stop that nonsense against health system.its racist
די להפיץ שקר במיוחד נגד מערכת הבריאות.זו גזענות https://t.co/x5yAKhTlxv

— Ahmad Tibi (@Ahmad_tibi) January 3, 2024

“Stop spreading lies, especially against the healthcare system. This is racism,” Tibi, a Hadash-Ta’al MK and gynecologist, tweets in Hebrew.

A community note has been added to Rao’s post, calling her claim “a classic antisemitic trope.”

IDF blows up tunnels under Shifa hospital, where it once claimed Hamas command center lurked

The IDF says it has completed demolishing a Hamas tunnel network under Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, releasing a new 360-degree video showing the underground passages.

The complex is smaller than the expansive Hamas command center Israel had initially declared was beneath the Strip’s largest medical center.

Combat engineers blew up the tunnel, though the IDF says hospital buildings above ground were not damaged.

According to the IDF, the tunnel branches under Shifa were around 250 meters in length, and reach several sites used by Hamas in the area, describing them as used for terror purposes.

Israel’s combat operations around Shifa and other hospitals in the Strip have sparked angry denunciations from the international community.

The IDF says it has completed demolishing a Hamas tunnel network under Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, releasing a new 360-degree video showing the underground passages.

According to the IDF, the tunnel branches under Shifa are around 250 meters in length, and reach several sites… pic.twitter.com/l0XAQ6c1Xf

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 3, 2024

Hamas “systematically operates in the hospitals in the Gaza Strip and in the areas adjacent to them, using the residents as human shields and exploiting the hospital’s infrastructure, including electricity and water,” the IDF says.

Troops also located Hamas weaponry within Shifa as well as evidence showing the terror group brought hostages to the medical center following the October 7 attacks, according to the army.

A US official said earlier today that American spy agencies have intelligence that Hamas used Shifa Hospital to command forces and hold some hostages, but largely evacuated the complex days before Israeli troops entered it.

High Court delays contentious law shielding Netanyahu from recusal

All 15 High Court justices preside over a court hearing on petitions against the government's 'reasonableness law' at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, September 12, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In another legal defeat for the government, the High Court of Justice rules six to five to postpone the implementation of the recusal law passed in March, which shielded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from being ordered to recuse himself from office by the attorney general or the High Court itself.

The court rules that the law, an amendment to Basic Law: The Government, will take affect at the beginning of the next Knesset term after the next general elections are held.

Though it does not strike it down, the court says in its ruling that the recusal or incapacitation law was “clearly a personal amendment” and therefore constituted an improper use of the Knesset’s power to pass and amend Israel’s quasi constitutional Basic Laws.

The coalition advanced the recusal law to prevent a situation in which the attorney general could declare Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to have a conflict of interest as premier when dealing with government’s contentious judicial overhaul legislation and order him to step down. Government watchdog groups argue the judicial overhaul could impact his ongoing corruption trial.

Former Supreme Court Justice Esther Hayut, who presided over the September hearing together with Acting Supreme Court Justice Uzi Vogelman and justices Isaac Amit, Daphne Barak-Erez, Anat Baron (retired) and Ofer Grosskopf rule to delay implementation of the law.

Justices Noam Sohlberg, David Mintz, Yosef Elron, Yael Wilner and Alex Stein ruled to reject the petitions and allow immediate implementation.

Hostage Sahar Baruch killed during rescue attempt a month ago, IDF says

Sahar Baruch was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from Kibbutz Be'eri. (Courtesy)

The IDF has notified the family of hostage Sahar Baruch that he was killed during a failed attempt to rescue him from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip on December 8.

The military says it is unable to determine the cause of death at this stage, and it is unknown if Baruch was murdered by Hamas or killed by Israeli fire.

Hamas at the time claimed that Baruch was killed by the IDF, publishing footage of his body.

Two IDF soldiers were seriously wounded in the failed hostage rescue attempt, the military said after the incident.

Germany slams Smotrich, Ben Gvir calls to resettle Gazans

Germany has become the latest country to condemn Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for suggesting that Gazans should be resettled in another country.

Berlin “reject[s] in all clarity unhelpful remarks by Israeli government ministers proposing Palestinians should leave Gaza in large numbers,” a German foreign ministry spokesman says. “Our position is clear: there must neither be any expulsions nor any territorial reduction of the Gaza Strip.”

Lebanese official says Israeli-guided missile used in strike on Hamas’s Arouri

A worker carries power cables passes in front of an apartment building where an apparent Israeli strike Tuesday killed top Hamas leader Saleh Arouri, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. (AP/Hussein Malla)

A high-level Lebanese security official claims Israel fired guided missiles from a warplane to kill Hamas number two Saleh al-Arouri in a Beirut suburb Tuesday

“Arouri was killed in strikes using guided missiles which were launched by an Israeli warplane,” the official says, requesting anonymity because of security concerns.

“A drone could not have carried out such a precise strike,” says the official with knowledge of the official Lebanese investigation into Arouri’s killing.

