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Israel-Gaza live updates: Israel 'deepening the war' in Gaza: Netanyahu

Israel "will continue to fight until the complete victory over Hamas."

ByABC NEWS
Last Updated: December 24, 2023, 1:13 PM EST

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.

Click here for updates from previous days.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Mar 1, 2024, 6:03 am

What we know about the conflict

The latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, has passed the four-month mark.

In the Gaza Strip, at least 30,228 people have been killed and 71,377 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.

In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 395 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The ongoing war began after Hamas-led militants launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel from neighboring Gaza via land, sea and air. Scores of people were killed while more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military subsequently launched retaliatory airstrikes followed by a ground invasion of Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory where more than 2 million Palestinians have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas came to power in 2007. Gaza, unlike Israel, has no air raid sirens or bomb shelters.

Dec 21, 2023, 4:11 PM EST

White House on Gaza humanitarian crisis: 'Nobody can look at the images … [and] not feel sense of pain'

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. is “leading the world” in getting humanitarian aid to Gaza, where the crisis worsens by the day.

“Nobody can look at the images coming out of Gaza and … not feel a sense of pain and anguish for so many innocent people that have been displaced from their homes, families killed, many wounded,” Kirby said.

Palestinian children stand in front of a pile of debris following Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Dec. 21, 2023.
Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

Relatives of Palestinians, killed during Israeli strikes, mourn at the EU hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, Dec. 21, 2023, as the bodies are transported for their burial in Rafah.
Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images

ABC News asked Kirby about a letter sent to President Joe Biden this week from a group of House Democrats that raised concerns with Israel's military operation in Gaza. The lawmakers called the civilian death toll in Gaza unacceptable and urged Biden to work to shift Israel’s strategy.

Kirby acknowledged, “We don't believe you're going to be able to wipe out the ideology that inspires Hamas through military action."

ABC New’s foreign correspondent Britt Clennett reports from Tel Aviv, Israel, on the latest cease-fire and hostage negotiations as the humanitarian crisis gets worse in Gaza.
2:18
UN says more than half a million people in Gaza are starving ABC New’s foreign correspondent Britt Clennett reports from Tel Aviv, Israel, on the latest cease-fire and hostage negotiations as the humanitarian crisis gets worse in Gaza.
ABCNews.com

-ABC News’ Lauren Peller

Dec 21, 2023, 2:51 PM EST

White House: 'Serious' talks continue on hostage exchange

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said there have been "serious talks and negotiations over trying to get back into another pause and a hostage exchange."

“It won’t get lost over the holidays. We're working on it every single day, almost every hour of every day," Kirby said.

Pictures of hostages taken by Hamas line a walkway at Ben Gurion Airport, December 17, 2023, in Lod, Israel.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Kirby said the Israelis recognize that "they need to transition" to a lower intensity stage of fighting.

"They have said themselves that they realize they're going to have to transition from a higher intensity level of operations, such as what they're doing now, to something a bit lower intensity. They will decide when, they will decide what lower intensity looks like, and what that means," he said.

Mourners transport a body of Palestinian child, killed during an Israeli strike, from the EU hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, Dec. 21, 2023, in preparation for their burial in Rafah.
Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images

Kirby said the U.S. is "not dictating the terms and timelines to the Israelis" on moving to lower intensity military operations.

-ABC News’ Lauren Peller

Dec 21, 2023, 2:25 PM EST

IDF forces destroyed network of underground tunnels in Hamas’ ‘Elite Quarter’ in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces said it has destroyed a network of tunnels found in Hamas' "Elite Quarter" in Gaza City.

An Israeli soldier operates in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Dec. 21, 2023.
Israel Defense Forces via Reuters

The IDF said the tunnels connected hideouts and homes belonging to Hamas leaders.

Dec 21, 2023, 1:56 PM EST

Senior Israeli official: Negotiations paused after 'some kind of progress'

A senior Israeli official said hostage negotiations have stopped for now. This comes after the Israeli official said there'd been "some kind of progress," noting that the Israelis met with the Qataris "twice already" over the last week.

Portraits of Israeli hostages, held in Gaza since the October 7 attack, are displayed next to an installation outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, now informally called the "Hostages Square", in Tel Aviv, Dec. 15, 2023.
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images

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