KEY POINTS
- Israeli army said Hezbollah continues to launch rockets from position near UN compound
- UNGA voted overwhelmingly to demand a ceasefire in Gaza
- Israeli troops have continued to shell Khan Yunis, the known hometown of Hamas' top leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar
The Israel-Hamas war is on its 68th day, and the Israeli army has reportedly started pouring seawater into Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip amid continuing launches from Hamas on the south and fire from Lebanon-based Hezbollah on the northern front.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Israel has asserted they are only testing the flooding process in tunnels where they believe no hostages are being held in.
Two bodies of hostages have been recovered by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as the families of at least 135 remaining abductees in Gaza demand faster action for their freedom.
- Hamas leaders who reportedly left Qatar have turned off their phones: Local media
- IDF announces a second battalion commander has been killed in Gaza
- Israeli army attacks several Syrian military assets
- Israeli Navy deploys 4 new warships to the Red Sea
- Fallen IDF battalion commander attempted to save comrades: Local media
- UKMTO receives incident report west of Houthi-controlled port Hodeidah
- France to host meeting for possible Hamas financial, online activities sanctions: Report
- Israel declares more than a dozen hostages in Gaza dead in absentia
- Israeli forces attacked 250 Hamas targets in Gaza in the past day
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Tuesday that there are disagreements with Washington over plans for Gaza after the war ends, but he reiterated that the U.S. continues to support Israel's right to self-defense and its goal of eliminating Hamas.
Several Hamas officials living in Qatar have reportedly left the country for an unknown destination. Hamas' political bureau chairman, Ismail Haniyeh, is known to be living in Qatar, but the exact number of officials residing in the country is unclear.
More than nine years since the 50-day war in Gaza in 2014, longstanding Israel-Palestine tensions erupted when Hamas operatives invaded Israel in a surprise massacre that killed more than 1,200 people – mostly civilians – on Oct. 7.
Since then, the international community has been calling for a ceasefire. A seven-day truce was brokered by Qatar and Egypt in coordination with the U.S., but it collapsed on Dec. 1 when Hamas refused to release more women and children as part of the agreement.
10 Israeli soldiers killed in Northern Gaza
Ten IDF soldiers, including two senior commanders, were confirmed to have died in the northern Gaza Strip's Shuja'iyya area Tuesday as the IDF pushed through with its ground operation that reportedly led to the destruction of 250 Hamas targets in the previous day.
The fallen soldiers included the eight earlier mentioned, while the two others were Col. (res.) Itzhak Ben Basat and Sgt. Eran Aloni.
Talking about the soldiers' demise, War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz referred to the ongoing war in Gaza as "Israel's second independence war" and added that it is "taking a heavy, painful and difficult price from us."
