Israel-Gaza updates: IDF says it expects war to last all of 2024
The Israeli army said it destroyed a key hideout for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
ByABC NEWS
Last Updated: December 31, 2023, 4:50 PM EST
The temporary cease-fire between Hamas and Israel ended on Dec. 1, and Israel has resumed its bombardment of Gaza.
The end of the cease-fire came after Hamas freed over 100 of the more than 200 people its militants took hostage during the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel. In exchange, Israel released more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
The latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, has passed the four-month mark.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 30,228 people have been killed and 71,377 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 395 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The ongoing war began after Hamas-led militants launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel from neighboring Gaza via land, sea and air. Scores of people were killed while more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military subsequently launched retaliatory airstrikes followed by a ground invasion of Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory where more than 2 million Palestinians have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas came to power in 2007. Gaza, unlike Israel, has no air raid sirens or bomb shelters.
Dec 23, 2023, 4:15 PM EST
Biden says he did not ask for cease-fire on call with Netanyahu
President Joe Biden said he did not ask for a cease-fire during a call earlier Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"I had a long talk with Netanyahu today. It was a private conversation," he told reporters while leaving the White House for Christmas at Camp David.
He later said, "I did not ask for a cease-fire."
The leaders discussed Israel's military operation in Gaza, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and securing the release of the remaining hostages, according to a readout of the call released by the White House. The two agreed to remain in "regular consultation," the readout stated.
Biden also did not respond to questions about a new Wall Street Journal report that in the days after the Oct. 7 attack he convinced Netanyahu against a preemptive strike on Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
ABC News has not confirmed the report.
-ABC News' Lauren Peller and Jay O'Brien
Dec 22, 2023, 4:41 PM EST
US hostage confirmed dead
Gadi Hagi, a 73-year-old American-Israeli hostage and member of Kibbutz Nir Oz, has been confirmed dead, the kibbutz said.
Hagi was killed on Oct. 7 at the kibbutz and his body was taken to Gaza where it's still being held, according to a kibbutz spokesperson.
Hagi’s wife, 70-year-old Judy Weinstein, is wounded and still being held hostage, the kibbutz said.
Gad Haggai and his wife Judy Weinstein.
The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum
Hagi and his wife were shot and kidnapped on Oct. 7, according to the Hostage Center.
"Gadi was a man full of humor who knew how to make those around him laugh," the Hostage Center said in a statement. "A musician at heart, a gifted flautist, he played in the IDF Orchestra and was involved with music his whole life."
Hagi was a father of four and a grandfather of seven.
Hagi reportedly has ties to New York.
"May Gadi's memory be a blessing," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote on social media. "There are still many hostages -- including many with New York connections -- being held in Hamas captivity."
A man walks past portraits of Israeli hostages, held in Gaza since the October 7 attack, posted on a wall in Tel Aviv on December 15, 2023.
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
President Joe Biden said he was "heartbroken by the news."
"We continue to pray for the well-being and safe return of his wife, Judy," Biden said in a statement. "We are praying for their four children, seven grandchildren, and other loved ones and are grieving this tragic news with them."
Biden said Hagi's daughter joined, via phone, his meeting last week with families of hostages.
"Those families bravely shared with me the harrowing ordeal that they have endured over the past months as they await news of their loved ones," Biden said. "I reaffirm the pledge we have made to all the families of those still held hostage: we will not stop working to bring them home."
Pictures of hostages taken by Hamas line a walkway at Ben Gurion Airport, December 17, 2023, in Lod, Israel.