Palestinian demonstrators wave Hamas flags and shout slogans during a protest following the killing of top Hamas official Saleh Arouri in Beirut, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. (AP/Mahmoud Illean)

Pictures from the scene Wednesday showed heavy damage to part of a building, with the rest of the structure and neighboring ones appearing largely unscathed, indicating the precise nature of the strike.

According to the official, the guided missiles used in the attack weigh around 100 kilos (220 pounds), making them too heavy to have been fired by a drone.

Six missiles were used in Tuesday’s attack, four of which exploded, the official says.

Two of the missiles that detonated pierced through two floors and exploded in a room where Arouri was holding a meeting with other Hamas officials, the source adds.

A preliminary investigation by the Lebanese army indicated that remnants of the missiles match those used by the Israeli army during cross-border exchanges with Hezbollah and other pro-Iran groups in southern Lebanon, the source says.

High Court to rule on PM recusal law at 6:30 p.m.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends an event in Jerusalem, December 18, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)?

The High Court of Justice will issue its ruling on the government’s controversial recusal law at 6:30 this evening, the court announces.

The recusal or incapacitation law was passed in March to prevent a process whereby the High Court or the attorney general could order the prime minister to recuse himself from office.

The coalition advanced the legislation to prevent a situation in which the attorney general would declare Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to have a conflict of interest as premier when dealing with the government’s contentious judicial overhaul legislation, which government watchdog groups argued could impact his ongoing corruption trial.

During the hearing in the High Court on petitions against the law in September, then Supreme Court president Esther Hayut said the court was not considering outright annulling the law, but rather whether to delay its implementation to a future date in order to circumvent its apparently highly personal aspect, in that it would be of immediate political and legal benefit to Netanyahu.

Changing the implementation date of the law could in theory put Netanyahu in immediate peril since there are petitions calling for Netanyahu to be ordered to recuse himself that pre-date the law’s passage.

The attorney general has said however that it is unlikely, although not impossible, that she would take the drastic step of ordering him to step down.

Should the court rule against the government, it would be the second serious court defeat in a week for Netanyahu’s administration, following an unprecedented ruling on Monday in which the court struck down an amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary which banned all courts from using the reasonableness judicial standard to review government and ministerial decisions.

Denying report of talks with Congo, official says Gazan resettlement ‘an illusion’

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. (AP/Fatima Shbair)

A senior Israeli official denies a report from The Times of Israel sister site Zman Yisrael today that Israel is “in talks with the Congo” discussing the possibility of relocating thousands of Gazans.

“There are those in Israel who think that there is a willingness on the part of Gazans to emigrate voluntarily,” he says. “It’s a baseless illusion in my opinion. No country will absorb 2 million people, or 1 million, or 100,000, or 5,000. I don’t know where that idea came from.”

“It could be between Congo and Gazans, but Israel is not conducting any talks with any country on this issue,” the official continues. “I don’t want to say it’s fake, but it can’t be through us since we have no connection to it. [The Congolese] can talk to the Gazans and ask them to move to Congo.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have recently called for Gazans to be resettled outside of the Strip, drawing wide condemnation.

“Let’s say Smotrich wanted to do it, what can he do? We’re not part of this. We are not in a position where we can bring people from here to Congo…we’re not in the loop,” says the official.

Diplomatic official says politicians will decide on response to International Court of Justice

A diplomatic official says elected officials would examine possible responses if the International Court of Justice issues an interim ruling against Israel in a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza during the ongoing war.

“I can’t say what we will do right now if there will be this or that decision, that would not be right… we respect [the court’s] status,” the official says. “It is a decision for the political echelon in the event that there is an injunction of one kind or another.”

The official says it wasn’t clear what interim order was being requested of the court but it could range from an order to cease hostilities to something addressing concerns over the humanitarian situation in Gaza or specific military operations.

The official describes most of the allegations in the South African filing as “ridiculous,” but notes that there was also a section relating to comments made by senior Israeli politicians that indicate a deviation from acceptable practices in wartime, and notes that the filing used those comments to show that Israeli policy violates the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Senior official: Qatari silence on Arouri assassination good omen for hostage talks

Investigators stand in an apartment building where an alleged Israeli strike killed top Hamas terror chief Saleh Arouri, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. (AP/Hussein Malla)

A senior Israeli official says that the fact that Qatar did not respond publicly to the strike on Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri last night is a positive sign for the continuation of talks on the release of more hostages from Gaza.

“If they don’t announce anything, that is ultimately something optimistic,” says the official.

Israel has remained mum on responsibility for the strike despite widespread speculation that it was behind the killing of the top official.

The official says a high-stakes meeting in which the National Security Council and the Strategic Affairs Ministry were slated to present recommendations for the day after the war against Hamas, scheduled for yesterday, was delayed in the wake of the strike on Arouri in Beirut.

They will be presented Thursday evening instead, and the details of the recommendations will be made public.

Officials are expected to discuss the postwar role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East after the war.

The official offers rare praise for oft-pilloried UNRWA.

