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International Business Times
International Business Times
World
Marvie Basilan

Israel-Hamas Conflict: Hamas Official Signals Possible Israel Recognition; Iran Warns Against Red Sea Alliance

Hamas Israel United States Gaza Hezbollah IDF

KEY POINTS

  • Israel continues to strike Hezbollah assets in response to launches from Lebanese territory
  • Thirty-eight of 116 rockets fired from a humanitarian zone in Gaza fell inside the enclave, IDF said
  • White House's Jake Sullivan discussed regional stability with Saudi Arabia on Wednesday
Live Updates
Israeli soldiers gather in the Gaza border area in southern Israel on Dec. 12, 2023 amid ongoing battles with Palestinian Hamas militants. (Credit: AFP)

On the 69th day of the Israel-Hamas war, a senior Hamas official floated the idea of the Palestinian militant group possibly coming to terms with recognizing the State of Israel, marking a significant turnaround in the group's language when referring to Israel's existence.

The loved ones of remaining hostages in Gaza suffered another hard blow after Israel confirmed the deaths of two more hostages while in Hamas captivity.

Washington has reportedly delayed selling thousands of U.S.-made rifles to Israel over fears related to the ongoing violence in the West Bank.

  • Israel's cabinet blocks Mossad proposal to restart hostage deal talks in Doha: Report
  • US doesn't think Israel's campaign against Hamas should stop at this point in the war
  • Houthis attack Marshall Islands-flagged tanker in southern Red Sea: CENTCOM
  • 90% of Palestinians want Abbas to resign: Wartime poll
  • Hamas' Jabalia fighters 'maybe on the verge of breaking down': Local media
  • Israel asked Egypt to mediate new potential hostage-ceasefire deal: Report
  • Iran warns of 'extraordinary problems' for possible Red Sea coalition
  • Houthi minister issues warning against ships sailing towards Israel

Intense fighting continues across the Gaza Strip after Israel suffered its biggest personnel loss in a single operation during a multi-round ambush by Hamas in the northern Gaza neighborhood of Shuja'iyya.

Hamas leader and chief of the Palestinian terror group's political bureau Ismail Haniyeh warned Wednesday that a future being planned for Gaza without Hamas is a delusion.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that the Israeli army will continue fighting "to the end" until Hamas is destroyed even amid continuing pressure from the international community for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday met with the families of Americans abducted by Hamas who are still being held in the Gaza Strip along with more than 130 other hostages.

The war that started on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants stormed into Israel and killed more than 1,200 people stems from the decades-long history of the Israel-Palestine conflict that has drawn attacks targeting Israel from Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi rebels.

The live update has ended.

Israeli army arrests 'dozens' of combatants leaving a Gaza hospital: IDF

Israeli troops arrested "dozens of terrorist operatives who left a hospital in the Gaza Strip," the IDF said Thursday. The detainees will be transferred to Israel's security services agency Shin Bet for further investigation. The militants were carrying weapons as they exited the hospital, the IDF added.

Local media identified the facility as the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

Israeli warplanes attack Hezbollah military buildings in Lebanon

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck military buildings and other infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah within Lebanese territory, the IAF said Thursday. The attacks were carried out following a report that the Iran-backed militant group, which is a much bigger organization than Hamas, targeted a military post in northern Israel Thursday.

Hezbollah announces a ranked member killed

Lebanon-based paramilitary group Hezbollah said Thursday that it has lost another ranked member, bringing the known number of casualties from the Iran-backed terror group since the war between Israel and Hamas started to 104, local N12 News reported.

Houthi minister says 'any ship' headed to Israel will be targeted

The Yemeni Houthi rebel group's minister of information, Dayfallah Al-Shami, said in an recent message that all vessels headed to Israel will be targeted.

The Houthis "have prepared a comprehensive plan to target any ship carrying goods, oil, or supplies" that are sailing towards Israel, Al-Shami said as per a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

"The names of the ships, their crews, their course, and all their movements are known to us," Al-Shami further warned.

Rockets from Lebanon target northern Israeli army post: Arab media

Rockets launched from southern Lebanon Thursday morning local time targeted an IDF military post in Zar'it, northern Israel, Arab media reported.

The Israeli army has yet to confirm the report.

Israeli army says Hamas Shuja'iyya Battalion's operating center dismantled

Hamas' Shuja'iyya Battalion was targeted in recent operations by Israeli ground troops, the IDF said Thursday. The battalion's "central operating site located inside a school compound" has been "dismantled" in the operations.

The news came a day after the fiercest battle yet in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood that claimed the lives of nine Israeli soldiers, including the IDF's highest-ranking official yet to have been killed since the war started.

Iran warns against a US-backed Red Sea coalition: Iranian media

Iranian defense minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani on Thursday warned against a proposed U.S.-backed task force in the Red Sea that will protect the shipping activities in the area, Reuters reported, citing official Iranian media.

"If they make such an irrational move, they will be faced with extraordinary problems. Nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance," Ashtiani told the official Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA).

