A 25-year-old Israeli was killed in the Gaza Strip last month during an attempt by Israeli special forces to liberate it. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed a media report on Wednesday that the family of the young man, who was abducted from the town of Kibbutz Beeri to the Gaza Strip on October 7, had been informed of the circumstances of his death. According to the army, it is not clear whether he was killed by the kidnappers or by fire from Israeli troops.
The student was declared dead last month. His grandmother and brother were murdered in the massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other groups in the border area on October 7th.
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Hamas' armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, released a video in December. Initially it showed the 25-year-old alive. In the end, a bloody corpse was seen. The Kassam Brigades said at the time that he had been killed during an Israeli attempt to free him.
According to Israeli information, there are currently 133 hostages still held by Hamas and other extremist groups in the Gaza Strip.
All developments from January 4th can be found here on the live ticker
All developments as of January 3
12:21 pm – Iranian presidential adviser blames Israel and the US for the attack
Iranian presidential adviser Mohammad Jamshidi blamed Israel and the US for the attack that killed nearly 100 people near the grave of General Qassem Soleimani. “Washington says the US and Israel played no role in the terrorist attack in Kerman, Iran. Really?” wrote Jamshidi on the online service
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11:35 pm – 18 shipping companies divert ships due to attacks in the Red Sea
Due to attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea, 18 shipping companies are diverting their ships and allowing them to sail around Africa, according to the United Nations. The diversion through South Africa was intended to reduce attacks on ships, said International Maritime Organization (IMO) head Arsenio Dominguez. The diversion of ships means an increase in travel time of ten days and a “negative impact on trade and increased freight rates”, he continued.
7:17 pm – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs asks people to leave Lebanon quickly
Due to the escalation of the situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on German citizens to leave Lebanon as quickly as possible. Germans still in the country should register on the Elefand crisis preparedness list and leave “as quickly as possible”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on Wednesday on the X platform, formerly Twitter. “An escalation on the border between Israel and Lebanon cannot be ruled out,” it was said after the meeting of the federal government’s crisis team.
7:15 pm – Hezbollah chief warns Israel: don’t be afraid of war
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel against escalating the conflict with the neighboring country following the death of a senior Hamas representative in Lebanon. “Anyone who thinks of war with us will regret it,” said the secretary general of the Iranian-backed Shiite organization in a speech on Wednesday. “If the enemy starts a war against Lebanon, we will no longer follow any rules,” Nasrallah said.
He vowed retaliation for Al-Aruri's death. He did not provide any information about what the group planned to do. So far, Hezbollah has been cautious in its strategy in the conflict, Nasrallah said. It tried to support the Gaza Strip “taking Lebanese national interests into account.” If Israel starts a war against Lebanon, Hezbollah will be ready for a “fight without borders”. “You're going to regret this. It's going to be very, very, very expensive.”
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6:29 pm – After the assassination of a Hamas leader, there are new bombings on the Israeli-Lebanese border
Following the assassination of a Hamas leader in Beirut, there were new shellings on the Israeli-Lebanese border on Wednesday. The Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, blamed Israel for the death of the deputy head of Hamas's political office, Saleh al-Aruri, and promised retaliation.
Israel's army said it recorded several rocket launches from the neighboring country on Wednesday that were aimed at Israeli targets. In response, the military attacked the bombing sites. Soldiers also attacked terrorists in Lebanon and “Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure” in that country.
Saleh al-Aruri at a press conference in Syria in 2010
Source: dpa/Str
The Shiite militia said it attacked targets in Israel. Hezbollah also reported the deaths of two additional members. However, she did not say when and where exactly they died.
6:10 pm – Hezbollah reports attacks on Israeli border posts
Hezbollah again attacked targets in Israel. Hezbollah said Israeli border posts were attacked in a total of eight attacks on Wednesday. Burkan-type short-range missiles were used in four cases. Clashes also occurred on the Israeli-Lebanese border overnight. However, Hezbollah did not directly link its attacks to Al-Arouri's death.
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5:08 pm – Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejects Israeli ministerial statements on Gaza
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs harshly criticized the Israeli government's statements about the possible expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. “We reject the statements of the two ministers very clearly and in the strongest possible terms. They are neither useful nor helpful,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Berlin said on Wednesday regarding statements by right-wing extremist Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
Police and finance ministers have spoken out in favor of the Israeli repopulation of the Gaza Strip after the war against Hamas. Ben-Gvir said on Monday that the war was an opportunity to promote the “resettlement of Gaza residents.” Smotrich told Israeli Army Radio on Sunday that if Israel does things right, there will be an exodus of Palestinians “and we will live in the Gaza Strip.”
4:23 pm – Mossad chief wants to “get revenge” on all planners of the October 7th attack
The head of the Israeli secret service, Mossad, has threatened to retaliate against all planners and masterminds involved in the October 7 Hamas attack. Israel is “in the middle of war,” David Barnea said Wednesday in Jerusalem. The Mossad is committed to “taking revenge on the killers who came from the Gaza Strip border on October 7th, the planners and their clients”.
