Israel-Hamas war live: Germany warns against Israeli occupation of Gaza

Germany warned against an Israeli occupation of Gaza as it called for more humanitarian pauses in the war on Friday.

Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, said: “There must be no occupation of the Gaza Strip, no expulsions and no reduction in the size of the territory. And at the same time there must be no more danger to Israel from the Gaza Strip.”

Ms Baerbock told a Berlin press conference that the Israelis and Palestinians would “only be able to live side by side in peace if the security of the one means the security of the other”.

Her remarks came after Israel presented its four-part plan for post-war Gaza, with Yoav Gallant, defence minister, announcing that neither Hamas nor Israel will rule the enclave in the future.

“Gaza residents are Palestinian, therefore Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel,” he said, adding Israel will retain overall security control.

Israel’s war in Gaza will continue until Hamas is destroyed and the hostages taken on October 7 are returned, Mr Gallant said.

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04:00 PM GMT

Today's live coverage has ended

Today’s live coverage is ending. Here is a roundup of the day’s main events:

• Israel has set out its plans for post-war Gaza, with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announcing that neither Hamas nor Israel will rule the enclave in the future.

• Iran’s president and the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps vowed revenge on Friday at the funeral for the victims of twin Islamic State bombings, which took place two days earlier.

• More than 76,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon in almost three months of near-daily fighting along the border with Israel, the UN’s International Organisation for Migration has said.

• At least 22,600 Palestinians have been killed and 57,910 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Friday.

• Survivors have returned to the site of the Supernova music festival in southern Israel, where Hamas massacred hundreds of people and kidnapped others on October 7.

03:44 PM GMT

Armed drone attack hits airbase hosting US forces

An armed drone attacked an Iraqi airbase that hosts US and international forces on Friday.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s counterterrorism service did not elaborate on whether the attack on the Harir airbase in Erbil caused casualties or infrastructure damage.

The airbase was last attacked in November when air defences took down drones with no casualties.

03:29 PM GMT

Hezbollah chief warns response to Aruri killing 'inevitable'

Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief, warned Israel on Friday that it will respond swiftly “on the battlefield” to the killing of Hamas’s deputy leader in one of its Beirut strongholds.

In a televised speech, Hassan Nasrallah said: “The response is inevitably coming. We cannot remain silent on a violation of this magnitude because it means the whole of Lebanon would be exposed.

“The decision is now in the hands of the battlefield,” he said in his second speech since the killing of Saleh al-Aruri.

“Fighters from all areas of the border... will be the ones responding to the dangerous violation in the suburbs,” he added.

03:07 PM GMT

'All of Lebanon will be exposed', says Hezbollah chief

Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief, said in a speech on Friday that all of Lebanon would be exposed if the group did not react to the assassination of deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut.

Nasrallah added that its current operations on the southern borders opened a “historic opportunity” for Lebanon to liberate its land occupied by Israel and that the Islamic resistance in Iraq also has a “historic opportunity” to get rid of the U.S. presence in that country.

02:47 PM GMT

Survivors return to site of Hamas festival massacre

Survivors have returned to the site of the Supernova music festival in southern Israel, where Hamas massacred hundreds of people and kidnapped others on October 7.

As many as 360 young revellers were massacred at the site stormed by Hamas terrorists via gliders.

On Thursday, friends and relatives of the victims were photographed crying near memorials that had been fashioned from sticks, with photographs of their loved ones attached.

Some could be seen kissing the photos of those dead or kidnapped as a press conference took place.

Some 40 people were snatched away from the festival and ferried into Gaza as hostages.

The October 7 massacre was the largest terror attack in Israel’s history.

02:26 PM GMT

Hezbollah conducted around 670 military operations on Lebanese-Israeli border

Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief, said in a speech on Friday that the Iran-backed militia had conducted around 670 military operations on the Lebanese-Israeli border since October 8.

Nasrallah added that Hezbollah destroyed a “large number of Israeli vehicles and tanks”.

02:03 PM GMT

Lebanon files complaint with UN

An official complaint to the United Nations Security Council has been filed by Lebanon.

The country says that Israel has fired six missiles in the attack that killed Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy chief of Hamas, earlier this week.

The complaint claimed that Israel has used Lebanese airspace to bomb Syria.

01:48 PM GMT

Israeli action in Gaza has 'gone way beyond a legitimate response', says Yousaf

The UK Government must make clear that Israeli action in Gaza has “gone way beyond a legitimate response” to the Hamas attack of October 7, Humza Yousaf has said.

