Israel-Gaza live updates: American-Israeli-Canadian hostage confirmed dead

(NEW YORK) — The temporary cease-fire between Hamas and Israel ended on Dec. 1, and Israel has resumed its bombardment of Gaza.

The end of the cease-fire came after Hamas freed over 100 of the more than 200 people its militants took hostage during the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel. In exchange, Israel released more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Dec 28, 11:01 AM EST
American-Israeli-Canadian hostage confirmed dead

Judy Weinstein, a 70-year-old American-Israeli-Canadian hostage, was confirmed dead on Thursday, Kibbutz Nir Oz said in a statement.

Weinstein was fatally wounded during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and her body remains held in Gaza, the kibbutz said.

Her husband, American-Israeli Gad Haggai, was also killed on Oct. 7 and his body also remains in Gaza, the kibbutz said. His death was confirmed last week.

Weinstein, a mother of four and grandmother of seven, was an English teacher who specialized in helping children with special needs, Kibbutz Nir Oz said.

“For the past few years she has also taught Mindfulness to children and teenagers who suffered from anxiety caused by the ongoing rocket fire from Gaza,” the kibbutz said. “‎‏Judy was a poet, entrepreneur, and pursued many initiatives to advance peace in the region.”

Dec 27, 3:33 PM EST
Israeli forces destroy tunnel near Gaza hospital: IDF

Israeli forces have destroyed an underground tunnel near the Rantisi Hospital in northern Gaza, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a briefing.

The tunnel infrastructure, several kilometers long, “connected different locations in the Strip,” Hagari said. “[Israeli] forces uncovered three tunnel shafts in the area of ​​the hospital, with one of them coming out of a school.”

“The tunnel network included steel doors, command control rooms, emergency rooms, many weapons that were underground and other intelligence materials,” he said.

This comes as Israeli forces “are at a very high level of readiness for the expansion of the war” in northern Gaza, Hagari said.

“We are in the final stages of the attack in the Al Burj area in the northern Gaza Strip, where we killed many terrorists,” he said.

Hagari added that Israel is also “attacking all the infrastructure that Hezbollah has built near the [Lebanon-Israel] border.”

In southern Gaza, Israeli “forces are fighting in several areas,” Hagari said. “One in the area called Al Burj in the central [Gaza] camps, where we are attacking for a third day. The second is in Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip, a major terror center of Hamas. There we expanded the operation — today we added another division to this area and we continue to operate there with new combat methods above and below the ground.”

Dec 27, 1:54 PM EST
Egyptian president meets with King of Jordan, says ‘international community must push’ for cease-fire

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Egypt on Wednesday and said “the international community must push towards” a cease-fire.

“Both leaders affirmed their complete rejection of all attempts to liquidate the Palestinian issue or to displace the Palestinians from their lands or their internal displacement, stressing that the only solution that the international community must push towards implementing is an immediate cease-fire, and the entry of relief aid in the necessary quantities and at the speed that will make a real difference in alleviating the suffering of the people of the Gaza Strip,” according to a readout from the Egyptian spokesman for the Presidency Counselor Ahmed Fahmy.

“Talks also focused on regional developments, especially in the Gaza Strip and the humanitarian tragedy it faces, which resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries and the displacement of hundreds of thousands,” the readout added.

ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy

Dec 27, 1:43 PM EST
WHO delivers aid, supplies to Gaza hospitals

The World Health Organization said it delivered much-needed aid and supplies to Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza and the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s Al-Amal Hospital in southern Gaza on Tuesday.

Palestinians mourn relatives, who were killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, during a mass funeral at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Dec. 25, 2023, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza’s militant rulers, Hamas.

Al-Shifa and Al-Amal hospitals are also operating as shelters for displaced residents, sheltering 50,000 people and 14,000 people respectively, according to the WHO.

Gaza has 13 partially functioning hospitals, two minimally functioning hospitals and 21 hospitals that are not functioning at all, causing the hospitals that are functioning to become overloaded with patients who need help, according to the WHO.

Displaced Palestinian children watch from inside a tent as a man mourns relatives, who were killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, during a mass funeral at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Dec. 25, 2023, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza’s militant rulers, Hamas.

“Today I repeat my call on the international community to take urgent steps to alleviate the grave peril facing the population of Gaza and jeopardizing the ability of humanitarian workers to help people with terrible injuries, acute hunger, and at severe risk of disease,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

Tedros said a cease-fire is needed “to spare civilians from further violence and begin the long road towards reconstruction and peace.”

Dec 27, 12:08 PM EST
20 killed in strike in Khan Younis

Twenty people have been killed in a strike on a building near the Red Cross Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. The death toll is likely to rise, the Gaza Ministry of Health said.

