Gaza rocket lands in sea off Tel Aviv
On Tuesday evening, Islamic Jihad releases a video of two Israeli hostages that it holds, in an attempt to put pressure on Israel. Gadi Moshe Mozes, 79, and Elad Katzir, 47, who were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 are seen in the video. Elad is the son of Hanna Katzir, who was released from captivity as part of the hostage for prisoners deal.
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The release of the video comes a day after Hamas released a video of three other hostages, under the title "Don't throw me away in old age."
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Gadi Moshe Mozes, 79, and Elad Katzir, 47, who were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 are seen in a video released by Islamic Jihad
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late on Tuesday afternoon met with the families of the hostages in the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv and promised "We are committed, I am personally committed to the release of all the hostages. Rescuing them is the ultimate mission." Netanyahu added "Just now I sent the Mossad director twice to Europe to advance the release of our hostages. I will exert every effort on the matter and the demand is to bring them all home."
A United Nations Security Council vote on a bid to boost aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip was delayed on Tuesday evening by another day as talks continue to try and avoid a third U.S. veto of action over the two-month long Israel-Hamas war, diplomats said. The 15-member council was initially going to vote on a resolution - drafted by the United Arab Emirates - on Monday. But it has repeatedly been delayed as diplomats say the UAE and the U.S. struggle to agree language citing a cessation of hostilities and a proposal to set up U.N. aid monitoring.
The draft resolution would demand Israel and Hamas allow and facilitate land, sea and air deliveries of aid to and throughout the Gaza Strip and ask the United Nations to monitor humanitarian assistance arriving in the Palestinian enclave. Diplomats said the United States wants to tone down language that "calls for the urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities."
Division 162 has eliminated hundreds of terrorists in Jabaliya, and completed its take-over of the Gaza neighborhood, according to the IDF spokesperson. As part of the operation, about 500 people suspected of terrorist activity surrendered – some of them are identified with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad and were involved in the attack on the Israeli Gaza border communities on October 7. Some of the surrendered terrorists hid themselves among the civilian population in hospitals and schools. The commander of Division 162, Brig. Gen Itzik Cohen, said: "The fighting of the forces led to the dismantling of the military capacity of Hamas's Gaza City North Brigade. Thanks to the operation, we are operating in the heart of Gaza City with operational freedom."
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Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
(Photo: Dalati Nohra/Lebanese Official Government via AP)
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh will visit Egypt Wednesday to discuss a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, a Hamas official told the AFP news agency on Tuesday, adding that Haniyeh will head a "high-level" delegation. According to the same source in the organization, the leader of Hamas will talk with Egypt's Minister of Intelligence Abbas Kamel about "ceasing aggression and war in order to prepare for an agreement to release hostages and prisoners and end the siege on the Gaza Strip."
The IDF on Tuesday afternoon announced the death of a soldier in battle in Gaza, the third death announced for the dayt. Sgt. 1st Class Maoz Fenigstein, 25, from Susya, of the 551st Brigade’s 7008th Battalion fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday afternoon briefed ambassadors and other diplomatic staff serving in Israel, representing more than 80 countries around the world. "Israel is ready for another humanitarian pause and additional humanitarian aid in order to enable the release of hostages," Herzog said, and emphasized that "the responsibility lies fully with Sinwar and the leadership of Hamas.” Herzog added that Israel is not at war with the Palestinian people, but with Hamas. He also urged international organizations to do more to facilitate the delivery of aid to Gaza.
Following the alerts concerning a hostile aerial infiltration into northern Israel on Tuesday afternoon, the IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon toward Israeli territory. The alerts regarding rockets and missiles were activated due to the danger of falling shrapnel from the interceptor, according to the IDF spokesman. In response, IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon, including terrorist infrastructure, military compounds, a weapons storage facility and launch posts.
Hamas rejects holding negotiations over exchanging prisoners during the war in Gaza, but is open to any initiative to end it, a senior official from the terror group said in a statement on Tuesday. "We affirm our position of categorically rejecting to hold any form of negotiations over prisoners exchange under the continuing Israeli genocidal war," Basem Naem said. "We are, however, open to any initiative that contributes to ending the aggression on our people and opening the crossings to bring in aid and provide relief to the Palestinian people," he added.
In footage released on Tuesday by the Shin Bet security agency, a northern Gaza Strip hospital director is seen confessing in his interrogation that Hamas has transformed the medical center into a military base.
"I was recruited by Hamas in 2010 with the rank of brigadier general. There are about 16 employees in the hospital who are Izz ad-Din al-Qassam military operatives - doctors, nurses, paramedics, clerks and crew members," said Ahmad Kahalot, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya.
Kahalot, who was arrested last week in the Gaza Strip at the hospital by an IDF and Shin Bet force, described in his investigation how Hamas makes military use of the hospitals - hiding operatives, moving staff around and even brought a kidnapped soldier to the hospital.
The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem filed a petition on Tuesday with Israel's Supreme Court requesting immediate access for international media to the Gaza Strip. Several Israeli and international reporters have entered Gaza embedded with the Israeli military, but the association called this "limited access" and said it did not allow "access to areas where soldiers are not present."
