This concludes our live coverage for today.
We will be back tomorrow with more live coverage of the war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.
Merry Christmas!
In a statement, Hezbollah says it targeted a group of Israeli soldiers near the Hanita site at 1 p.m. using "suitable weapons," adding that there were injuries and fatalities amongst the soldiers.
Sayyed Reza Mousavi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander in Syria, was killed in an Israeli strike in the Sayyeda Zeinab area of Damascus, Al-Mayadeen, a pro-Iran broadcaster, reports.
The Lebanon branch of al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, took credit for launching a rocket attack on the Liman Barracks in response to the "Zionist massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip."
Palestinians mourn their relatives, killed in an overnight Israeli strike on the Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp, during a mass funeral at the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir Al-Balah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Dec. 25, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Credit: Mahmud Hams/AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud Party said that the premier visited Gaza on Monday and that he had no plans of ending the offensive, AFP reports.
"I just came back from Gaza...we're not stopping, we're continuing to fight and we're intensifying the fighting in the coming days. It's going to be a long war that's not close to ending," he said.
Israel's ongoing offensive in Gaza is expected to cost Israel an extra $14 billion in 2024 and will nearly triple the country's annual deficit, Reuters reports citing Israel's finance ministry.
The ministry's deputy budget commissioner, Itai Temkin, stated in a briefing that the war is expected to continue at least through Feb. 2024, adding that with the rising defense costs because of the war, other expenses would need to be cut or revenues raised to fill the gap made by the widening deficit.
Four Israeli artillery shells fell on the plains on the outskirts of Khiam (Marjayoun), local residents told our correspondent in southern Lebanon.
Hamamis, south of Khiam, and Wadi al-Asafir, also located near Khiam, were bombed.
Gaza's Ministry of Health says that the death toll in the enclave is now 20,674 with another 54,536 injured, according to Reuters.
The health ministry added that, in the last 24 hours, 250 Palestinians were killed and 500 wounded.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad have outright rejected the idea of them relinquishing power in Gaza in return for a permanent cease-fire, Egyptian sources told Reuters.
According to the sources, the two groups will not accept any conditions for another truce outside of the return of prisoners.
Read the full details here.
After using his Christmas Eve sermon to call for "peace in the Holy Land," Pope Francis used his annual Christmas Day speech to call for a cease-fire in Gaza and a return of the hostages being held there, AFP reports.
"I plead for an end to the military operations with their appalling harvest of innocent civilian victims, and call for a solution to the desperate humanitarian situation by an opening to the provision of humanitarian aid," he said.
Read the full story here.
In another statement, Hezbollah says that it targeted residential homes in the Misgav Am area of northern Israel with rockets at 12:40 p.m.
The World Health Organization says that it is seeing a growing desperation in Gaza, describing a scene of starving people stripping an aid truck of supplies, AFP reports.
"Partners demand immediate scale-up of food and water to ensure population health and stability," WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
These comments came after a Dec. 23 mission to deliver aid to al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.
Read the full report here.
In two separate statements, Hezbollah claimed two attacks on Israeli positions along the Lebanese-Israeli border.
The first attack targeted the Beit Hillel base in Kiryat Shmona at 12:40 p.m. using "suitable weapons."
The second attack targeted a group of Israeli soldiers near the Birket Riche site at 1 p.m. also using "suitable weapons."
Local residents told our correspondent in southern Lebanon that Israel shelled the outskirts of Adaisseh, Kfar Kila and Hamamis south of Khiam (Marjayoun). Eyewitnesses also told our correspondent that six Israeli shells fell in the area between Kfar Kila and Adaisseh.
The Israeli foreign ministry rejected the residency applications of two UN staff members on the orders of Eli Cohen, Israel's foreign minister, according to Al-Jazeera.
While one was applying for residency the other UN staffer was looking to extend theirs when they were rejected.
“The conduct of the UN since the seventh of October is a disgrace to the organization and the international community,” Cohen wrote on X. “We will stop working with those who cooperate with the propaganda of the terrorist organization Hamas.”
At least 35 people were detained by Israeli forces during nighttime raids in the occupied West Bank last night, Al-Jazeera reports, citing a statement by the Prisoners’ Affairs Authority.
The raids took place in Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Jericho.
According to the authority, the number of Palestinians taken into Israeli custody since Oct. 7 is 4,730.
Update from southern Lebanon:
Israeli rockets struck a house in Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil), according to our correspondent in southern Lebanon, citing local residents. No casualties were reported.
