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.
Gaza faces another telecommunications blackout: PRCS
Gaza is facing another telecommunications blackout, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
“This presents a significant challenge for emergency medical teams in reaching the wounded and injured,” the organization warned.
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.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
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.
And in northern Gaza, Israeli forces have "attacked an array of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon," he said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
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.
Israeli forces destroy tunnel near Gaza hospital: IDF
Israeli forces have destroyed an underground tunnel near the Rantisi Hospital in northern Gaza, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a briefing.
The tunnel infrastructure, several kilometers long, “connected different locations in the Strip,” Hagari said. “[Israeli] forces uncovered three tunnel shafts in the area of the hospital, with one of them coming out of a school.”
“The tunnel network included steel doors, command control rooms, emergency rooms, many weapons that were underground and other intelligence materials,” he said.
This comes as Israeli forces “are at a very high level of readiness for the expansion of the war” in northern Gaza, Hagari said.
“We are in the final stages of the attack in the Al Burj area in the northern Gaza Strip, where we killed many terrorists,” he said.
Hagari added that Israel is also “attacking all the infrastructure that Hezbollah has built near the [Lebanon-Israel] border.”
In southern Gaza, Israeli “forces are fighting in several areas,” Hagari said. “One in the area called Al Burj in the central [Gaza] camps, where we are attacking for a third day. The second is in Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip, a major terror center of Hamas. There we expanded the operation -- today we added another division to this area and we continue to operate there with new combat methods above and below the ground.”