“At the moment, we don’t see another international player in Gaza that knows how to transport trucks to shelter areas,” the official says. “For the first time in its history perhaps, UNRWA is doing something that serves the humanitarian needs of Gaza’s residents. They are receiving food, water, and medicine from activities UNRWA is part of.”

IDF accuses Hamas, Islamic Jihad of using child soldiers

An undated image released by the IDF on January 3, 2023, showing Palestinian children playing on a mock tank next to Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. (Israel Defense Forces)

In a briefing to international media outlets, the IDF shows reporters footage recovered from the Gaza Strip showing what it says is the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups indoctrinating young people into their terrorist ideology.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have for years openly run and promoted summer camps in the Gaza Strip where children undergo military training.

The IDF says at the summer camps, children learn to fire weapons, use tunnels, fight against tanks, and kidnap soldiers as part of early training for the terror groups’ military wings.

Citing intelligence, the IDF says “a large number of minors are active” in Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

“Even during the war, the Hamas terror organization uses minors for various tasks, for example sending children for the purposes of conveying messages and ammunition,” the IDF says.

The IDF says the interrogation of a Hamas commander revealed that the terror group had used children to deliver explosive devices under the guise of bags of vegetables.

It also says children had been sent by terror groups to battlefields in Gaza after an attack, “to assess the damage and report it to the terrorists who are hiding in shelters.”

Iran declares official day of mourning after at least 103 people killed in twin blasts

Iran declares Thursday a day of mourning following twin blasts that killed at least 103 people near the grave of slain Revolutionary Guards general Qasem Soleimani in the country’s south.

“Following the terrorist incident in Kerman, the government declared tomorrow (Thursday) a day for public mourning across the country,” state television announces.

EU policy chief urges world to ‘impose’ solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell attends a press conference with Portugal's Foreign Minister Joao Gomes Cravinho after the Diplomatic Seminar at Oriente Museum in Lisbon on January 3, 2024. (PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP)

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says the international community must “impose” a solution to the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

“What we have learned over the last 30 years, and what we are learning now with the tragedy experienced in Gaza, is that the solution must be imposed from outside,” Borrell told diplomats in Portugal.

“Peace will only be achieved in a lasting manner if the international community gets involved intensely to achieve it and imposes a solution,” he says, pointing to the United States, Europe and Arab countries.

Borrell also speaks out against the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Lebanon, in a strike widely attributed to Israel, calling it “an additional factor that can cause an escalation of the conflict.”

Hezbollah claims missile attack on border town

The Hezbollah terror group claims it fired a Burkan heavy short-range missile at a military position in northern Israel near the border town of Malkia.

Army Radio reports that an anti-tank missile was fired at Malkia, causing damage to electricity infrastructure.

Sirens sounded at 4:35 p.m. in the town of Dovev, some 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Malkia, Homefront Command data shows.

There is no immediate comment from Israeli authorities on the incident.

Houthis claim attack on French container ship in Red Sea

In this photo provided by Manuel Hernandez Lafuente, the CMA CGM Symi is seen at port in Valencia, Spain, Oct. 22, 2023. (Manuel Hernandez Lafuente via AP)

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis say they “targeted” the CMA CGM Tage container ship in the Red Sea, claiming it was bound for Israel.

Houthis military spokesman Yahya Saree makes the claim in a televised speech a day after the US Central Command said the group had fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles in the southern Red Sea.

Asked about the Houthis’ claim, the French shipping firm CMA CGM tells Reuters the vessel was unharmed and had suffered no incident. The company also says the ship had been headed for Egypt, not Israel.

Saree does not say when or where the incident took place. He says Houthis will continue their attacks until aid enters Gaza, and issues another warning to the United States.

“No US attack will pass without a response or punishment,” he says.

CENTCOM had said in its statement late Tuesday that there were no reports of any damage caused by the two missiles the Houthis had fired in the area.

Iran says 103 killed in Kerman explosions, 141 injured

State media in Iran says the death toll from twin blasts near the grave of slain Revolutionary Guards general Qasem Soleimani has risen to 103 people, after some who were injured died of their wounds.

The official IRNA news agency also says that 141 people were wounded in the blast, with some in critical condition.

France says Smotrich, Ben Gvir ‘fueling tensions’ with resettlement talk

France adds its voice to the condemnation of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, calling on Israel to “refrain from such provocative statements, which are irresponsible and fuel tensions.”

“France recalls that the forced transfer of populations constitutes a serious violation of international law within the meaning of the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute,” reads the statement from the Foreign Ministry.

The Quai d’Orsay adds that “it is not up to the Israeli government to decide where the Palestinians should live on their lands. The future of the Gaza Strip and its inhabitants will be part of a unified Palestinian state living in peace and security alongside Israel.”

Bombs at Soleimani grave detonated remotely, says Revolutionary Guard-linked news site

The pair of bombs that detonated near the grave of slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani were set off by remote control, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reports, quoting informed sources.

“Two bags carrying bombs went off” at the site, says the news outlet, which is considered close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, whose Quds Force Soleimani headed before his 2020 assassination.

