Israel-Hamas war top developments: Islamic Jihad delegation arrives in Cairo for talks with Egyptian mediators

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday (Dec 24) said that Israel will continue to fight in Gaza until a complete victory over the Hamas terror group is achieved.

His remark camer amid the reports of a 14-day ceasefire proposal by Egypt, as per the Jerusalem Post reports.

"We are deepening the fighting in the Gaza Strip," the prime minister said in a recorded message.

"This is the only way to destroy Hamas, bring our hostages back, and ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel."

"It will take time, but we are united and determined to fight until the end," he added. 

Moroccans wave Palestinian flags during a demonstration in support of Gaza in the streets of Rabat. "The Moroccan people want to abolish normalization (with Israel)", says Boubker el-Bounkhari, coordinator of the Moroccan Front for the Support of Palestine.

A delegation of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, an armed group allied with Hamas which is reportedly holding some of the Israeli captives in Gaza, has arrived in Cairo for talks with Egyptian security officials, a member of the group has told Reuters.

The talks will centre on "ways to end the Israeli aggression on our people", the official said.

The Israeli army, according to the news agency AFP, said it found "explosive belts adapted for children, dozens of mortar shells, hundreds of grenades and intelligence documents".

Hamas rejected those claims as lies meant "to justify their massacring of innocent civilians and their destructive aggression".

Thousands of protesters staged one of the largest pro-Palestinian marches in Morocco's capital Rabat on Sunday (Dec 24) and demanded an end to Morocco's ties with Israel.

Sunday’s march was co-organised by leftist groups and the outlawed al-Adl wal-Ihsan Islamists.

Morocco agreed to strengthen ties with Israel in 2020, under a deal brokered by the US under President Donald Trump that also included Washington recognising Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of western Sahara.

Israeli army indicates its forces are close to having operational control in north Gaza
Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesperson, has indicated that forces were close to having operational control in north Gaza, AFP reported.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari had said Friday that the military is nearing complete "operational control" of northern Gaza, as it further expands operations in the southern part of the Strip.

The Hamas-run health ministry said on Sunday that at least 20,424 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war with Israel.

The toll included 166 deaths in the past 24 hours, it said. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said the war in Gaza was exacting a "very heavy price" as the toll of Israeli soldiers killed in fighting during ground operations in Gaza mounts. 

"This is a difficult morning, after a very difficult day of fighting in Gaza... The war is exacting a very heavy price... but we have no choice but to keep fighting," he said in a statement. 

This comes as the Israeli army said it has lost around 14 soldiers since Friday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed reports that the United States had convinced Israel not to expand its military activity during a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, saying that Israel's actions are "not dictated by external pressures."

"I have seen false publications claiming that the U.S. prevented and is preventing us from operational operations in the region," said the Israeli PM without specifying which report. 

He added, "This is not true. Israel is a sovereign state. Our decisions in the war are based on our operational considerations, and I will not elaborate on that."

The Israeli PM also said that "The decision on how to use our forces is an independent decision of the IDF and no-one else."

This comes after Wall Street Journal on Saturday reported that Netanyahu was persuaded by US President Joe Biden not to attack the Iran-backed Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group out of concerns it would launch an attack on Israel, similar to the October 7 by Hamas in Gaza on Israel's southern communities.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the death of another soldier during fighting in the Gaza, on Saturday taking the death toll of Israeli troops killed amid fighting in the Palestinian enclave to 153. 

The Israeli soldier was identified as Staff Sargeant Roy Elias, 21 from Tzofar, reported Times of Israel. 

Nearly 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.4 population has been displaced by the fighting, according to UN estimates.

Many from the north have fled to the relative safety of the south, only to be caught up in the war for a second time, reports Guardian.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has vowed the war will continue until Hamas is “destroyed”, defying growing international demands for a ceasefire.

These are now coming even from close allies such as the UK and Germany, which are concerned about the civilian toll of Israel’s offensive.

The United States shot down four drones headed towards a US destroyer in the southern Red Sea and launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Saturday, US Central Command (Centcom) said.

“These attacks represent the 14th and 15th attacks on commercial shipping by Houthi militants since Oct. 17,” Centcom said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Injured Palestinians arrived at Khan Younis' Nasser Hospital on Saturday (Dec 23) night, following Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip. The Health Ministry in Gaza on Saturday evening said 201 people had been killed over the past 24 hours, as per reports. 

“I had a long talk with Netanyahu today and it was a private conversation,” Biden reportedly said Saturday (Dec 23).

“I did not ask for a ceasefire,” he said in response to a shouted question, as per media reports. 
 

The Israeli military said on Sunday (Dec 24) that eight more soldiers had been killed in the Gaza Strip during the ongoing war with the Hamas militant group. This has brought the total count to 154 since the ground invasion started on October 20.
 

Large plumes of smoke were seen on the skyline of the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, on Sunday. It comes as more than 90 Palestinians, including dozens from an extended family, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two homes in Gaza, rescuers and hospital officials said Saturday, a day after the U.N. chief warned that nowhere is safe in the territory and that Israel’s offensive creates “massive obstacles” to distribution of humanitarian aid.

More than 20,000 people, which is nearly 1% of the territory's prewar population, have been killed in Gaza, reports said citing the Palestinian Health Ministry. 

US President Joe Biden talked over phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday and discussed Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

Biden reiterated the importance of protecting civilians in Gaza, including those who are supporting the humanitarian aid efforts, according to a White House readout of the call. Biden said it is also crucial to allow those civilians to move safely away from areas of ongoing fighting, the White House said.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked an Indian-flagged crude oil tanker with a drone in the Red Sea, the US military reported Sunday morning (Dec 24).M/V Saibaba, a Gabon-owned tanker, reported no injuries after the attack but sent out an SOS call to a US warship operating in its vicinity. The attack comes a day after another oil tanker came under drone attack off the Indian coast. The US on Sunday said the attack was carried out by Iran.

Read the report in detail here.

Over 90 Palestinians, including many from a large family, lost their lives in Israeli airstrikes on two residences, as reported by rescuers and hospital officials on Saturday.

This tragic incident follows the UN chief's warning that nowhere in Gaza is safe, emphasising the significant challenges posed by Israel's offensive to the distribution of humanitarian aid.

On the same day, the Israeli military announced the arrest of hundreds of alleged militants in Gaza over the past week.

More than 200 of them were transferred to Israel for further interrogation, shedding light on a controversial policy of mass detentions of Palestinian men.

The military stated that over 700 individuals with supposed ties to militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been sent to Israeli detention facilities.

Israel continues its heavy bombardment of Gaza, resulting in over 201 casualties within a 24-hour period.

Media reports reveal Israeli forces are actively entering Bethlehem during a night of West Bank raids.

Tim Dawson, deputy general secretary at the International Federation of Journalists, reports Palestinian journalists receiving threatening calls, while Gaza's media office confirms the death of the 100th journalist in the region.

Joe Biden, in a "private" call with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu before his Christmas break, asserts that he did not request a ceasefire.