'If Hezbollah steps up its attacks, it will suffer blows it never thought of,' Netanyahu; Israeli bombing injures 1 person in southern Lebanon: Israel-Hamas war, day 85

Thank you for following our LIVE coverage of day 85 of the Israel-Hamas war. We will be back tomorrow with more news updates.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "if Hezbollah escalates attacks, it will suffer blows that it has not dreamed of, as will Iran," according to Reuters.

Children inspect the damage following Israeli bombardment in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip on Dec. 29, 2023, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. (Credit: AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address on Saturday that Israel was fighting on "all fronts" in a war that he said would last many more months until victory is achieved, according to Reuters.

He added that "'Philadelphi corridor' border zone between Gaza and Egypt should be in Israel's control."

Demonstrators gathered in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to pressure the Israeli government to do more to free the hostages, reports Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

At least 129 hostages are still being held in Gaza.

According to Israeli public broadcaster Kann News, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and War Cabinet member Benny Gantz refused to attend a press conference held this evening by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Gantz felt that "there was no need for a press conference" in the absence of developments requiring a response from the political leadership.

Thousands of Palestinians who have fled their homes in Gaza because of Israeli strikes are taking shelter in a camp in Rafah, in the south of the Palestinian enclave. (Credit: Shadi Tabatibi/Reuters)

At 3:15 p.m., Hezbollah claimed to have targeted Israeli soldiers in the Israeli village Beit Hillel, inflicting "direct injuries."

The Israeli army announced the death of two more soldiers in the fighting in Gaza, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports.

At least 170 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Israel began its main ground operations in Gaza at the end of October. At least 11 of these soldiers were killed in northern Israel.

The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said on Saturday that an Israeli soldier being held captive by the group in Gaza was killed in an Israeli air strike that had also wounded some of his captors, according to Reuters.

In an audio speech broadcast by Al Araby television, a spokesperson for the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades group said the air strike took place following a failed attempt by Israeli commandos to free the soldier.

The spokesperson gave no details of when the soldier had been taken captive, or where he was being held in Gaza. He said the group is still holding the body of the slain soldier.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) announced that "Israeli missiles" had "targeted warehouses and bases of pro-Iran groups" in northern Syria, in an area near Aleppo airport, killing three fighters and wounding several others, according to AFP.

At around 5:20 p.m. local time (2:20 GMT), "the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack ... targeting a number of points south of the city of Aleppo," said a military source quoted by the official Sana agency.

This source only reported "material damage."

"The threat of Hezbollah must be removed from Israel's borders," said Israeli Minister Benny Gantz in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

"Israel cannot put up with such a threat, and Germany and the international community have an important role to play in ensuring that this threat is eliminated," he added in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

A precarious calm has prevailed in southern Lebanon for the past hour, reports our correspondent in the south.

Shortly before 5:30 p.m., three Israeli rockets targeted the outskirts of the Khiam valley (Marjayoun district).

The Israeli army shot dead a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has announced, after the Israeli army said it suspected him of carrying out a ram-car attack.

According to AFP, the army said its soldiers had "neutralized" the driver who rammed into a military post near the Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron.

The ministry confirmed the identity of the driver, Mohammad Masalmeh, saying he had been shot dead by Israeli soldiers at the entrance to the camp.

According to the Israeli public television channel Kan, one person was slightly injured.

The Israeli army reported that fighter jets attacked earlier on Saturday over three Hezbollah infrastructure and terrorist units in Lebanon, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

In addition, the Israeli military fired artillery shells towards a number of sites in Lebanese territory. An aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory was intercepted.

Rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards the Israeli site of Tallet al-Assi, opposite the Lebanese village Mais al-Jabal, a security source told our correspondent in the south.

Israeli artillery shells also hit the outskirts of Mais al-Jabal.

Hezbollah announced three attacks on Israel so far today:

• 3:30 p.m. Targeting of an Israeli brigade around the Israeli village Remim.

• 1:55 p.m. Attack on an Israeli position in the disputed Shebaa Farms with an explosive-laden drone.

• 12:40 p.m. Attack against Israeli soldiers facing the southern Lebanon border village Rmaish. The group claims it inflicted casualties.