At least 170 people were wounded in twin bombings alongside at least 73 deaths, state media says.

The state-run ISNA news agency quotes Kerman mayor Saeed Tabrizi as saying the bombs exploded 10 minutes apart.

Online footage shows crowds scrambling to flee as security personnel cordoned off the area.

BREAKING:

At least 73 killed and 180 wounded in terror attack in Kerman, Iran.

2 bombs exploded as crowds were gathering near the grave of General Qassem Suleimani on the 4th anniversary of the U.S. drone strike that killed him.

Developing story… pic.twitter.com/2SGbJpUvXk

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 3, 2024

Images on state television show ambulances and rescue personnel in the area.

BREAKING:

Reports of as many as 20 casualties in an explosion in Kerman, Iran.

Regime supporters are gathering for Soleimani (Hajj Kotlet)'s memorial service

Will update.

pic.twitter.com/qev1c7cKsL

— Nioh Berg ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) January 3, 2024

Israel strikes Hezbollah in southern Lebanon amid persistent cross-border fire

The IDF says it struck a Hezbollah cell in southern Lebanon, and a fighter jet hit a site belonging to the terror group.

The airstrike comes amid repeated cross-border attacks carried out by Hezbollah, after a top Hamas terrorist in Lebanon was killed in an airstrike a day ago.

The IDF says several missiles were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel in the last few hours, and troops are shelling the launch sites with artillery.

מטוס קרב של חיל-האוויר תקף תשתית טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בשטח לבנון. pic.twitter.com/JMLp3x6MHp

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) January 3, 2024

Hezbollah claims two attacks on the border today so far, near Shlomi and Zar’it.

The terror group also announces the deaths of two more members, killed in an Israeli strike yesterday.

Since October 8, at least 140 Hezbollah members have been killed, mostly in south Lebanon, but some also in Syria.

Death toll in Iran blasts rises to at least 73, with 170 injured

At least 73 people have been killed in two blasts near the grave of slain Revolutionary Guards general Qassem Soleimani, state media reports, in what officials call a “terrorist attack.”

Authorities have confirmed 73 deaths and 170 injured who have been transferred to medical centers, emergency services say.

Authorities say some people were injured while fleeing afterward. Footage suggested that the second blast occurred some 15 minutes after the first. A delayed second explosion is often used by terrorists to target emergency personnel responding to the scene and inflict more casualties.

People could be heard screaming in state TV footage.

Kerman’s deputy governor, Rahman Jalali, calls the attack “terroristic,” without elaborating. Iran has multiple foes who could be behind the assault, including exile groups, militant organizations and state actors.

Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s regional military activities and is hailed as a national icon among supporters of Iran’s theocracy. He also helped secure Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government after the 2011 Arab Spring protests against him turned into a civil, and later a regional, war that still rages today.

#BREAKING
Two terrorist blasts in Iran’s southeastern city of Kerman have left at least 20 people dead and 60 more injured, according to Iranian media reports. pic.twitter.com/sroe3TF05j

— Tehran Times (@TehranTimes79) January 3, 2024

‘No one knew there was a Hamas office here’: Beirut residents shocked by killing

AFP reports from the scene of yesterday’s presumed Israeli strike in Beirut that killed the deputy leader of Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri.

The day after loud blasts ripped through the district from the drone attack that killed Arouri, armed men of Hezbollah stand guard in the mainly Shiite Muslim area that is their stronghold.

Local residents say they were surprised to learn that their busy street housed the secretive Hamas bureau in a nondescript three-story building nestled next to a pharmacy and a sweets shop.

“No one knew that there was a Hamas office here,” says Ahmed, 40, who works in the nearby sweets shop. “I heard three explosions. At first I thought it was thunder.”

“I was at the dentist’s, a few meters away,” says resident Mohammad Burji, 46, who lambasts Israel for striking “in the middle of a residential area.”

Local police captain Ali Farran says residents who lived through the 2006 war “are now expecting the worst.”

Iranian official says blasts near Soleimani grave were terrorism

The deputy governor of Kerman province says that the two blasts near the grave of Islamic Republican Guard Corps general Soleimani were acts of terrorism, according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency.

Sources on the ground are telling local media that the explosions came from suicide bombers in two separate locations, but that has not been confirmed by an official statement.

Initial reports indicated that at least 20 were killed in the blasts and the stampede that followed, but those figures are expected to rise. A Tasnim reporter says that there is a “strong chance” that more than 50 were killed.

At least 20 killed in blasts near grave of slain Iranian general Soleimani

Twenty people are reported killed in two explosions that occurred in the central city of Kerman during the fourth anniversary of the death of Gen. Qassim Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force who was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq in January 2020.

State TV says two explosions were heard near Soleimani’s burial place. The live broadcast showed thousands of mourners participating in the commemoration, with ambulances on site.

The semi-official Nournews says “several gas canisters exploded on the road leading to the cemetery.” A local official is quoted by Iranian state media as saying “it is not yet clear whether the explosions were caused by gas cylinders or a terrorist attack.”