In a statement released on Friday, the Scottish First Minister said the Government should tell Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that they will be “held accountable” for civilian deaths in the territory. He said:

01:32 PM GMT

Six Gazans killed in overnight strike, according to reports

An apparent Israeli airstrike in the southern city of Rafah killed at least six people overnight, according to reports.

Rafah, one of the places Israel has told Gazans to seek refuge, is packed full of thousands of Palestinians.

Israeli forces are continuing to strike the area.

01:14 PM GMT

India providing security escort for container ships around Red Sea

India’s defence ministry is providing protective escorts to Indian container ships in the high seas around the Red Sea as the security situation there continues to simmer, a government source said on Friday.

Containers could face delays of 14 days in their turnaround time because they are taking a longer sea route around Africa, which is also causing higher transport and insurance costs, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added.

“The cost of freight & insurance has risen due to ships being compelled to avoid the region and take a longer route. There is no shortage of containers, but we see a longer turnaround time,” the source said.

Ships have been avoiding the Red Sea after the Houthi militant group stepped up maritime attacks.

“Many consignments are being escorted with security in high seas with help from the Ministry of Defence,” said the source, who has direct knowledge of the matter on Friday.

12:54 PM GMT

Germany foreign minister warns against occupation of Gaza

Annalena Baerbock, German foreign minister, said the existence and protection of Israel cannot be questioned on Friday, but called for more humanitarian pauses in the conflict and said there should be no occupation of the area afterwards.

Speaking to reporters alongside her Luxembourg counterpart Xavier Bettel, Baerbock also warned against the risk of the conflict widening in the region.

12:37 PM GMT

Israel-Gaza in pictures

Here is a roundup of the latest photographs from the Israel-Hamas war.

12:11 PM GMT

German foreign minister to tour Middle East

Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, will travel to Israel on Sunday for her fourth visit since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, a ministry spokesman said.

Baerbock will hold talks with  Israel Katz, Israel’s new foreign minister, as well as President Isaac Herzog, foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer told a regular press conference on Friday.

She will also meet with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Riyad al-Maliki, Palestinian foreign minister.

Baerbock will subsequently travel to Egypt to meet with her counterpart Sameh Shoukry and also plans to visit Lebanon.

The talks will focus on the “dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza, the situation in the West Bank and the extremely volatile situation on the Israel-Lebanon border”, as well as efforts to secure the release of more Hamas hostages, Fischer said.

11:57 AM GMT

22,600 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza

At least 22,600 Palestinians have been killed and 57,910 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Some 162 Palestinians were killed and 296 wounded in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.

11:28 AM GMT

Israel lays out plans for post-war Gaza

Israel has set out its plans for post-war Gaza, with defence minister Yoav Gallant announcing that neither Hamas nor Israel will rule the enclave in the future.

Mr Gallant told reporters that “Gaza residents are Palestinian” and that therefore “Palestinians will be in charge” after the war.

It will come with “the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel”, he added.

Under the new  “four corner” plan, Israel’s war in Gaza will continue until Hamas is destroyed and the hostages taken on October 7 are returned.

Israel will also retain overall security control of the enclave, Mr Gallant said, with a multi-national force charged with rebuilding the territory after the conflict.

11:16 AM GMT

Central Gazan neighbourhood cleared of Hamas operatives

Tunnel shafts, booby-trapped homes and weapons were uncovered in a central Gazan neighbourhood as the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) completed an operation there.

The area, dubbed “the towers neighbourhood”, saw troops of the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade and elite Yahalom combat engineering unit in the area for the last week.

The IDF said: “The buildings of the neighbourhood were used as anti-tank missile and machine gun fire positions.”

Hamas gunmen were killed by Israeli forces, it added, while several primed rocket launchers, booby-trapped buildings, tunnel shafts, and explosive devices were found.

A warehouse and chemical lab used to manufacture weapons was also uncovered.

10:49 AM GMT

Israel border violence displaces 76,000 in Lebanon

More than 76,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon in almost three months of near-daily fighting along the border with Israel, the UN’s International Organisation for Migration has said.

The border area has seen a surge of violence since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in early October, with tit-for-tat exchanges of fire continuing on Friday between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah, a Lebanese ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In a report published on Thursday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that the escalation has displaced 76,018 people, mainly in areas of southern Lebanon bordering Israel.

Cross-border violence has left 175 people dead in Lebanon, including 129 Hezbollah fighters and more than 20 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP count.