The Israeli army struck a house in Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, around 4 p.m. today. A least one person was injured and was taken to a hospital, residents of the village and a local authority told L'Orient Today.

"A two-floor house was targeted by an Israeli drone and a following airstrike fully destroyed the house. The attack caused a huge hole in the building and fragments of the explosion were spread on the streets nearby. The attack also damaged five houses nearby and other house's glass windows were broken. Residents of the city rushed to the scene to check the damage, as well as ambulances. One person was taken to the hospital and rescue workers are checking for other injuries under the rubble," the mayor of Bint Jbeil Mohamad Oseili told L'Orient Today.

The UN agency responsible for Palestinians (UNRWA) told the BBC that humanitarian needs on the ground have "continued to massively grow."

Juliette Touma from UNRWA says aid workers on the ground are facing ongoing restrictions to access areas in the Gaza Strip. She also said that many people are now living anywhere they can find, including on the street, or up to 70 people in one apartment.

"Many are living in the open, in the parks, in the open areas, in their cars. People are searching for safety which they cannot find because there is no safety in Gaza," she added.

Mourners carry the body of a Palestinian fighter — killed by Israeli troops in southern Lebanon during cross border fire — during his funeral in the refugee camp of Burj al-Shimali, near the Lebanese coastal city Sour, on Dec. 30, 2023. (Credit: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)

Smoke billows after Israeli bombardment over Lebanon's southern town Kfar Kila near the border with Israel on Dec. 30, 2023, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as Israel-Hamas war continues. (Credit: AFP)

165 Palestinians have been killed by Israel and 250 people injured in the last 24 hours. This brings the total number of Palestinians killed by Israel since Oct. 7 to 21,672, with 56,165 injured, Gaza's health ministry says.

In the last 30 minutes in south Lebanon:

- Hezbollah announced that at 1:55 p.m. it attacked with an explosive-laden drone an Israeli position in the disputed Shebaa Farms, adding it "accurately hit the target." It also announced another attack, which it said took place at 12:40 p.m., against Israeli soldiers facing the south Lebanon border village of Rmaish, adding that it inflicted casualties.

- The Israeli army hit a house in Aita al-Shaab in which a man was injured, residents of the village told L'Orient Today.

- The Israeli army shelled Kfar Shuba and Halta, residents of the villages told L'Orient Today.

An Israeli drone dropped a missile near a car in the south Lebanon border village of Aita al-Shaab, residents of the area told L'Orient Today. A mokhtar from Aita al-Chaab told us that the driver of the car was lightly wounded.

An update on the latest from Gaza

About 100,000 people have moved to Rafah, the most southerly city in Gaza which borders Egypt, in order to seek safety — the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says.

It comes after Israel told people to leave parts of Khan Younis, as fighting has intensified there. The Israeli army says this area is a stronghold of Hamas.

OCHA is concerned that this sudden movement of people is making Rafah overcrowded, while diseases continue to spread across the enclave.

Sirens were activated in towns in Israel's northern Galilee region, on the border with Lebanon, following a warning about a "hostile aircraft," Haaretz reports. More information to follow as we receive it.

A Israeli army spokesperson says his army will continue to strike Hezbollah's positions in southern Lebanon, “which will not be the same as what it was before Oct. 7.”

Writing on X, Avichay Adraee reiterated claims made earlier by the Israeli army that 80 percent of Hezbollah rockets fired yesterday towards Israel "fell inside Lebanese territory." Hezbollah has not responded to this claim.

The Israeli army has struck the outskirts of the south Lebanon border village of Kfar Kila, sources in the area tell L'Orient Today.

Aita al-Shaab, Yaroun and Mais al-Jabal: Why are these villages in southern Lebanon the most targeted by Israel? Click here to read the answers uncovered by our journalists, Claude Assaf and Guilhem Dorandeu.

Israel has conducted drone and artillery strikes against the outskirts of the south Lebanon border village of Marwahin (Sour) in the last 30 minutes, residents of the village tell L'Orient Today.

The scale of destruction caused by Israeli bombardments in the Gaza Strip is comparable to some of the most devastating urban warfare in modern history, a report by The Wall Street Journal has found.