State TV shows Red Crescent rescuers attending to wounded people at the ceremony, where hundreds of Iranians had gathered to mark the anniversary of Soleimani’s death. Some Iranian news agencies said at least 50 people were wounded.

“Our rapid response teams are evacuating the injured… But there are waves of crowds blocking roads,” Reza Fallah, head of the Kerman province Red Crescent tells state TV.

Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s regional military activities and is hailed as a national icon among supporters of Iran’s theocracy.

In Kerman, Iran, there seems to be chaos with unconfirmed reports of an explosion during a memorial for Soleimani

The mullahs can never manage to hold a funeral without casualties.

Dozens were killed in a stampede during Soleimani's procession in 2021

pic.twitter.com/AY1x6lhni7

— Nioh Berg ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) January 3, 2024

Explosion reported near Iran Guards commander Soleimani’s tomb on anniversary

Iranian state media reports an explosion near the cemetery in the southern city of Kerman during a ceremony held to mark the 2020 killing of Iran’s top commander Qassem Soleimani. He was assassinated in a US drone attack at Baghdad airport.

State media gives no further details.

The explosion that occurred on the road leading to ‘Gulzar Shahadai Kerman’ (the graveyard where Qassem Soleimani is burried) was related to several gas canisters that exploded, nobody was hurt and nothing special happened.

The crowd is calm and the relevant officials are… pic.twitter.com/ZWeggju107

— Arya – آریا ???????? (@AryJeay) January 3, 2024

Mossad chief: Those who took part in massacre signed their own death warrant

File: Mossad Director David Barnea speaks during a Conference of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), in Tel Aviv, on September 10, 2023 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

After the killing of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut yesterday, allegedly by Israel, Mossad chief David Barnea says today: “Let every Arab mother know that if her son took part in the [October 7] massacre — he signed his own death warrant.”

Barnea makes the comment at the funeral of former Mossad head Zvi Zamir, who died yesterday.

The quote is a paraphrase of a famous one by Israel’s first prime minister David Ben Gurion, who said in a 1963 speech: “Let every Hebrew mother know she has entrusted the fate of her [soldier] sons to commanders worthy of it.”

Macron warns Israel against talk of displacing Gazans

French President Emmanuel Macron looks on during a signature signing ceremony in Tirana, on October 17, 2023 ( Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned Israel against contemplating a forced displacement of Gaza residents.

In a phone call yesterday with war cabinet member Benny Gantz, Macron “argued that statements relating to the forced displacement of Gazans were unacceptable and contradicted the two-state solution which constitutes the only viable solution for a return to peace and security for all,” the president’s office says in an overnight readout of the phone call.

Macron also warned against the risk of spreading conflict, saying it is “essential to avoid any escalatory attitude, particularly in Lebanon,” the statement says. “France will continue to pass these messages to all actors involved directly or indirectly in the area,” it adds.

IDF footage highlights air support for ground forces in Gaza

The IDF releases footage showing close air support by Israeli Air Force drones for ground forces operating in the Gaza Strip.

The clips show drone strikes on Hamas operatives launching RPGs and missiles at Israeli troops and setting off explosive devices.

The IDF says the drone operators maintain constant radio contact with the ground forces and IAF command and control, which direct the aircraft to the correct locations and alert them of incidents.

The IAF’s drones also carry out other strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza and collect intelligence.

The publication comes amid unsubstantiated claims by far-right lawmakers that ground troops are not receiving enough air support during their operations in Gaza.

The IDF releases footage showing close air support by Israeli Air Force drones for ground forces operating in the Gaza Strip.

The clips show drone strikes on Hamas operatives launching RPGs and missiles at Israeli troops and setting off explosive devices.

The IDF says the drone… pic.twitter.com/9Y3JEeQrT1

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 3, 2024

3 arrested in Buenos Aires airport for alleged terror plot

Argentinian federal police arrested three men at the Jorge Newbery Airport in downtown Buenos Aires yesterday for possible links to terrorist activities, reports Clarin, an Argentine newspaper.

According to Clarin, security personnel detained the three after receiving intelligence about Syrian and Lebanese nationals entering Argentina, and the shipment of a parcel from Yemen, whose contents are unclear. Clarin reports that the parcel, weighing some 35 kilograms, was sent to the home where the three suspects intended to stay.

The newspaper adds that Argentine security forces were alarmed by the information, due to the fact that the Pan American Maccabi games are currently being held in Buenos Aires. The games, which began in 1950 and are held every 4 years, are hosting some 4,200 Jewish athletes from 22 countries.

Iran arrests four over bootleg alcohol deaths — media

Iranian authorities have arrested four people on suspicion of selling contaminated bootleg alcohol that killed at least three people, Iranian media reports.

The sale and consumption of alcohol has been banned in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, leading to a huge illicit trade in bootleg products, some of them adulterated with poisonous methanol.

