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.
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.
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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.
Fighting continues on the border with Lebanon
Israel said that it struck three terror cells in southern Lebanon on Saturday. The IDF also said it carried out strikes against Hezbollah infrastructure and shelled areas in southern Lebanon.
The strikes came amid Hezbollah rocket, missile and drone attacks on northern Israel on Saturday, according to the IDF. According to Israel, 80% of the launches fired by Hezbollah toward Israel fell in Lebanon.
-ABC News' Dana Savir
Israel says it destroyed tunnels where Hamas general headquarters were located
The IDF said it has located and destroyed a hideout apartment of Yahya Sinwar -- a Hamas leader -- near Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip.
IDF soldiers examined the apartment using additional technological means and found that a strategic tunnel shaft was located on the basement floor. The soldiers inspected the tunnel shaft and reached a 715-foot tunnel with a depth of over 65 feet that was apparently used by the senior officials of Hamas’ Military and Political Wing, according to the IDF.
The IDF said that the tunnel had an electrical network, ventilation and sewage infrastructure, hideout materials, prayer rooms and resting rooms. The IDF said the tunnel was built so that it would be possible to stay inside it and conduct combat for long periods of time.
-ABC News' Dana Savir
Gaza woman with cancer can’t receive treatment because of border closure
A 50-year-old woman who has been a cancer patient for three years says she has not been able to receive her continuing treatment in Jerusalem since the war began, she told ABC News.
Rida Kaskeen, who now lives in a makeshift tent in Rafah, had received chemical treatment for her cancer in Jerusalem before the war began. But since it started, border closures have kept her from being able to get her treatment.
"I am a cancer patient. I used to go every two weeks to take my dose in Al-Mutalaa Hospital. They were all there with respect and appreciation. They provided me with everything, from a hotel or in the hospital, to everything I wanted and needed. They were doing their duty and more," Kaskeen told ABC News.
"My last dose was a week before the war. Every two weeks is the dose, and I have not taken the treatment for three months, and I know my end because I didn’t take the treatment and I lost weight and my situation is miserable,” Kaskeen said.
-ABC News' Sami Zayara
Hamas leader will not travel to Cairo to discuss potential cease-fire deal
Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said he would not travel to Cairo on Friday to discuss its proposed cease-fire and hostage deal.
"There will be no visit by a Hamas delegation to Cairo today," Hamdan said.
Another Hamas leader said the terror group would not negotiate while "under fire."
"Any negotiations on the exchange of prisoners will take place after the cease-fire and the occupation’s withdrawal from Gaza," Hamas leader Musa Abu Marzouk said. "We will not negotiate under fire."
-ABC News' Nasser Atta
Israeli president urges world leaders to demand hostages be released
In 10 posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, in 10 different languages, Israeli President Isaac Herzog issued a New Year's call to world leaders and people around the globe to advance the immediate return of the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
"As we enter 2024, I call on the entire family of nations, on all world leaders, to demand and work for the immediate, unconditional release of our 133 hostages," he wrote Sunday.
"Their immediate release is at the core of our battle with Hamas terrorists in Gaza," he added.
According to the Israeli prime minister's office, there are 129 hostages being held by Hamas -- including at least 23 people believed to be dead whose bodies are still being held in Gaza.
-ABC News' Edward Szekeres