The FPA, which it says represents some 370 journalists from about 130 media outlets, said it had submitted multiple requests to the government to gain access but had not received a response. "We are aware of the unique security challenges posed by the current war, and any members entering Gaza would have to take these risks into account," the statement said. "But the Israeli government's recent agreement to allow aid to enter Gaza directly from Israel shows that such obstacles can be overcome."
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Debris from rocket fire falls in Rishon Lezion after interception by missile defense
Tel Aviv metropolitan area, neighboring cities and the coastal plains came under rocket attack on Tuesday for the first time in eight days. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack saying it was in response to the Israeli massacre of Palestinians in Gaza. The heavy barrages were indication that Hamas was still able to launch long-range rockets despite the 73 days of the IDF's ground offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Shrapnel and rocket parts fell in cities south of Tel Aviv but no injuries were reported. two of the rockets were seen falling into the sea of the Tel Aviv shore.
The IDF said on Tuesday that Subhi Ferwana, a prominent Hamas financier, was killed in an airstrike on Rafah. Ferwana and his brother has transferred millions of dollars to the terror group to build its military force.
According to the IDF, Ferwana continued to provide funds for Hamas during the war in Gaza. The funds were used to purchase weaponry and pay the salaries of terrorists.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin invited dozens of nations to take steps to address Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping speaking in Manama, Bahrain on Tuesday.
"These reckless Houthi attacks are a serious international problem and they demand a firm international response." Earlier on Tuesday, Austin announced the launch of the U.S.-led Operation Prosperity Guardian, which will include joint patrols of Red Sea shipping.
IDF on Tuesday released the names of two soldiers in the reserves who were killed in Gaza. Captain (res.) Rotem Yoseff Levy and Master sergeant (res.) Daniel Yacov Ben Harosh.
Hamas rejected a proposal made by Israel for a deal to release hostages, the UK based Qatari Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news paper reported on Tuesday.
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Freed hostage meets Gadi Eizenkot who lost his son in the fighting in Gaza
(Photo: Dana Kopel)
Quoting an Egyptian source the paper said Israel proposed an exchange of hostages for elderly leading including prominent members of the Hamas terror group who were serving long sentences in Israeli jails, in Palestinian prisoners, for the freeing of women soldiers and elderly men held in Gaza. The source also said Hamas would insist in any future negotiations to include Palestinian leaders from other factions.
Mossad chief David Barnea is set to meet with Egypt's Intelligence minister Abas Kamal to discuss post war Gaza, the Hezbollah affiliated Lebanese Al Akhbar news paper said on Tuesday. According to the report Egypt objects to Israeli security control of the Strip unless the Palestinian Authority is allowed to rule over it.
Four rockets were launched from Syria toward the Golan Heights; one fell in an unpopulated area, and three fell short in Syrian territory. The IDF said it struck the source of the launches with artillery fire and a Syrian army post with tank fire.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based opposition war monitor, reported that Israel fired at targets in Syria's Daraa and Quneitra.
Earlier, four rockets were fired at Kiryat Shmona, triggering air raid sirens in the northern city and neighboring communities. Police sappers were deployed to at least three impact sites across the city where rocket fragments were found, including the yard of a residential building.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels said on Monday that international shipping lanes were safe for non-Israeli ships or vessels not headed to Israeli ports, writing off any claims otherwise as “American propaganda.”
"The shipping lanes in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea are safe, and there is no danger to ships, except for those belonging to Israel or those heading to Israeli ports,” said Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam.
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A Houthi gunman walking past the Galaxy Leader cargo ship, hijacked by Iranian-backed rebels in November
(Photo: EPA/YAHYA ARHAB)
“Any other claim is unrealistic American propaganda aiming to build an international rampart to protect Israel at sea, following the collapse of its concrete walls in the Al-Aqsa Flood," he added, referring to the Hamas’ name for the October 7 attack on Israel and the consequent war.
Meanwhile, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthis' Supreme Political Council, told Al Jazeera in an interview that the Iranian-backed group is “capable of confronting any coalition formed by the U.S. operating in the Red Sea.”
Jordan's King Abdullah said on Monday Washington can play a key role in ending the Israeli military campaign in Gaza by pushing for an immediate cease-fire, state media reported.
The monarch, a staunch U.S. ally, met with General Charles Q. Brown, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during his visit to Jordan. They discussed regional developments and the ongoing war on terrorism.
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Israeli hostages Amiram Cooper, Chaim Peri and Yoram Metzger in Hamas propaganda video
Hamas on Monday released a new propaganda video depicting three elderly Israeli hostages, offering the first sign of life from the men since their capture during the October 7 attack.
Titled "Don't Let Us Grow Old Here" in English, and "Cast me not off in the time of old age" in Hebrew, a reference to Psalm 71 from the Hebrew Bible, the footage is designed to exert pressure on the Israeli public and officials.
The video features Chaim Peri, Yoram Metzger and Amiram Cooper who were all kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. Peri is the only one who identifies himself and speaks for the group. He reveals that they are being held with other elderly individuals and appeals to Israel for their rescue.
First published: 07:01, 12.19.23