Israeli forces are going deeper into the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in a video statement on Sunday, adding that they will fight on until achieving "total victory" over Hamas. A US warship downed four drones over the Red Sea, the Pentagon said earlier in the day. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
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9:34 - At least 60 are killed in central Gaza in one of the war's deadliest strikes
Dozens were killed in Gaza on Sunday in one of the deadliest strikes of the war, while Israel’s leaders acknowledged the “very heavy price” after 15 soldiers were killed in combat over the weekend.
The strike hit the Maghazi refugee camp, east of Deir al-Balah. Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said at least 60 people were killed and the toll was likely to rise.
An AP reporter on the scene watched bodies and wounded being carried in, including children.
08:46 - Israel says five Gaza hostages died in tunnel, circumstances being probed
Five Israeli hostages killed in Hamas captivity were recovered from an underground tunnel network in the northern Gaza Strip, the military said on Sunday, showing footage of a white-tiled bathroom and work room linked by dark concrete-lined passages.
The publication left open the question of how they had died, with chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari saying post-mortems were pending.
"We will brief the families and then, depending on what they approve, the public," he said.
The three soldiers and two civilians were among 240 people dragged back to the Gaza Strip by Hamas gunmen during the cross-border rampage of Oct. 7 that sparked the war.
The military announced the repatriation of their bodies earlier this month.
8:15pm - Spain will not join US-led Red Sea coalition
Spain said on Sunday that it would not join a US-led coalition to protect Red Sea shipping from attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels.
The Iran-backed Huthis have carried out several strikes on Red Sea shipping in what they say is in support of Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
8:10pm - Israeli air strike kills at least 16 Palestinians, damages several home in central Gaza, say Palestinian health officials
At least 16 Palestinians were killed and several houses damaged on Sunday after an Israeli air strike hit central Gaza's Maghazi refugee camp, Palestinian health officials from the Shuhada Al-Aqsa hospital said, adding the death toll was likely to climb.
5:08pm – Israeli forces going deeper into Gaza, Netanyahu says
Israeli forces are going deeper into the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in a video statement on Sunday, adding that they will fight on until "total victory".
Israel bombed areas of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip overnight, with an Israeli military spokesman saying the military was close to having operational control of northern Gaza.
3:52pm – Palestinian Islamic Jihad delegation in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials
A delegation from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, a militant group allied with Hamas that is known to be holding some October 7 captives in Gaza, has arrived in Cairo for talks with Egyptian security officials, a member of the group with knowledge of the talks told Reuters on Sunday.
The talks will centre on "ways to end the Israeli aggression on our people", said the official from the Iran-backed group, which has so far rejected any new prisoner-swap deals with Israel before the latter ends its military offensive in the Palestinian enclave, home to 2.3 million people.
3:14pm – Thousands march in Rabat demanding end to Morocco-Israel ties
Thousands of protesters staged one of the largest pro-Palestinian marches in Rabat since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, demanding an end to Morocco's ties with Israel.
Protests have repeatedly drawn thousands of people in Morocco since the conflict began more than two months ago, mostly led by pan-Arab and Islamist groups.
Sunday's march was co-organised by leftist groups and the outlawed but tolerated Al-Adl wal-Ihsan Islamists.
1:02pm – Macron expresses 'great concern' over Gaza's Catholic parish
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed "great concern" about a Catholic parish in war-torn Gaza with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, his office announced on Sunday. He spoke with Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa by telephone a day earlier to discuss the "tragic situation" there since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas militants.
"Hundreds of civilians of all confessions ... have been living under bombs and bullets for more than two months while worshippers and nuns take care of the sick, elderly or disabled," Macron was quoted as saying.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said on December 16 that an Israeli soldier shot dead "in cold blood" a Christian mother and daughter on the grounds of the Gaza Strip's only Catholic church.
12:21pm – Israeli soldiers paying a 'very heavy price' in Gaza, Netanyahu says
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that the war in Gaza was exacting a "very heavy price" as the toll of Israeli soldiers killed in fighting with Hamas mounted.
"This is a difficult morning, after a very difficult day of fighting in Gaza ... The war is exacting a very heavy price... but we have no choice but to keep fighting," he said in a statement after the army announced 14 soldiers had been killed in the Palestinian territory since Friday.
Fourteen Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza over the weekend, the Israeli military said Sunday, in some of the bloodiest days of battle since the ground offensive began and a sign that Hamas is still putting up a fight despite weeks of brutal war.
The mounting death toll among Israeli troops is likely an important factor in Israeli support for the war, which was sparked when Hamas-led militants stormed communities in southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 and taking 240 people hostage.
11:14am – Netanyahu dismisses reports US convinced Israel not to expand Gaza offensive
During a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu dismissed reports that the US had convinced Israel not to expand its military operations in Gaza.
"Israel is a sovereign nation," Netanyahu said. "Our military decisions are based upon our own calculations."
Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving premier, has had tense relations with a string of US presidents.
10:50am – Israel strikes Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip
Israel bombed areas of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip overnight with fighting continuing into Sunday morning, residents and Palestinian media said.
Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus earlier indicated that Israeli forces were close to having operational control of northern Gaza.
8:30am – Israel expands operations in southern Gaza
Israel said its armed forces were increasingly focused on Hamas targets in southern Gaza on Sunday even as the United States urged Israel to do more to protect Palestinian civilians.
Signalling a pivot after weeks of intensive fighting around Gaza City, the Israeli army said troops were now looking to the Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis and elsewhere in the south. The refugee camp-turned-city is the powerbase of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas's leader in Gaza and the man Israel holds most responsible for the October 7 attack that killed more than a thousand in southern Israel.
6:10am – Nine soldiers killed in Gaza brings military death toll to 152, Israeli army says
The Israeli army said nine soldiers were killed in Gaza on Saturday, bringing to 152 its overall death toll in the territory since the ground assault began on October 27.
3:59am – Drone launched from Iran struck India-flagged oil tanker
An attack drone launched from Iran was responsible for striking an India-flagged oil tanker early on Saturday, the Pentagon said Sunday, adding that there were no casualties as a result of the attack and a brief fire on board the tanker was extinguished. The incident took place 200 nautical miles from the coast of India.
The Iranian government, as well as Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, have criticised the Israeli military operation in Gaza. Iran's deputy foreign minister on Saturday dismissed US accusations of Tehran's involvement in attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial ships, saying the group is acting on its own.
3:42am – US warship downs four drones over the Red Sea
The US military said on Sunday it downed four drones over the Red Sea amid increasing hostilities in the key shipping lane.
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Key developments from Saturday:
- An Israel-affiliated merchant vessel was struck by an uncrewed aerial vehicle off India's west coast, British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Saturday, in the first known such attack so farfrom the Red Sea since the Gaza war began.
- Israel continued to strike Gaza, with Hamas authorities reporting heavy shelling in the hours after the UN demanded more aid be allowed into the Palestinian enclave. The Israeli military said it had arrested hundreds of alleged militants in Gaza over the past week and transferred more than 200 of them to Israel for interrogation.
- US President Joe Biden had another "long talk" on Saturday with Israel's hawkish prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, focused on the "objectives and phasing" of Israel's military operation as well as "the critical need" to protect civilians. Israeli officials gave a terse account of the call, saying Netanyahu "made it clear that Israel would continue the war until all of its goals have been achieved".
- Israeli officials say 1,139 were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel, among them 695 Israeli civilians including 36 children. At least 20,258 people have been killed in Israel's ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.
The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
