Israel-Hamas War - What happened on day 78?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin voiced appreciation in a call with US Joe Biden on Saturday for the US stand at the UN Security Council, Netanyahu's office said in a statement, apparently referring to the forum's discussions of the Gaza war.

The statement said Netanyahu also "made clear that Israel will pursue the war until all of its objectives are fully met".

US President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to discuss the situation in Israel and Gaza, according to the White House.

The IDF published on Saturday the names of five soldiers killed in combat in the Gaza Strip over the weekend.

St.-Sgt. Nir Rafael Kananian, 20, from Beit Keshet, fell yesterday in a battle in the southern Gaza Strip.

St.-Sgt. Birhanu Kassie, 22, from Beit Shemesh, fell yesterday in a battle in the southern Gaza Strip.

St.-Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Shay Termin, 26, from Rosh Pina, fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday.

CWO (res.) Alexander Shpits, 41, from Karmiel, fell yesterday in a battle in the southern Gaza Strip.

Capt. Oshri Moshe Butzhak, 22, from Haifa, fell today in a battle in the northern Gaza Strip.

Four of the IDF troops killed in Gaza over the weekend, (from left to right) Nir Rafael Kananian, Shay Termin, Birhanu Kassie, Alexander Shpits. December 23, 2023. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)

Rocket sirens were heard in Ashkelon, Zikim.

An Israeli fighter jet successfully assassinated Hamas leader Hassan Atrash, the IDF and Shin Bet announced on Saturday.

The assassination took place in the Rafah area in southern Gaza.

Atrash was responsible for the trade, production, and equipping of the military arm of Hamas. He also took part in the smuggling of weapons from various countries into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

For the first time since the outbreak of the war two and a half months ago, a senior official in Hezbollah provided an explanation of the Lebanese terrorist organization's readiness to launch an all-out war against Israel.

Nawaf al-Moussawi, a Shia member of Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese parliament, explains that following Hamas's terror attack on October 7, Hezbollah approached the Gaza-based Islamist organization and basically asked whether they should begin a war against Israel on the northern border.

"We asked our brothers in Gaza, 'what can we do?' If we initiate an all-out war in Lebanon – will it stop the fighting in Gaza or not?" al-Moussawi said in an interview broadcast on Al-Manar TV, the official channel of Hezbollah. "Their answer was no, it will not stop; the fighting in Gaza will not cease. Only with a victory over Israel within Gaza," he continued.

مسؤول ملف الموارد والحدود في #حزب‌_الله السيد #نواف_الموسوي:
سألنا الأخوة في اليوم التالي لعملية #طوفان_الأقصى، ماذا يمكن أن نفعل، هل لو قمنا بهذا الأمر (الحرب الشاملة) سيقف القتال على #غزة، قالوا "لا"، لن يتوقف الهجوم على غزة الا بانكسار المقاتل الاسرائيلي في غزة. https://t.co/rUJvFEpKnO pic.twitter.com/LPgqre0xA0

— Bahraniyah (@Bahraniyah) December 22, 2023

Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Hezbollah has been attacking IDF forces and Israeli civilians in the northern border region on a daily basis.

There have consequently been intense exchanges of fire between the terror organization in Lebanon and the IDF, resulting in significant damage in both countries and substantial casualties, mainly on the Hezbollah side.

Nawaf al-Moussawi on Al-Manar TV. (credit: SCREENSHOT/ AL MANAR)

Heavy casualties in Hezbollah

Saturday morning, Hezbollah reported the death of its 122nd fighter from IDF fire since the start of the conflict between the two sides, but the estimate is that the number is much higher.

After Hamas's terror attack, many questions and speculations arose about whether it was coordinated and approved by Iran and Hezbollah.

According to a report published days after the attack in the Wall Street Journal, Esmail Qaani, the Iranian commander of the Islamic Republic’s IRGC Quds Force, explicitly gave the green light for the attack.

However, most assessments from various sources suggest that Hamas acted independently and did not inform its regional terror partners about the specific details of its plans.

The official assessment of intelligence and security agencies in Israel and the United States is that Iran and Hezbollah did not have precise knowledge of Hamas’s plan to carry out the attack.

Along with Nawaf al-Moussawi’s statements, there is an assessment that within Hamas, there has been and exists an expectation for Hezbollah to open an all-out war against Israel, but Hezbollah refrains from doing so.

One claim that arises is that Hezbollah, acting as a proxy for Iran, chooses not to risk a significant blow to its power for the sake of the Palestinian struggle.

Iran and its terror proxies in the Middle East do not hide the connection they maintain with Hamas and the support they have provided and continue to provide to the terror organization. 

Since the outbreak of the war, senior figures in Hamas, such as Ismail Haniyeh, Saleh al-Arouri, and others, have met with senior officials in Iran, Hezbollah, and the Islamic Jihad.

Meanwhile, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, loyal supporters of Iran, have engaged in armed confrontations against Israel in support of Hamas.

Hamas, Islamist terrorist group, issued a statement on Saturday saying it has lost contact with the group responsible for five Israeli hostages being held captive in the Gaza strip due to Israeli bombardment. 

The group believes the hostages were killed during an Israeli raid, Abu Ubaida, the spokesman of Hamas' military wing Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades was quoted as saying. 

Rocket sirens were heard in the northern cities of Shlomi and Betzet.

Rocket sirens were heard in Nahal Oz, Kfar Azza, and Sa'ad.