This reckoning “will take time, just as it did after the Munich massacre, but we will get them where they are,” Barnea said. “Every Arab mother should know that if her son participated directly or indirectly in the massacre of October 7, blood would fall on his head,” threatened the intelligence chief, citing a verse from the Book of Joshua.
3:19 pm – The US has placed a five million dollar reward on the dead Hamas deputy
The US has placed a reward of five million dollars (4.5 million euros) on the head of Hamas deputy Saleh al-Aruri, killed in Beirut. The US State Department has promised a reward of up to this amount for information on Al-Aruri, the deputy head of the political bureau of the Islamist Hamas. The US had already listed Al-Aruri as a globally active terrorist in 2015.
The US announced the reward in 2018 as part of the “Rewards for Justice” program. So far, more than $250 million has been paid to 125 whistleblowers around the world to use their tips to combat “threats to U.S. national security,” as the U.S. State Department puts it.
2:51 pm – The Israeli army prepared “for any scenario” after killing the deputy head of Hamas
After the assassination of the deputy head of Hamas, Saleh al-Aruri, in Lebanon, the Israeli army is ready “for any scenario”. At the same time, it continued its offensive against the Palestinian Islamic organization in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said after al-Aruri's death that Israel was “highly prepared for any scenario.” Pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon, an ally of Hamas, threatened to retaliate.
In Hebron, hundreds of people took to the streets – Israel was prepared, said army spokesman Hagari
Source: image alliance/ZUMAPRESS.com/Mamoun Wazwaz
1:27 pm – According to state media: 103 dead in explosions near the tomb of the general assassinated in Iran
The number of people killed in two explosions in Iran on Wednesday has risen, according to Iranian state media. 103 increased. The official IRNA news agency reported that numerous injured people died, so the death toll rose. The explosions occurred in the city of Kerman, in the south of the country, where many people celebrated on Wednesday the fourth anniversary of the death of General Qassem Soleimani, killed in a US attack.
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The explosions occurred near the Saheb al-Saman mosque. IRNA had previously reported 73 deaths. Another 141 people were injured in the explosions, some of them seriously.
12:27 pm – General strike in the West Bank after the murder of a Hamas deputy
Following the assassination of a Hamas leader in Lebanon, things initially remained relatively calm in the West Bank on Wednesday. Schools, universities, banks, restaurants and public offices remained closed due to a general strike. According to Israeli media reports, demonstrations and clashes with the Israeli army in Palestinian territory were called for Wednesday afternoon. According to their own statements, the military carried out raids in several locations during the night.
11:33 am – UN concerned in Lebanon
Following the assassination of a Hamas leader in the Lebanese capital Beirut, the UN monitoring mission Unifil in Lebanon is concerned about the security situation in the country. “We are deeply concerned about the possibility of escalation. This could have devastating consequences for people on both sides of the border,” deputy director of the media office Kandice Ardiel told the German Press Agency on Wednesday. Unifil continues to call on all parties to lay down their arms.
10:15 am – The Lebanese government wants to dissuade Hezbollah from attacking
Following the assassination of a Hamas leader in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, the Lebanese government is in contact with Hezbollah to discourage it from reacting. Acting Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told British radio station BBC 4 on Tuesday night that his government was talking to Hezbollah to “convince them that they themselves should not react.”
The next 24 hours will show whether Hezbollah will respond or not, Bou Habib said. “We are very worried, the Lebanese do not want to be drawn into this, even Hezbollah does not want to be drawn into a regional war.” He called on Western states to “put pressure on Israel to stop all its violence and all its actions, not just in Lebanon, not just in Beirut, but also in Gaza.”
8:38 am – US Institute: Israel’s troop reduction in Gaza is helping Hamas
According to American experts, the Israeli army risks playing into the hands of the Islamic group Hamas in the Gaza war if previous bombings decrease. Israeli forces have moved into a phase of targeted strikes with reduced troop numbers in northern Gaza, which will likely allow Hamas to regroup militarily, a report by the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said. The Israeli army recently withdrew five brigades and allowed some reservists to temporarily return to civilian life.
Source: OpenStreetMap; WORLD infographic
The Israeli army decimated several Hamas units and disabled others, especially in the northern Gaza Strip. “But Hamas’ military forces are currently neither defeated nor destroyed,” the ISW said. “Instead, a relaxation of Israeli pressure would allow Hamas to rebuild its military capabilities and infrastructure,” he said.
7:43 am – According to experts, Hezbollah has a more sophisticated tunnel system than Hamas
According to an intelligence expert, the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon has a more sophisticated tunnel system than the Islamic Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The underground routes ran hundreds of kilometers from southern Lebanon to the border with Israel, the Times of Israel newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing intelligence expert Tal Beeri.
The head of the Alma Research and Education Center, which deals with security issues on Israel's northern border, says he has been researching the Iran-backed Shiite militia tunnel network in Lebanon for years, based on publicly available information. Beeri called southern Lebanon the “land of tunnels” in a 2021 article; the network was built with the help of advisors from North Korea and support from Iran.
