Israel-Hamas war LIVE: Israel says war will cost USD 14 billion in new year: Report

Fears that Israel's war in Gaza could spiral across the Middle East grew Wednesday after a drone strike killed a Hamas senior leader in Lebanon and twin explosions ripped through an Iranian crowd, claiming at least 103 lives, reported AFP. 

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Speaking over the killing of senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the act by Israel is to draw Lebanon into the ongoing Gaza war. 

“[But] I don’t think Hezbollah will be willing to drag Lebanon into a major conflict at this particular moment and time given the situation regionally,” Yahya added.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that Gazans are at the risk of an epidemic due to a shortage of food. “People have lost their strength, are no longer able to support their emaciated bodies and have become exposed to epidemics and diseases,” he reportedly said. 

A Germany’s foreign ministry spokesperson said that the attacks on Red Sea shipping by Houthi militia "must stop," reported Al Jazeera. 

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has posted a video which it says shows people being evacuated from its building in Khan Younis.

“The scenes of horror and panic among the Internally displaced people following the bombing of the PRCS building in #KhanYunis for the second time led to the killing of five displaced individuals, including a newborn no older than a week, and the injury of three, including a first responder volunteer.” says the caption of the video.

United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon has said that it was 'deeply concerned' about a possible escalation in hostility between Israel and Lebanon.

"We are deeply concerned at any potential for escalation that could have devastating consequences for people on both sides of the blue line. We continue to implore all parties cease their fire, and any interlocutors with influence to urge restraint," said UNIFIL spokesperson as quoted by Reuters.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said that 'intensive battle was ongoing in Khan Younis, the city in southern part of Gaza Strip.

"In Khan Younis, intensive battles against terrorist operatives are continuing. IDF ground troops identified a terrorist that attempted to plant an explosive device on a tank, and directed an IDF aircraft to strike the terrorist and three additional terrorists in the area. Furthermore, in Khan Younis, an IDF fighter jet struck an Islamic Jihad weapons production complex," said IDF on Telegram app.

Displaced Gazans who are temporarily staying in camps in southern part of Gaza Strip have said that winter and shortage of resources is adding to their suffering.

Zayda al-Breem told Reuters that situation in the camp she was staying in was "somewhat bearable, but displacement and winter is unbearable".

She said she has to spend all night covering her children and huddling the family together just to stay warm.

"It is difficult, very difficult," she said.

Alia Ghaban, another Gazan, told Reuters that her children's health is suffering

"They got diarrhoea and vomiting, a cough and shivers, from the cold and rain, and the lack of clothes and covers," she said.

"There is nothing, we are ill, our chests hurt because of the cold, there is no heat."

Israeli finance ministry has said that the ongoing war would cost the country USD 13.8 billion assuming the high-intensity fight ends in first quarter of the new year, reported The Times of Israel.

The ministry has reportedly said this in a document presented to Knesset Finance Committee earlier this week.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has carried out drone strike against group of Palestinian gunmen in occupied West Bank. reported The Time of Israel. The report said that the strike was carried out during raid in Nur Shams refugee camp.

In a bizarre news, an Israeli citizen named Roi Yifrah, 35, joined the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on the battlefield, using fake identities. He posed as a member of an elite Shin Bet combat unit and even appeared in a photo next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during one of his field visits. 

A new poll has revealed a damning picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Only 15 per cent of Israelis want Bibi to stay in office after the war with Hamas in Gaza ends, preferring Benny Gantz over him.

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According to an Al-Jazeera report, Israeli officials are holding discussions with Congo and other nations to where they plan to send displaced Palestinians from Gaza. 

Democrat leader Bernie Sanders on Tuesday urged the Congress to reject the $10.1bn in unconditional military aid being considered for Israel. 

“Let me be clear: NO MORE U.S. funding for Netanyahu’s illegal, immoral, brutal and grossly disproportionate war against the Palestinian people,” Sanders posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Israeli officials reportedly held clandestine talks with the African nation of Congo and several others for accepting the Gaza emigrants, reported The Times of Israel.

“Congo will be willing to take in migrants, and we’re in talks with others,” said a senior source, in the security cabinet, as reported by The Times of Israel.

Earlier, Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel was quoted saying, “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.”