Ashtiani's warning came after Washington revealed last week that it was discussing with multiple countries over a Red Sea force amid succeeding attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels against commercial ships sailing in the Red Sea in recent days.

Hamas senior official floats possible shift in tone over Israel's right to exist

Amid fierce fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas in multiple parts of the Gaza Strip, a top Hamas official suggested that the Palestinian terror group may finally recognize Israel, marking a major shift in the organization's wording and language when referring to Israel.

"You should follow the official stance. The official stance is that the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) has recognized the state of Israel," senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk told Al-Monitor earlier this week in an interview published Thursday.

While the PLO has come to terms with Israeli rights, Hamas officials have repeatedly, over the years, rejected Israeli's right to exist. Marzouk's unusual statement comes at a critical time in the fighting in Gaza after Netanyahu said dozens of Hamas combatants were surrendering to Israeli forces.

As reported earlier, some of the surrendered Hamas fighters were said to be those stationed in the Jabalia refugee camp.

Israel FM lauds Swiss parliament lower house's move to cut UNRWA funding

Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen on Thursday hailed the lower house of the Swiss parliament for voting on Tuesday to halt funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) due to persistent allegations that the agency amplified terrorism against Israel.

Cohen said the UN organization was "educating for incitement to terrorism and ignoring Hamas' cynical use of Gaza residents as human shields."

'Terrific' meeting between Biden and American hostages' families

Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of Israeli-American hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, told reporters after the meeting with Biden that the parties had a "terrific" conversation about the government's efforts to get the remaining hostages back home.

He said the families and loved ones of abductees still being held in Gaza left the meeting with the feeling that "we could have no better friend in Washington or in the White House than President Biden himself and his administration."

Israel asks Egypt to mediate new hostage-ceasefire deal: Report

The Israeli government has turned to Egypt for mediation in a potential new hostage deal with Hamas in exchange for another ceasefire, Haaretz reported, citing Qatari Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper.

The move comes after a Qatari-mediated seven-day truce agreement fell apart when Hamas refused to release more women and children hostages as part of the hostage-prisoner exchange deal.

Shuja'iyya Hamas fighters a stark contrast to Jabalia formation: Local media

Hamas combatants in the Shujai'yya neighborhood are showing fierce resistance to the Israeli army's advances, as opposed to fighters in Jabalia, where "tens of Hamas terrorists are surrendering," local i24 News reported Thursday morning local time.

It seems the Jabalia formation of Hamas is "maybe on the verge of breaking down," while the fighters in Jabalia continue to fight against advances made by the IDF, the outlet noted.

A total of nine Israeli soldiers were killed earlier this week in Shuja'iyya after Hamas ambushed soldiers with the Golani Brigade, marking the largest loss in the IDF in a single operation. On the same day, aother soldier was killed in a separate battle in northern Gaza.

Israeli army takes 'almost unheard of' steps to minimize Palestinian casualties: IDF

Maj. Keren Hajioff during a press briefing early Thursday, shared how the Israeli army takes certain steps to minimize casualties among Palestinians amid intense fighting in the Gaza Strip.

"Our warnings to civilians in Gaza to move away from the danger Hamas puts them in ultimately means that the IDF is announcing in advance its areas of operation. This is almost unheard of in military warfare," she pointed out.

She added that the Israeli army adapts to the complex battlefield since Hamas operatives embed themselves within the Gazan population to protect themselves from Israeli fire while using Palestinian civilians as shields.

"We even hold fire if necessary to enable Gazans to safely move through the humanitarian corridors we opened," she added.

The IDF has opened evacuation passages for Gaza civilians and has been announcing daily pauses in military operations in several areas across fighting zones to allow for humanitarian resupply and evacuation activities.

Wartime poll shows significant slump in support for PA leadership

A wartime poll among Palestinians published Wednesday showed that an overwhelming number of Palestinians no longer want President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in leadership. The poll also shows a rise in support for Hamas as 90% of the polled said they want Abbas to step down.

The poll's results were published on the same day Hamas' Haniyeh rejected a future for Gaza without the militant group.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. (Credit: AFP)

US destroyer shoots down Houthi drone in self defense

The USS Mason (DDG 87) shot down a Houthi drone in the southern Red Sea Wednesday morning Sana'a time after the Yemeni rebel army launched the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) towards the U.S. destroyer, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Thursday.

The destroyer was responding to a mayday call from a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker that was under attack by Houthi rebels when it was also targeted by the Houthi forces.

US doesn't believe the war should end at this stage: State Department spox

The U.S. doesn't believe that the war should come to an end at this stage in the fighting, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said during a Wednesday press briefing.

"We also don't believe that stopping the campaign right now and allowing the plotters of the Oct. 7th attacks to continue to operate ... is in the long-term security interests of anyone in the region," he said.

He said the U.S. doesn't want the war to go on "longer than is necessary," but that the Oct. 7 carnage by Hamas "should be a wakeup call to everyone" regarding Hamas' capabilities.