In 2018, the Israeli army found and destroyed a Hezbollah “cross-border attack tunnel” under the Israeli-Lebanese border in Operation Northern Shield. “This is the first tunnel we found, (…) after that we will move on to other tunnels, we know they exist”, said a spokesperson at the time. There are tunnels that Hezbollah could also use to launch precision weapons, Beeri told the newspaper. The tunnel system “is more sophisticated” than that of Hamas. Islamist Hezbollah has links to Hamas but is considered much more powerful.
2019: An Israeli soldier holds open the entrance door to a Hezbollah tunnel
Source: image alliance/dpa/Ilia Yefimovich
The Israeli army has been waging war against the terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip since the massacre carried out by Hamas and other groups in Israel on October 7. Hamas uses its network of tunnels for this purpose, where, according to Israel, many of the terrorists hide and also hold Israeli hostages. The Israeli army claims to have already discovered and destroyed some of the extensive tunnels. As the situation on the border with Lebanon worsens, Hezbollah's tunnels are now being discussed again, the newspaper reported.
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07:00 – USA: Houthi militia responsible for new shootings on cargo ship in the Red Sea
According to the US, Houthi rebels fired again at cargo ships sailing in the Red Sea on Tuesday. The Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles at a section in the southern Red Sea, where numerous merchant ships were passing at the time, said US Central Command (Centcom) for the Middle East. Consequently, no harm was done.
6:00 am – Hezbollah threatens Israel after killing Hamas deputy
The assassination of a leader of the Islamic group Hamas in Lebanon has led to a new escalation of the conflict with Israel. Although Israel's military refused to comment on reports of a targeted killing of Saleh al-Aruri, Lebanon's Hezbollah militia announced retaliation on Tuesday night. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that progress towards reaching a hostage agreement was no longer possible, citing Arab diplomatic circles.
The deputy head of Hamas's political office was killed in an explosion in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. According to Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, a total of seven people died, including two leaders of Hamas' armed wing. The terrorist organization immediately blamed Israel.
The Israeli government's security advisor tried to calm the situation. The alleged attack targeted Hamas exclusively, Mark Regev emphasized to US broadcaster MSNBC. “Whoever did this, it must be clear that it was not an attack on the Lebanese State. It wasn't even an attack on Hezbollah.” He continued: “Whoever carried out this attack was very surgical and targeted a Hamas target. Because Israel is at war,” he said.
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As the Washington Post reported, citing US security officials, Israel is said to have carried out the attack. The alleged drone attack that triggered an explosion occurred in front of a Hamas office, according to police sources, in a district south of Beirut where Hezbollah has a strong presence.
3:37 am – Hamas reportedly left Al-Shifa hospital before the Israeli operation
According to internal sources, the Al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip was evacuated by Hamas before being taken over by the Israeli armed forces. US intelligence services received information that Hamas fighters had largely evacuated the compound a few days before the Israeli operation, destroying documents and electronic devices, a US official said on condition of anonymity, citing intelligence documents.
A classified version is available to the US Congress. The operation sparked global concern about the fate of civilians and patients. Israel accuses Hamas of having created a command center and a system of tunnels under the hospital. The Palestinian Islamic militant group denies this.
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2:01 am – Macron calls on Israel to show restraint in Lebanon
Following the alleged assassination of a Hamas leader in Beirut, initiated by Israel, French President Emmanuel Macron called on the Israeli government to “avoid any escalatory behavior, especially in Lebanon.” The Elysee Palace in Paris announced this following a phone call between Macron and Benny Gantz, Israel's war cabinet minister, according to media reports. France will continue to transmit these containment messages to all actors directly or indirectly involved in the area, he said.
12:58 pm – US expands military presence at Qatar air base
The United States has agreed to extend its military presence at a base in Qatar for another 10 years, a source familiar with the matter told Portal. The base in question is Al Udeid Air Base, located in the desert southwest of Doha and home to the largest US military installation in the Middle East, according to the source, who asked not to be identified. CNN first reported this development. The US Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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10:57 pm – US criticizes Israeli statements about the repopulation of Gaza
The US State Department reacted sharply to the Israeli government's voices about the possible expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. “The United States rejects recent statements by Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir supporting the relocation of Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. “This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible.”
The Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have repeatedly assured that such statements do not represent the government's line, Miller emphasized. “You should stop immediately.” The Gaza Strip is Palestinian land and will remain so when Hamas is no longer in control of the area.
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20:41 – Report: Hostage agreement negotiations between Israel and Hamas have been interrupted
Following the alleged assassination of a Hamas leader in Beirut, negotiations over a possible new hostage deal between Israel and Hamas have stalled, according to a report. The talks have now focused on avoiding an escalation between Israel and Lebanon, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported, citing Arab diplomatic circles. The “murder” changed the situation. Currently, it is no longer possible to move towards reaching another hostage agreement.
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