ABC News Nasser Atta

Dec 27, 11:07 AM EST
At least 241 killed in Gaza in 24 hours

At least 241 people have been killed in Gaza in a 24-hour period, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

This comes as Israeli forces expand their ground offensive to central Gaza, launching over 200 rockets in one day, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

Dec 26, 4:36 PM EST
Gaza faces another telecommunications blackout: PRCS

Gaza is facing another telecommunications blackout, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

“This presents a significant challenge for emergency medical teams in reaching the wounded and injured,” the organization warned.

Dec 26, 4:27 PM EST
Israel’s war cabinet meets about possible hostage deals: Source

Israel’s war cabinet is meeting to discuss operational issues of the war as well as the hostages, according to an Israeli political source.

There are several hostage deals being discussed, the Israeli source said, including a proposal from Egyptians that would involve a cease-fire in exchange for the release of more hostages and lead to a broader agreement involving a permanent cease-fire, along with an overhaul of leadership in Gaza, according to an Egyptian source.

Dec 26, 3:00 PM EST
Israeli forces expand into central Gaza

Israeli forces have “expanded operations into central Gaza,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.

In Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the Israelis “are fighting with new methods” and “constantly adjusting our tactics based on the needs of the military operations,” Hagari said.

And in northern Gaza, Israeli forces have “attacked an array of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon,” he said.

Dec 26, 12:41 PM EST
80,000 vials of vaccines delivered to Gaza

About 80,000 vials of the measles mumps and rubella vaccine, also called the MMR vaccine, have been delivered to Gaza, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

The MMR vaccine is routinely given to children starting at 12 months old to 15 months old and again at 4 years old to 6 years old.

Dec 26, 11:47 AM EST
120 aid trucks enter Gaza on Monday

On Christmas Day, 60 trucks crossed into Gaza via Egypt’s Rafah border crossing, and an additional 60 trucks entered Gaza through Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing, said Wael Abu Omar, the Palestinian spokesman for the Rafah crossing.

On Christmas Eve, the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted its seventh airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the U.S. Embassy of Jordan said.

Dec 26, 11:35 AM EST
Israeli defense minister: Israel ‘under attack from 7 different sectors’

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in a special discussion of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said Israel is “under attack from seven different sectors: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran.”

“We have already reacted and acted in six of them. And I say this in the most explicit way: Anyone who acts against us is a potential target,” Gallant warned. “There is no immunity for anyone.”

Dec 25, 4:36 PM EST
IDF says it found Hamas infrastructure in Indonesian Hospital in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces said its soldiers have discovered “evidence connecting Hamas’ terrorist activities” to northern Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital.

The IDF said a white Toyota truck “of the same type used by Hamas” in the Oct. 7 attack was found “in the inner compound of the hospital,” “along with additional weapons.”

The IDF also said that in the hospital’s inner compound was a Toyota Corolla belonging to the family of Samer Talalka, who was one of the three Israeli hostages held in Gaza who was mistakenly killed by the IDF. Bloodstains belonging to another hostage were found in the car, the IDF said.

“The finding of the vehicle directly links the hospital to the brutal events of October 7th,” the IDF said.

ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Dec 25, 3:34 PM EST
Netanyahu heckled by families of hostages: Report

Families of hostages reportedly heckled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he gave a speech in Parliament on Monday, according to Reuters.

The families, sitting in the chamber, held posters of their loved ones and interrupted Netanyahu as he spoke, per Reuters.

Netanyahu said in his address that military pressure is needed to free the remaining people being held hostage by Hamas, Reuters reported.

Dec 25, 11:11 AM EST
Lebanon carries out launches toward Israel, IDF says

Lebanon has carried out a number of launches toward several locations in northern Israel over the last few hours, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

“A short while ago,” Israeli tanks hit Hezbollah infrastructure sites in Lebanon “used for directing terrorist activity,” according to the IDF.

ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Dec 25, 10:55 AM EST
Hamas, Islamic Jihad reject Egypt’s proposal for cease-fire, hostage release: Egyptian security source

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad have rejected an Egyptian proposal that they relinquish power in the Gaza Strip in return for a permanent cease-fire, an Egyptian security source confirmed to ABC News.

Egypt proposed a “vision,” also backed by Qatari mediators, that would involve a cease-fire in exchange for the release of more hostages and lead to a broader agreement involving a permanent cease-fire, along with an overhaul of leadership in Gaza, the Egyptian security source said. However, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad rejected the proposal, the source said.

The Israeli War Cabinet was planning on meeting to discuss this proposal Monday evening local time. It is unclear if they will still discuss the proposal.

ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy and Jordana Miller

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