Thank you for following our LIVE coverage from day 86 of the Hamas-Israel war.
We are closing the live blog early today on the occasion of New Years Eve. We'll be back with more news updates and analysis on Tuesday morning, or earlier in the event of major developments.
We wish you a happy and healthy 2024!
An Israeli drone targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Maroun al-Ras, Bint Jbeil district, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south.
Ten Houthi rebels were killed by the US military strikes that sank three Houthi ships in the Red Sea as they carried out an attack on a container ship, according to two sources from the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, AFP reports.
Four survivors arrived in Hodeidah with two injured, one of the sources said on condition of anonymity. The survivors had escaped the US strikes on a fourth boat. The Houthi rebels were attacking a container ship belonging to the Danish carrier Maersk when the carrier sent out a distress signal, which the US military responded to.
Displaced Palestinian artist Amal Abo stands next to her mural painting on the wall of a house destroyed during Israeli bombing in Rafah in the southern of Gaza Strip earlier today. (Credit: AFP)
Israeli artillery fire targeted the outskirts of Tayr Harfa, Sour district, and Mais al-Jabal, Marjayoun district, according to our correspondent in the south, Muntasser Abdallah.
Thirteen people were killed in an Israeli strike on a residential home in Khan Younis close to Nasser Hospital, Al Jazeera reports, adding that the news outlet was told there was more than one attack that targeted the home. All 13 people killed belonged to one family.
Hezbollah announces that they targeted a group of Israeli soldiers near the Hanita site, facing the southern Lebanese town of Alma Shaab, Sour district, at 3:45 p.m., "with appropriate weapons," according to a statement by the party. This is the second announcement today in which Hezbollah claims an attack against this position.
Five Israeli shells targeted Wadi al-Dalafa, located on the outskirts of the town of Hula, Nabatieh district, local residents told L'Orient Today's correspondent.
Hezbollah announces that its fighters targeted the Israeli site of al-Abad, facing the southern Lebanese town of Hula, Nabatieh district, at 3:30 p.m.
Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem highlighted in a speech that "Operation Al Aqsa Flood marked the beginning of a new era, centered on cultural and political rejuvenation … and expanding support for the resistance movement."
He emphasized that Israel's attempts to allow the "return of settlers in the north amid ongoing conflicts won't yield advantages." Qassem stated that "halting the Gaza war is crucial to end hostilities in Lebanon," warning of a "stronger response" if Israel persists in bombing Lebanese civilians. He affirmed Hezbollah's commitment to a proportional state of war against Israeli aggression on the southern front, disregarding Israeli threats and emphasizing their readiness to confront Israeli aggression to stop its violations and attacks on Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the cabinet meeting today, saying, "We are working to restore security in the north [of Gaza] and return the residents to their homes. This currently necessitates the continuation of the fighting there. If we don't achieve it politically, we will achieve it militarily," Haaretz reports.
Israel is prepared to let ships deliver aid to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip "immediately" as part of a proposed sea corridor from Cyprus, the Israeli foreign minister says, naming four European countries as potential participants. More details here.
Hezbollah says its fighters targeted the Israeli site of Hanita (facing Alma al-Shaab, in the district of Sour) at 12:20 p.m.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has displayed unparalleled "morality" in the Gaza war and rejected South Africa's charge that it was committing "genocidal" acts in the Palestinian territory, AFP reports.
"We will continue our defensive war, the justice and morality of which is without peer," the news agency cites Netanyahu as telling a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv.
The UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron says that he has spoken to his Iranian counterpart and made it clear that Iran shares responsibility for preventing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
The Iran-backed Houthis have been targeting Israel-linked vessels in the Red Sea in solidarity, the group says, with Palestinians during the ongoing Israeli offensive on Gaza.
Maersk says it is suspending vessels' passage through the Red Sea for 48 hours, AFP reports. The announcement follows an attack in the sea on one of the company's vessels, to which Helicopters from the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely responded.
A total of 21,822 Palestinians have been killed and 56,451 have been wounded in Israeli strikes in Gaza since Oct. 7, Reuters reports, citing the Health Ministry in Gaza.
The figures include 150 Palestinians killed and 286 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
Delivering his Sunday homily, the head of the Maronite church, Patriarch Bechara al-Rai, "rejected" the Israeli attacks in south Lebanon and called for the protection of Lebanese people's lives and homes.
"We demand the removal of any missile platforms planted among homes in southern towns that would provoke a destructive Israeli response. Let everyone respect UN Security Council Resolution 1701," Rai said. Resolution 1701, which put an end to the July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, provides for the withdrawal of the pro-Iranian party north of the Litani River and the deployment of the Lebanese army and a multinational force in the border region.
Rai also condemned the attacks against UNIFIL peacekeepers and local residents' attempts to restrict their movements in some border villages, and he expressed "gratitude for those international peacekeepers for attempting to keep the peace in the southern region of Lebanon."