There has also been intermittent artillery strikes on the outskirts of Houla (Marjayoun) along with Adaisseh (Marjayoun).
Al-Rissala Scouts Association, which are affiliated with the Hezbollah ally the Amal Movement, said that the group was working to transport casualties from Mais al-Jabal to local hospitals following Israeli strikes on the village.
A security source told our correspondent in southern Lebanon that a number of rockets were launched from southern Lebanon towards sites in Israel.
Countless people living in Gaza have been separated from their families due to the ongoing Israeli offensive on the enclave. In many of these cases, it is because family members have been killed in the relentless bombing campaign.
However, others have been separated because their loved ones were detained by Israeli forces deployed to the strip.
For 10-year-old Nassem Mohra, who requires dialysis treatments, he worries that he will never see his father again after he was detained by Israel when he was taking the child to the hospital for urgent treatment.
Read the full story here.
Hezbollah announced the death of one of its members, Abbas Hassan Hazimeh from Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun), without giving any information about the nature of his death. This makes 126 Hezbollah members who have been killed since the start of the fighting on Oct. 8 by our count.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, in a statement posted to Hezbollah's Telegram channel, said that targeted American forces in Syria at the Green Village Base.
A Latin bishop gives holy bread to a worshiper during the Christmas midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity compound in the biblical city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on Dec. 25, 2023. (Credit: Nasser Nasser/POOL/AFP)
In a statement, Hezbollah claimed an attack on Israel's Matat Barracks at 10:35 a.m. using "suitable weapons."
Our correspondent in southern Lebanon, citing security courses, reported that five Israeli shells landed on the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil) as well as the outskirts of Naqoura (Sour).
In a letter to the head and members of Hamas's political bureau, Yahya Sinwar, Hamas's leader in Gaza, spoke about the ongoing war with Israel, according to Al-Manar, a broadcaster affiliated with Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.
"The Al-Qassam Brigades are engaged in a fierce, violent, and unprecedented battle against the Israeli occupation forces, and the occupation army has suffered heavy losses in lives and equipment," Sinwar stated.
The Hamas leader also claimed that al-Qassam Brigades have "no less than" 5,000 Israeli soldiers and "killing a third of them" and the other two-thirds suffering severe injuries. This claim could not be independently verified. According to the Israeli military's count, 156 soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground offensive began on Oct. 27. Israel claims to have killed thousands of Hamas fighters but the exact number remains unknown.
For Palestine's Christian population, Christmas is usually a time for celebrations that see thousands of people gather in Christmas markets to partake in the festivities and attend mass.
However, with the ongoing war in Gaza and rising violence in the occupied West Bank, celebrations this year are significantly more muted than in previous years.
"People don't feel festive – they've lost friends and relatives in Gaza," Nazeria Yousef Deabis, 76, who lives in the Christian West Bank village of Zababdeh said. "The occupation (Israel) is destroying Jenin and children are being brutally killed."
Read the full story here.
Israel's war cabinet is set to discuss a proposal by Egypt for a new truce similar to the week-long pause at the end of November, Al-Jazeera reports.
The basis for the truce would see either all prisoners in Gaza released for Palestinians being held in Israeli jails or at least all female soldiers being held in Gaza. The truce would last anywhere from seven to 10 days.
It is unclear if the Israeli cabinet will agree to such a deal as there are elements within the government that are staunchly opposed to any cease-fire, whether it be temporary or permanent, all the while there are growing calls from the families of the hostages to bring their loved ones home at any cost.
Gaza's health ministry reported that at least 70 people were killed following an Israeli strike on houses in al-Maghazi Refugee Camp, AFP reports.
Ashraf al-Qudra, the spokesperson for the ministry, said that the "toll is likely to rise" given the number of people living in the area that was struck.
Update on southern Lebanon:
At around 11 p.m. last night, Israel bombed Markaba (Nabatieh), destroying a house with ambulances being deployed to the area, according to our correspondent in southern Lebanon.
In the morning, Hezbollah announced the death of one of its members, Wissam Khalil Hamoud from Markaba.
After midnight, Israeli reconnaissance planes continued to fly over Khiam (Marjayoun) and Iqlim al-Tuffah.
Since the morning, our correspondent in southern Lebanon, citing security sources, reported Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil) and Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun). The strikes on Mais al-Jabal fell in an open agricultural area with no casualties being reported so far.
Further strikes were also reported on the outskirts of Naqoura.
Good morning and Merry Christmas!
Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of day 80 of the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.
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