“Three people have died of alcohol poisoning due to the consumption of counterfeit beverages,” says Saber Jafari, prosecutor for the city of Maku in the northwestern province of West Azerbaijan.

“Twenty people with symptoms of alcohol poisoning have been transferred to the city’s Fajr Hospital,” Jafari tells the Fars news agency.

He says four people have been arrested and an investigation is underway.

Army says drone strikes Palestinian gunmen during operation near Tulkarem

The IDF says it has carried out a drone strike against a group of Palestinian gunmen during a raid in the West Bank’s Nur Shams refugee camp.

The large-scale counter-terrorism raid near Tulkarem was launched overnight, and so far troops have questioned dozens of suspects and detained six wanted Palestinians, the IDF says. It says the troops have also seized military equipment.

The drone strike was carried out against a group of Palestinians hurling explosive devices at Israeli troops, the army says. Their conditions are not immediately known.

The IDF says the operation is still continuing at this hour.

In Qalqilya, the military says troops detained another four wanted Palestinians and seized weapons.

Since October 7, troops have arrested more than 2,570 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,300 affiliated with Hamas, according to the IDF.

IDF strikes Hamas sites and gunmen in south Gaza, hits drone squad in Gaza City

The IDF provides a morning update on its recent activity in Gaza, as much of the fighting shifts to the southern part of the Strip.

It says that in a school in southern Gaza’s Khuza’a, troops of the 5th Brigade found a tunnel shaft, along with laminated photos of weaponry. The IDF says the brigade also struck several Hamas sites in the area, including observation and missile launch positions.

The army says troops of the Givati Brigade spotted a Hamas operative attempting to place an explosive device on an Israeli tank in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis. The troops directed an aircraft to strike the operative, along with three others who were in the area, according to the IDF.

The military says Givati soldiers also found weapons and a safe with hundreds of thousands of shekels in the home of a Hamas Nukhba force operative.

Also in Khan Younis, the IDF says troops of the Kfir Brigade directed an airstrike on a weapons manufacturing plant belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Meanwhile in northern Gaza, the IDF says troops of the Nahal Brigade identified a Hamas cell operating drones in the area of Gaza City’s Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods, in order to observe Israeli forces. It says the cell was eliminated in a drone strike.

בסגירת מעגל מהירה ובשיתוף עם כוחות ארטילריה והכוחות בשטח, כלי-טיס מאויש מרחוק תקף וחיסל חוליית מחבלים שהפעילה רחפנים שתצפתו על כוחותינו במרחב, בהכוונה של מכלול האש של חטיבת הנח"ל. pic.twitter.com/VjadCqKaEg

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) January 3, 2024

Smotrich doubles down on resettlement of Gazans, calling it ‘a humanitarian solution’

Following the US State Department’s condemnation of calls to resettle Palestinians outside of Gaza, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich continues to advocate for shrinking the Palestinian population of Gaza, claiming that “more than 70 percent of the Israeli public today supports” such “a humanitarian solution.”

Smotrich does not provide a source for this statistic.

In a statement, the leader of the nationalist Religious Zionism party declares that there is broad public support for “the voluntary emigration of Gaza Arabs and their absorption in other countries.”

Such a policy is necessary because “a small country like ours cannot afford a reality where four minutes away from our communities there is a hotbed of hatred and terrorism, where two million people wake up every morning with aspiration for the destruction of the State of Israel and with a desire to slaughter and rape and murder Jews wherever they are.”

“We are required to rethink and share [ideas] with our friends in the international community that will bring peace, security and prosperity to all the peoples of the region,” he says.

In recent days, both Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have called for the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians, leading State Department spokesman Matthew Miller to call out both cabinet members for their “inflammatory and irresponsible” rhetoric.

Responding to the US criticism on Tuesday evening, Ben-Gvir stated that while he appreciated the United States, “with all due respect we are no longer a star on the American flag.”

“The United States is our best friend, but first of all we will do what is good for the State of Israel: the migration of hundreds of thousands from Gaza will allow the residents of the enclave to return home and live in security and protect the IDF soldiers.”

Rocket sirens sound in the Gaza periphery

Sirens have sounded in communities near the Gaza Strip, including Netiv Ha’asara and Yad Mordechai.

There are no immediate reports of rocket impacts.

Delegation of UPenn faculty makes solidarity visit to Israel

A University of Pennsylvania faculty delegation with President Isaac Herzog, center, on December 2, 2024. (Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO)

Thirty University of Pennsylvania faculty members are in Israel this week on a three-day solidarity tour. Their packed itinerary includes meetings with government officials, visits to major universities and a tour of devastated communities in the Gaza envelope.

The group is also scheduled to meet with Penn alumni and attend an academic conference on trauma at Tel Aviv University on Thursday, before returning to the US.

The delegation comes as the University of Pennsylvania has been caught up in controversy relating to antisemitism on college campuses since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. UPenn head Elizabeth Magill resigned in December just days after she gave testimony before Congress in which she would not say calling for genocide of Jews necessarily breached the university’s code of conduct.

