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 26, 2023, 4:27 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.

Click here for updates from previous days.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing.
Mar 01, 2024, 6:03 AM EST

What we know about the conflict

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 26, 2023, 4:27 PM EST

Israel’s war cabinet meets about possible hostage deals: Source

Israel’s war cabinet is meeting to discuss operational issues of the war as well as the hostages, according to an Israeli political source.

There are several hostage deals being discussed, the Israeli source said, including a proposal from Egyptians that would involve a cease-fire in exchange for the release of more hostages and lead to a broader agreement involving a permanent cease-fire, along with an overhaul of leadership in Gaza, according to an Egyptian source.

The families of Israelis abducted by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack and currently held in the Gaza Strip wait for the war cabinet ministers at the entrance to then Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, Dec. 25, 2023.
Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Dec 26, 2023, 3:00 PM EST

Israeli forces expand into central Gaza

Israeli forces have “expanded operations into central Gaza," Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.

In Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the Israelis "are fighting with new methods" and “constantly adjusting our tactics based on the needs of the military operations,” Hagari said.

Israeli soldiers aboard military vehicles at an area near the Israeli-Gaza border in southern Israel, Dec. 25, 2023.
Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

And in northern Gaza, Israeli forces have "attacked an array of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon," he said.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Dec 26, 2023, 12:41 PM EST

80,000 vials of vaccines delivered to Gaza

About 80,000 vials of the measles mumps and rubella vaccine, also called the MMR vaccine, have been delivered to Gaza, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

The MMR vaccine is routinely given to children starting at 12 months old to 15 months old and again at 4 years old to 6 years old.

Dec 26, 2023, 12:06 PM EST

Netanyahu adviser to meet with White House officials

Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, a key ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, according to administration officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, wears a protective vest and helmet as he receives a security briefing with commanders and soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip, Dec. 25, 2023.
Avi Ohayon/GPO via AP

The meeting will cover "a number of matters related to the conflict in Gaza and the return of hostages held by Hamas," according to National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson.

Israeli soldiers operate in a location given as Tuffah, Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, December 26, 2023.
Israel Defense Forces/via Reuters

Dermer was the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. from 2013 to 2021. He now serves in Netanyahu's government and is considered a close adviser to the prime minister.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the country is "deepening the war" in Gaza, vowing to fight "until the end.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the country is "deepening the war" in Gaza, vowing to fight "until the end.”

-ABC News’ Arthur Jones, Lauren Peller and Jay O'Brien

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