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Israel-Gaza-Lebanon live updates: IDF launches fresh strikes into south Lebanon

Renewed cross-border fire comes despite last week's ceasefire.

ByDavid Brennan, Julia Reinstein, and Ivan Pereira
Last Updated: December 4, 2024, 3:33 AM EST

The ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group.

The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza, particularly in the north of the devastated Palestinian territory.

Tensions also remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing.
Dec 03, 2024, 6:16 AM EST

Diseases spreading in Gaza as winter bites

Doctors Without Borders on Tuesday reported a significant spread of respiratory diseases, pneumonia, skin diseases and diseases resulting from immunodeficiency among citizens in Gaza.

A displaced Palestinian man pushes a cart to his tent where his children wait for him in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, on Dec. 3, 2024.
Hatem Khaled/Reuters

The organization's medical director, Fadi Al-Madhoun, warned of acute respiratory infection among children in the Gaza Strip due to the winter weather and their presence in tents that do not protect against the winter cold.

Last month, MSF described conditions in Gaza as "appalling" and said its teams treated more than 10,000 children under the age of 5 for upper respiratory tract infections like tonsillitis and the common cold.

-ABC News' Samy Zyara and Joe Simonetti

Dec 03, 2024, 6:06 AM EST

Airstrike targets car near Damascus airport

Syria's SANA news agency reported an Israeli airstrike targeting a car on a main road close to Damascus airport on Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties from the strike, or who the target was.

The Israel Defense Forces has not yet commented on the report.

-ABC News' Nasser Atta, Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti

Dec 03, 2024, 5:23 AM EST

IDF claims killing of Oct. 7 militants

The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that it killed seven militants it accused of participating in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, infiltration attack into southern Israel.

An Israeli soldier is pictured overlooking Gaza City from the Israel-Gaza border on Dec. 1, 2024.
Tsafrir Abayov/AP

The IDF said in a statement that troops of the 99th Division's 990th Brigade killed the fighters during operations in central Gaza over the past two weeks.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller

Dec 03, 2024, 4:41 AM EST

Trump's Israel ambassador pick demands 'severe' response to hostage death

Mike Huckabee, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be the next American ambassador to Israel, said the U.S. must "exact severe consequences" after the Israel Defense Forces announced the death of missing American-Israeli soldier Omer Neutra.

Neutra, 21, was killed during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel and his body was taken back into Gaza, the IDF said Monday. He was previously thought to have been abducted alive.

Huckabee wrote on X, "There must be serious consequences for holding any hostage but America needs to exact severe consequences for kidnapping and murdering AMERICAN hostages."

People attend a protest march in support of the hostages kidnapped during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack, in Jerusalem on Nov. 27, 2024.
Ammar Awad/Reuters

Trump said on Truth Social on Monday that there would be "ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East" if remaining hostages are not released from Gaza by the time he takes office on Jan. 20.

There are believed to be three surviving Americans still being held hostage in Gaza.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller

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