Harvard president Claudine Gay, who also testified before Congress in the same session, resigned yesterday amid an ongoing plagiarism scandal which drew further scrutiny in the wake of her testimony.

Iran: ‘Cowardly Zionist terror’ assassination in Beirut proves Israel failed to achieve Gaza goals

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian speaks during a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bouhabib, in Beirut, Lebanon, October 13, 2023. (Hussein Malla/AP)

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says the assassination of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut yesterday was a “cowardly terrorist operation” that proves “that the Zionist regime has not achieved any of its goals after weeks of war crimes, genocide and destruction in Gaza and the West Bank despite the direct support of the United States.”

Quoted in Iranian media outlets, he adds, “The evil activity of the terror machine of this terrorist regime in other countries is a real threat to peace and security and a serious alarm for the security of the countries in the region.”

Israeli officials said in talks with Congo, others on taking in Gaza emigrants

The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister-site Zman Yisrael reports that Israeli officials have held clandestine talks with the African nation of Congo and several others for the potential acceptance of Gaza emigrants.

“Congo will be willing to take in migrants, and we’re in talks with others,” a senior source in the security cabinet tells Shalom Yerushalmi.

Yerushalmi quotes Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel saying at the Knesset yesterday: “At the end of the war Hamas rule will collapse, there are no municipal authorities, the civilian population will be entirely dependent on humanitarian aid. There will be no work, and 60% of Gaza’s agricultural land will become security buffer zones.”

Saying education to hatred will continue in Gaza and further attacks on Israel are only a matter of time, she added: “The Gaza problem is not just our problem. The world should support humanitarian emigration, because that’s the only solution I know.”

Yesterday Washington panned far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir for advocating the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza.

“This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Motorcycle rider killed in crash on Route 4 highway

A motorcyclist has been killed after being hit by another vehicle on the Route 4 highway, near Pardesia.

Medics called to the scene declared the man, aged 34, dead.

Houthis fire two missiles at merchant ships in Red Sea

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired two missiles late Tuesday toward merchant ships travelling in the Red Sea near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the US military says following a report by the British maritime security agency UKMTO.

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations initially reported explosions near a cargo ship sailing between the coasts of Eritrea and Yemen. “No damage to the vessel and crew are reported safe at present,” the agency, run by Britain’s Royal Navy, said in a brief message.

The US Central Command says Houthi rebels fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles into the southern Red Sea, where there were multiple commercial ships but “none have reported any damage.”

“These illegal actions endangered the lives of dozens of innocent mariners and continue to disrupt the free flow of international commerce,” CENTCOM says on X, formerly Twitter, adding it is the 24th attack against merchant shipping in the area since November 19.

The UN Security Council is set to hold a meeting Wednesday on maintaining international peace and security, which French diplomats said would address the issue of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

IDF announces soldier killed fighting in northern Gaza, raising ground op toll to 175

Sgt. First Class Meiron Moshe Gersch (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israel Defense Forces announces that Sgt. First Class Meiron Moshe Gersch, 21, from Petah Tikva, was killed fighting in the northern Gaza Strip.

Gersch, a member of the Combat Engineering Corps’ elite Yahalom unit, is the 175th soldier to be killed in the ground offensive against Hamas.

US intel assesses Hamas used Shifa Hospital as command center, held hostages there

Israeli soldiers stand outside Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 22, 2023. (AP/Victor R. Caivano)

WASHINGTON — US spy agencies assess that Islamist terror group Hamas and another Palestinian group fighting Israel used Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital to command forces and hold some hostages but largely evacuated the complex days before Israeli troops entered it, a US official says, citing declassified US intelligence.

The complex was used by both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to command forces fighting against Israel, the US official says, speaking on condition of anonymity.

US intelligence agencies have not disclosed the evidence on which they based their assessment. The official says the US has independently confirmed the information.

The American government believes that Hamas used the hospital complex and sites beneath it to carry out command and control activities, store some weapons and hold a few hostages, the US official says.

US intelligence agencies obtained information that Hamas fighters had largely evacuated the complex days before Israel’s operation and destroyed documents and electronics as they left, according to the American official.

The US intelligence assessment was reported first by the New York Times. A classified version of the assessment was sent to lawmakers in the US Congress.

UK agency says explosions reported near ship in Bab el-Mandeb Strait

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — British maritime security agency UKMTO reports explosions near a cargo ship in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which separates the Arabian Peninsula from the Horn of Africa.

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations says it has received reports of up to three explosions 1-5 nautical miles from the merchant vessel, which was traveling between the coasts of Eritrea and Yemen.

“Master reports no damage to the vessel and crew are reported safe at present,” the agency, run by Britain’s Royal Navy, says in a brief message. “Authorities are investigating.”

In recent weeks, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched a flurry of drone and missile strikes targeting commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

They say their strikes are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas terrorists.

The Houthis have warned they will target ships sailing in the Red Sea that have links to Israel.

Several missiles and drones have been shot down by US, French and British warships patrolling the area.