Israel's cabinet blocks Mossad chief's bid to restart deal talks in Doha: Local media

Israel's cabinet members have blocked a proposal by Mossad chief David Barnea to restart talks about a new hostage release deal in Qatar, local media reported early Thursday. Barnea proposed that he should travel to Doha for the negotiations.

The families of remaining hostages in Gaza have since demanded "immediate clarification" from the Netanyahu government over the decision to turn away from restarting hostage talks.

Protesters in Tel Aviv show portraits of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza on Dec. 9, 2023. (Credit: AFP)

Sullivan discussed regional stability with Saudi Arabia

White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan was in Saudi Arabia Wednesday to discuss with officials "broader diplomatic efforts to maintain stability across the region and prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from expanding," Reuters reported, citing two U.S. officials.

He met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and talked about the Gaza conflict.

Sullivan's trip to the kingdom came after Houthi rebels launched multiple attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea in the past few weeks. Lebanon-based Hezbollah also continues to fire towards Israel, and some launches from Syrian territory since the war started targeted Israel and U.S. military assets.

Sullivan will then travel to Israel Thursday and Friday as the U.S. continues to revive negotiations to hopefully reach an agreement that will normalize Saudi-Israeli relations.

Hamas has fired over a hundred rockets from Gazan humanitarian zone: IDF

Hamas has fired a total of 116 rockets toward Israel since the humanitarian zone in Gaza was opened on Oct. 18, the Israeli army said late Wednesday. Of the said number, 38 fell within the enclave, "endangering their own civilians."

Israel strikes Hezbollah infrastructure

An Israeli warplane struck a Hezbollah military structure in Lebanon Wednesday, the IDF said. Also earlier in the day, Israeli forces attacked a terrorist cell within Lebanese territory.

Israel has been responding to fire from Lebanese territory amid concerns that Hezbollah, a much larger terror organization backed by Iran, may wage an all-out war in Israel's northern border even as it defends the southern front from Hamas.

Biden meets families of American hostages

The POTUS on Wednesday met with the families of American hostages still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. "I reassured them that I will continue doing everything possible to secure the release of their family members," he said.

Four Americans or U.S. citizens with dual nationalities were freed by Hamas before and during the seven-day ceasefire agreement, but the exact number of remaining U.S. nationals in captivity is unclear at this time.

Netanyahu reiterates Israeli army will fight 'to the end'

The Israeli prime minister on Wednesday visited the IDF Intelligence Directorate Unit 504 and the IDF Armored Corps 460 Brigade in southern Israel. He told soldiers via radio that "we are continuing to the end, until victory, until the destruction of Hamas," as per a statement from his office.

During his visit, he discussed with the unit commander efforts by Israeli special forces earlier this week that led to the retrieval of the bodies of hostages Eden Zakaria and Warrant Officer Ziv Dado who were abducted on Oct. 7.

He went on to encourage soldiers to "be strong and have courage" in the fight. To the commanders, Netanyahu expressed his grief over the "great pain" that the Israeli army was suffering after a "difficult day" in the fierce Shuja'iyya battles that took the lives of a total of 10 soldiers – nine of them in ambushes by Hamas.

Hamas leader says after-war plan without terror group a 'delusion'

Haniyeh said Wednesday in a televised speech that "any arrangement in Gaza or in the Palestinian cause without Hamas or the resistance factions is a delusion," multiple outlets reported.

His warning came after Washington held separate discussions with the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority (PA) for possible plans for the Gaza Strip when the war ends.

Last week, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told Bloomberg that the PA was coordinating with U.S. officials for "day after" plans. At the time, Shtayyeh said he prefers a future Gaza where Hamas will become a "junior partner under the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)."

US delays rifle sales to Israel

The White House has pushed back selling more than 20,000 U.S.-made rifles to Israel over concerns related to the rise of extremism by Israelis in the occupied West Bank, Axios reported Wednesday, citing two U.S. officials.

The Biden government is reportedly still concerned that the Israeli government may not be doing enough to address the violence initiated by extremist settlers in the contentious territory.

Israel requested the rifles as early as the first week of its war against Hamas, but there had been concerns that Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir may distribute the rifles to extremists, the U.S. official said.

"We need more assurances from Israel about the steps it is going to take to curb attacks by violent settlers and to make sure no new U.S. weapons will reach settlers in the West Bank," one official told the outlet.

People clash with Palestinian security forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Oct. 17, 2023. (Credit: AFP)

2 hostages killed by Hamas, local governments confirm

Tal Chaimi and Joshua Loitu Mollel have been killed by Hamas while being held hostage, their respective kibbutzes announced Wednesday night, local media reported.

Agriculture student Mollel, from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, who arrived in Israel just two weeks before the Oct. 7 carnage, was at work as a dairy farmer when he was taken hostage by Hamas operatives.

Chaimi, on the other hand, was believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas, but new evidence showed that he was among more than a thousand people murdered by the militant group on Oct. 7, as per the report. His body was then dragged into the Gaza Strip.

While two hostages' bodies were recovered by Israeli special forces troops Tuesday, the remains of both Chaimi and Mollel are still being held by Hamas.

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