Two missiles were fired by  Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels late on Tuesday (Jan 2) toward merchant ships which are travelling in the Red Sea close to the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, said the US military following a report published by the British maritime security agency UKMTO.

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

The US Central Command said that two anti-ship ballistic missiles were fired by Houthi rebels into the southern Red Sea where there multiple commercial ships were present 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,” said CENTCOM on X, adding that this was the 24th attack on merchant vessel in the area since November 19.

Responding to the US State Department's rebuke to his comments, a far-right Israeli official said that their country is not another star on the American flag. The US State Department had rebuked his comments in which he appealed for resetting Gazans outside of the Gaza Strip.

Taking to X, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said, “Very appreciative of the United States of America but with all due respect we are not just another star on the American flag." He further called the United States as Israel's "good friend."

"But first of all we will do what is good for the State of Israel," said the minister said, further stating that the "emigration of hundreds of thousands from Gaza" will allow Israeli settlers to return and "live in security."  

After Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri was killed by Israel, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, in a televised address, said that the Palestinian terror group "will never be defeated". 

“A movement whose leaders and founders fall as martyrs for the dignity of our people and our nation will never be defeated,” said Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who is based in the Qatari capital of Doha. 

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

Gersch, who was a member of the Combat Engineering Corps’ elite Yahalom unit, is the 174th soldier to have lost his life in the ground offensive against Hamas.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday said he deplored the strikes on the Palestine Red Crescent Society headquarters in Gaza. 

Branding the strikes "unconscionable", he said that health must never be a target during conflicts, adding that Gazans were facing a "dire humanitarian catastrophe".

"I deplore today's strikes on the PRCS-run Al-Amal hospital," he said on X.

As per the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), two Israeli strikes on its headquarters in the southern city of Khan Yunis, have resulted in "five casualties and three injuries" among displaced people who had sought refuge there and at a nearby hospital.

The president of Harvard University resigned Tuesday after coming under ferocious attack over plagiarism accusations and her response to anti-Semitism on campus amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

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The United States has denounced controversial comments by two Israeli ministers who said Palestinians should be encouraged to emigrate from Gaza to make way for Jewish settlers to return to the besieged territory.

Calling the rhetoric "inflammatory and irresponsible," US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Washington "rejects recent statements from Israeli Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza."

Miller reiterated the "clear, consistent, and unequivocal" US position that "Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land, with Hamas no longer in control of its future and with no terror groups able to threaten Israel."

In a televised press briefing on Tuesday (January 2) Chief Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari declined to respond when asked if they expected retaliation for the killing of senior Hamas official, Saleh al-Arouri.

"I will answer clearly, like I said in the statement, I won't respond to what was heard here, or elsewhere, we are focused on the battle against Hamas, from the beginning, and we will continue to do so, and we will update the public with instructions when needed, and we change and specify instructions accordingly, in the noon, evening, and morning, and will continue to do so. The public is also responsible and will continue to be as such, and we will update the instructions, these instructions are life saving," said Hagari.

Following the Israeli strike that killed Hamas's deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israel to avoid escalation, "particularly in Lebanon".

As per the Élysée Palace, Macron, who spoke by telephone with Israeli minister and war cabinet member Benny Gantz, said "it was 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". 

Macron also reiterated his call for a "lasting ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas and expressed again his "deepest concern" at the mounting civilian death toll in Gaza, as well as the humanitarian crisis unfolding inside the Palestinian territory.

The French leader also reaffirmed "France's commitment to the security of Israel".

Calling it "a serious assault on Lebanon... and a dangerous development in the course of the war" Hezbollah has vowed that Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Aruri's death would not go "unpunished".

The killing has also been condemned by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who said it "aims to draw Lebanon" further into the Israel-Hamas war.

On Tuesday, an Israeli strike killed Hamas's deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri, the group and security officials in Lebanon said.

Talking to AFP, 'a high-level security official' said that Aruri was killed along with his bodyguards in the strike. He is the most high-profile of Hamas commanders and officials to be killed during this war, and his death came in the first strike on the Lebanese capital since hostilities began.

Without commenting on Aruri's killing, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said the military was "highly prepared for any scenario" in its aftermath. A second security official in Lebanon confirmed the information about Aruri's killing.

As per Lebanese state media reports, the strike hit a Hamas office in Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, a Hamas ally, where a total of seven people were killed.