The report found that:

- By mid-December, Israel had dropped 29,000 bombs, munitions and shells on the strip.

- Nearly 70 percent of Gaza’s 439,000 homes and about half of its buildings have been damaged or destroyed.

- The bombing has damaged Byzantine churches and ancient mosques, factories and apartment buildings, shopping malls and luxury hotels, theaters and schools. More than two-thirds of the enclave's schools are damaged.

- Much of the water, electrical, communications and health-care infrastructure that enabled Gaza to function is beyond repair.

- Most of the strip’s 36 hospitals are shut down, and only eight are accepting patients.

- Citrus trees, olive groves and greenhouses have been obliterated.

To read the full article, click here. 

The Israeli army has claimed that 80 percent of the launches fired by Hezbollah towards Israel yesterday fell inside Lebanon.

In a post on the Israeli army's official account on X, it stated that the group is actively putting "Lebanese lives at risk" and is violating UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Hezbollah has not responded to the claims.

Resolution 1701 ended the July 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. It called for the full cessation of hostilities, the deployment of Lebanese forces to Southern Lebanon, parallel withdrawal of Israeli forces behind the Blue Line, and the establishment of a demilitarised zone between the Blue Line and the Litani River.

Casualty update: 100 Palestinians have been killed and 158 wounded in Israeli strikes in central Gaza in the past 24 hours, a senior health official in the enclave says.

Four more members of Hezbollah have been killed, the group has confirmed.

As is typical, it did not give details of when, where or how they died.

The deceased members have been named as: Hassan Mousawi, Haidar al-Mazawi, Rakan Seif and Abbas al-Ajami, all from the Bekaa Valley. To date, 133 members of the group have now died on the Lebanese and Syrian front since conflict ignited following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, according to our count.

Image: People hold hands as they inspect the damage to buildings destroyed during Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Dec. 29, 2023. (Credit: AFP)

Concerns have been raised by officials in Gaza about missing aid. In a post on X, the Municipality of Gaza has asked UNICEF about the whereabouts of fuel needed to operate water pumps.

"You promised to deliver it during the last truce; we haven’t received it yet ... You may know children are dying in Gaza, and you can’t give them a sip of water!” No response yet from UNICEF.

The US last night announced the approval of a $147.5 million sale of 155mm high-explosive artillery munitions and related equipment to Israel under an emergency provision that waives the usual congressional review, AFP reports. The same provision was used earlier this month to approve the sale of nearly 14,000 rounds of 120mm tank ammunition to Israel. More details here.

The Israeli army says two projectiles were fired at Israel from Syrian territory yesterday. The projectiles landed in open areas on the Golan Heights, the army adds. This Israeli army says it is carrying out strikes in Syria in response. Click here for more.

South Africa has accused Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of engaging in "acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza." The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

In its submission yesterday, South Africa said that the "acts and omissions of Israel have a genocidal character, as they are accompanied by the specific intent required … to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza as part of the larger national, racial, and ethnic group of Palestinians," the ICJ said in a statement from The Hague.

A recap of the night in south Lebanon:

* It was a relatively calm night at the border, with a few exceptions.

* Residents in Marjayoun told L'Orient Today that shortly after 1:30 a.m. they heard an explosion, but they did not identify from what direction the sound came.

* Drones continued, as usual, to violate Lebanese airspace, according to our correspondent in the south, Muntasser Abdallah.

Fierce Israeli tank fire and aerial bombing struck Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on overnight, residents report, according to Reuters, after nearly 200 people were reported killed in 24 hours in Israel's campaign against Hamas militants. Planes also carried out a series of airstrikes on the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, according to medics and Palestinian journalists, the news agency says. Click here for more.

Image: Members of the Palestine Red Crescent Society carry a casualty on a stretcher inside an ambulance, in a location given as Khan Younis, Gaza in this screengrab obtained from a video released on Dec. 30, 2023. (Credit: Palestine Red Crescent Society/Handout via Reuters)

Good morning, 

Thank you for joining our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war on this last weekend of 2023. We'll be with you throughout the day with updates from Gaza, Israel, the occupied West Bank, south Lebanon and the wider region.