10:18 AM GMT

A third of all Gazan hospitals 'barely functioning', UN and WHO say

A third of all hospitals in Gaza are “barely functioning”, with the rest out of action, according to the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organisation (WHO).

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report that it was being “delayed and denied”.

They said this meant it could not deliver vital medical supplies, fuel and other aid to the territory.

The OCHA report said: “The security situation, access, transport and deconfliction remain extremely challenging, especially for hospitals in the northern governorates.

“Highlighting the desperate medical situation throughout Gaza, WHO reported that only 13 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are still partially functional; nine in the south and four in the north,” it added.

10:02 AM GMT

Iraq prepares to close down US-led coalition's mission

The Iraqi government is forming a committee to prepare the closing down of the US-led international coalition’s mission in the country, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office said on Friday.

Sudani’s statement came a day after a US strike killed a militia leader in Baghdad, prompting anger among Iran-aligned groups, which demanded that the government end the presence of the coalition in Iraq.

“Government is setting the date for the start of the bilateral committee to put arrangements to end the presence of the international coalition forces in Iraq permanently,” a statement from the prime minister’s office said.

The committee would include representatives of the military coalition, a government official said.

09:47 AM GMT

End of Israel-Hamas war will be the end of Zionism, Iran claims

Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian president,  has vowed that “the end of Al-Aqsa Flood will be the end of the Zionist regime”.

Al-Aqsa Flood is the name Tehran uses to refer to the operation Hamas launched on October 7.

Raisi, speaking after the deadly bombing, which has been claimed by the Islamic State, said: “The victory of the righteous and the elimination of the wicked is a divine promise.”

He added: “The Palestinian people and the resistance front are the victors and the Zionist regime has been defeated”.

09:34 AM GMT

Hezbollah targets hit by IDF

Strikes against Hezbollah targets in the southern Lebanese districts of Ayta-ash Shab and Majdal Zoun have been carried out by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

A military site manned by Hezbollah operatives, infrastructure used by the terror group and an observation post was among the sites targeted, the IDF said.

Footage of the strikes was shared by the IDF.

09:19 AM GMT

Iran leaders vow revenge at funeral for bomb attack victims

Iran’s president and the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps vowed revenge on Friday at the funeral for the victims of twin Islamic State bombings, which took place two days earlier.

Nearly 100 people were killed at a memorial in the city of Kerman on Wednesday for top commander Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in Iraq in 2020 by a US drone.

Islamic State said on Thursday that two of its members had detonated explosive belts in the crowd that had gathered at the cemetery in the southeastern city.

Maj Gen Hossein Salami, IRGC commander, said at the funeral in reference to the Islamic State: “We will find you wherever you are.”

In a televised speech, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said: “Our enemies can see Iran’s power and the whole world knows its strength and capabilities. Our forces will decide on the place and time to take action.”

09:03 AM GMT

Body of Israeli man killed in Hamas attack held in Gaza

An Israeli man seized in the October 7 Hamas attack was killed on the same day and his body taken to the Gaza Strip, his kibbutz community said on Friday.

Tamir Adar was believed to be alive and held in Gaza by Palestinian militants, but the Israeli military has now confirmed that he was killed on the day of the attack, the Nir Oz kibbutz said in a statement.

“The IDF (army) informed the family that he was murdered on October 7, and since then his body has been kept in Gaza,” the statement said.

Adar, 38, was among some 250 people taken hostage from Israeli border communities and military posts.

His grandmother was also among them but has been released.

08:44 AM GMT

Blinken back to Middle East

Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, headed back to the Middle East on Thursday for his fourth trip since the Israel-Hamas war began, expecting tough talks as he presses for immediate new aid for Gaza and regional de-escalation.

He will visit both Israel and the West Bank, home of the Palestinian Authority, and five Arab countries - Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - the State Department said.

Mr Blinken will discuss “immediate measures to increase substantially humanitarian assistance to Gaza”, where the World Health Organisation has warned of the risk of famine and disease.

Matthew Miller, spokesman for the US State Department, told reporters: “We don’t expect every conversation on this trip to be easy. There are obviously tough issues facing the region and difficult choices ahead.

“But the secretary believes it is the responsibility of the United States of America to lead diplomatic efforts to tackle those challenges head on,” he said.

08:36 AM GMT

EU's Borrell to travel to Lebanon

Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, will be in Lebanon from January 5 to January 7 to discuss the situation at the Israeli-Lebanese border and the importance of avoiding regional escalation, the EU said in a statement on Friday.

”(Borrell) will re-emphasise the need to advance diplomatic efforts with regional leaders,” the statement said.

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