Commenting on the situation in Gaza, Rai said he "cannot find words to condemn Israel's arrogant and boastful war, executed with its advanced weaponry, upon the people of Gaza — its children, women, and elderly — within their safe homes, hospitals, mosques and churches. Our strongest condemnation is directed towards the silent and timid international community in the face of the enormity of this organized genocidal war."
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says Israel must control the territory of the Gaza Strip and drastically reduce the number of Palestinians residing there, Haaretz reports.
"I ask that the Gaza Strip not continue to be a home where two million people grow up in hatred and aspire to destroy the State of Israel. If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not two million, all the talk about the day after will be different," he said in an interview with Army Radio. He added that to ensure security, Israel must control the Gaza Strip, and that "to control the territory militarily over the long term, we must also be present as civilians."
Smotrich is a far-right politician and head of the "Religious Zionism" party.
Israel has targeted the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district) and Marwahin (Sour district), eyewitnesses tell our correspondent in southern Lebanon.
The locality of Jabal al-Blat was also hit by Israeli airstrikes, a security source and eyewitnesses report, according to our correspondent.
Gaza casualty update: 150 Palestinians have been killed and 286 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza in the past 24 hours, Reuters reports, citing the Gaza Health Ministry.
US Navy helicopters sank three of four small boats used by Iranian-backed Houthi militants to attack a merchant vessel in the southern Red Sea on Sunday, US central command (CENTCOM) said on social media platform X, Reuters reports.
Helicopters from the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely, responding to distress calls from the Maersk Hangzhou , returned fire on the Houthi boats in self-defense and sank three of the vessels with no survivors. The fourth boat fled the area.
A drone launched two rockets at the outskirts of Labbouneh, according to eyewitnesses, our correspondent in the area reports.
A drone launched two rockets at the outskirts of Labbouneh, according to eyewitnesses, our correspondent in the area reports.
"Gaza is grappling with catastrophic hunger. 40% of the population are now at risk of famine," UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinian refugees) says in a post on X.
"Every day is a struggle for survival, finding food and water. We need regular supplies and safe + sustainable humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip," the agency continued, reposting a video released by Thomas White, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, that shows a crowd of people rushing behind and climbing an UNRWA aid convoy.
Here's what happened in south Lebanon last night and early this morning:
- According to local residents, it was relatively calm overnight in Lebanon's southern border villages and towns. No strikes have been reported this morning.
- However, reconnaissance aircraft are flying above Lebanese border villages this morning. Israeli warplanes and drones also flew in Lebanon's airspace last night.
Hezbollah last night announced the death of another of its fighters. Ali Ahmad Saad from the southern town of Bint Jbeil, died "on the path to Jerusalem." As is typical, Hezbollah's statement on the fighter's death offered no further details.
Local residents and security sources speaking to L'Orient Today had earlier named Saad as a man killed in an Israeli strike on the town of Nabatieh last night. Hours later, Hezbollah claimed the deceased as one of its fighters.
The Association of Secondary Education Teachers mourned Saad in a statement, saying he was a chemistry teacher at Bint Jbeil Public Secondary School and "martyred on the road to Jerusalem due to the savage Zionist aggression on the city of Bint Jbeil." The statement concludes by describing Saad as a "noble educator," who died while "paving the way to Jerusalem."
This latest announcement brings the total number of Hezbollah fighters killed since Oct. 8 to 134.
According to the US Axios and Israeli Ynet websites, Qatar has told Israel that Hamas has agreed in principle to the resumption of talks for the release of more than 40 hostages in exchange for a cease-fire lasting up to a month, AFP reports.
A delegation from Hamas, a movement classified as terrorist by the EU, the United States and Israel among others, arrived in Cairo on Friday to convey "the response of the Palestinian factions" to an Egyptian plan for the release of hostages and a pause in the clashes, AFP continues.
This response will be given "in the next few days", said Muhammad al-Hindi, deputy secretary-general of Islamic Jihad, an armed group fighting alongside Hamas, in a statement.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency has received a report of an attack on a ship 60 nautical miles northwest of Yemen's port of Hodiedah in the Red Sea.
In a post on the social platform X, UKMTO says that an unidentified vessel reported being attacked by three small boats on its port side and shots were exchanged.
All crew have been accounted for with no casualties, UKMTO adds.
An American destroyer shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from Yemen on yesterday as it responded to a call for help from a container ship that was hit in a separate strike, AFP reports, citing the US military. More details here.
The year comes to a close tonight, with no end in sight to Israel's deadliest military offensive on Gaza as air raids, artillery fire or ground fighting continue. Click here for a recap of the latest news.
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We're here with you again, on the last day of 2023 and day 86 of the Israel-Hamas war, to bring you all the latest news from Gaza, southern Lebanon, Israel and the wider region.
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