According to the Pentagon, the Houthis, who control the Yemeni capital Sanaa and much of the Red Sea coast, have launched dozens of drone and missile attacks, targeting a dozen merchant ships.

The attacks endanger a transit route that carries up to 12 percent of global trade, prompting the United States to set up a multinational naval task force to protect Red Sea shipping.

Bernie Sanders calls to block military aid package for Israel over ‘grossly disproportionate war’

US Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, talks with reporters following his meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, August 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

US Senator Bernie Sanders again calls for Congress to block billions in proposed military aid for Israel, slamming Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas terror group’s October 7 onslaught as “Netanyahu’s illegal, immoral, brutal, and grossly disproportionate war against the Palestinian people.”

In a statement shared on X, the progressive, Jewish lawmaker from Vermont notes the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip was sparked by Hamas’s “barbaric attack” but charges that the Israeli response is “grossly disproportionate, immoral and in violation of international law.”

“Enough is enough,” Sanders says. “The taxpayers of the United States must no longer be complicit in destroying the lives of innocent men, women and children in Gaza.”

Despite the statement’s strident criticism of Israel, Sanders has not urged a ceasefire in Gaza, calls for which he has previously rejected due to Hamas’s continued commitment to destroying the Jewish state.

Let me be clear: NO MORE U.S. funding for Netanyahu’s illegal, immoral, brutal, and grossly disproportionate war against the Palestinian people. Congress must reject any effort to pass $10 billion of unconditional military aid for the right-wing Netanyahu government. pic.twitter.com/P3AoprlKli

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 2, 2024

Israel didn’t alert US before killing Hamas deputy chief, sent update during strike — report

People inspect the site of a strike, reported by Lebanese media to be an Israeli strike targeting a Hamas office, in the southern suburb of Beirut on January 2, 2024. (AFP)

Israel did not give the United States advance notice of the strike in Beirut that killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri and several other members of the Gaza-ruling terror group, the Walla news site quotes a pair of unnamed American officials as saying.

The new site cites an Israeli official as saying Israel did not give the US a heads-up and notified the Biden administration while the attack was underway.

Jerusalem has not publicly taken responsibility for the killing.

US reaches deal to extend military presence at Qatari air base — source

US Air Force personnel load humanitarian aid supplies onto a plane bound for Beirut, at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, August 6, 2020. (US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Heather Fejerang)

WASHINGTON — The United States has reached a deal to extend its military presence at a base in Qatar for another 10 years, a source familiar with the matter tells Reuters.

The base in question is the Al Udeid Air Base, which is located in the desert southwest of Doha and hosts the largest US military facility in the Middle East, the source says, asking to not be identified.

The development was reported first by CNN. The US Department of Defense doesn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The tiny Gulf state has played a key role in mediation talks with Hamas and Israeli officials in relation to the war in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages captured by the Palestinian Islamist terror group in its devastating October 7 cross-border attack on Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 240 taken hostage.

US President Joe Biden has regularly spoken with the emir of Qatar since October 7 on securing the release of hostages held by Hamas and on boosting aid to Gaza, where Israel’s assault since the Hamas attack has killed over 22,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas health authorities. The figure, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, cannot be verified independently and is also believed to include Gazans killed by errant rockets launched by terrorists in the Strip.

There has also been criticism of Qatar by some in the US Congress over Hamas’s presence in the country. A bipartisan group of 113 US lawmakers on October 16 sent a letter to Biden asking him to put pressure on countries who support Hamas, including Qatar.

Qatar is also a major non-NATO US ally, a designation granted by the United States to close, non-NATO allies that have strategic working relationships with the US military.

Macron speaks with Gantz, urges Israel to avoid escalation, ‘particularly in Lebanon’

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, meets with Blue and White leader MK Benny Gantz in Jerusalem, January 22, 2019. (Elad Malka)

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to avoid escalation, “particularly in Lebanon,” following a strike attributed to Israel that killed Hamas’s deputy leader in Beirut, the Elysee Palace says.

Macron, who spoke by telephone with the Israeli minister and war cabinet member Benny Gantz, says “it is essential to avoid any escalatory attitude, particularly in Lebanon” and that France would continue to pass on these messages to all players directly or indirectly involved in the area,” according to the French presidency.

2 soldiers said lightly hurt in Hezbollah anti-tank missile attack

Two soldiers are lightly wounded in a Hezbollah anti-tank missile attack on a military position near the community of Menara, close to the Lebanon border, according to Hebrew-language media reports.

There is no confirmation from the military.

Hezbollah claims 10 attacks on Israel over past day, including 4 in last hour

The Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon has claimed responsibility for ten separate attacks on northern Israel today, four of them in the last hour.

In statements, Hezbollah claims to have launched missiles and drones at army positions along the border. In some of the attacks, however, projectiles hit Israeli communities in northern Israel.

There are no immediate reports of injuries.

The last four attacks carried out by the terror group follow the alleged Israeli assassination of deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut.

Hezbollah has vowed to respond to the deadly airstrike, although it has already been carrying out daily attacks on the north since October 8.