Israel-Hamas war: What happened on day 92?

IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari revealed a new and up-to-date photo of senior Hamas official Muhammad Deif on Saturday. The photo shows him holding a stack of US dollars and a plastic cup of juice.

Recent Israeli intelligence information was received that Deif's physical condition was functioning, and he is functioning well and suffers only from damage to his eye and a slight limp.

IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari (credit: IDF)

Hagari also said that "Hamas's military framework in the northern Gaza Strip has been completely dismantled."

This is a developing story.

British maritime security firm Ambrey has received a report of a maritime security event in the Red Sea's Bab al-Mandab area, the firm said in an advisory note on Saturday, without elaborating.

It advised crews to minimize deck movements and only essential crew should be on the bridge.

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed on Saturday to reach "the enemy" far and near as tensions soar on key shipping routes where Tehran’s allies have been attacking vessels.

"Today, we are facing an all-out battle with the enemy," said Guards commander Hossein Salami at a ceremony in the southern Gulf port city of Bandar Abbas, where the Guards' navy unveiled a new ship named "Abu Mahdi" and 100 missile launchers.

Salami did not name the enemy, but 22 nations have agreed to participate in a US-led coalition to safeguard commercial traffic in the Red Sea from attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement.

The Houthi attacks since November are a show of support for Hamas in its war with Israel.

Iran says 'enemy' should stay away from Red Sea

In response, many major shipping companies have switched to the longer and more costly route around the Africa's Cape of Good Hope rather than pass through the Suez Canal, which handles about 12% of global trade.

Members of special IRGC forces attend a rally marking the annual Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan in Tehran, Iran, April 29, 2022. (credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)

"We need to defend our national interests to wherever they extend," Salami said in a televised speech. "It will be harmful for the enemy to be found near and at a half distant. They should stay away from this area."

The Guards’ navy, he said, had made a "brilliant leap in its offensive and defensive powers" to challenge the world’s naval powers.

According to Iranian media, Iran’s Alborz warship entered the Red Sea earlier this month to secure shipping routes.

Former US Vice President Mike Pence visited the headquarters of Israel's Northern Command on Friday night, the IDF and Israeli media reported.

Pence met with Major-General Ori Gordin. At the meeting, Gordin presented the former US VP, with an up-to-date picture of Israel's activity in the northern sector of the country. Gordin noted that Hezbollah violated the decision for a regional ceasefire established by the United Nations at the end of the Second Lebanon War.

The former Vice President also met with reserve soldiers of the 7338th Artillery Brigade who have been protecting the northern border since October 7. In this meeting, Pence commended the commitment of the reserve officers who left their jobs and families to protect their country, as well as their determination to continue to do so until security is fully restored in the north. 

In an interview with CBN News, the former Vice President discussed American support for Israel, antisemitism, and his own beliefs as a Christian Zionist. 

"I came to Israel to say to the people of our most cherished ally that the American people are with you," said Pence. He said that walking through the Kibbutzim, and through the streets has only "steeled" his determination to be a voice of American support for Israel. 

Pence meeting with reserve soldiers of the 7338th Artillery Brigade, January 5 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)

Pence said, "It's so important that the US makes it clear that we are with Israel today, we will be with Israel tomorrow, and we will be with Israel every day until the threat of Hamas terrorism from Gaza is eliminated once and for all.”

Pence believes Israel deserves the same support as post 9/11 US

In his visit to Israel, Pence has visited the Kibbutzim that were most affected by the attack on October 7 and has met with families from these kibbutzim, as well as the families of those who are still held hostage in Gaza. In this interview, Pence said that it was deeply moving "to see their enduring hope that they will be reunited with their families one day."

When the former US VP was asked about what he thinks about Biden seeking to limit some of the fighting, he said, “I just don’t accept it."

He recalled what it was like in the US after 9/11 and how important it was that allies of the US stood by it in its decision making after the attack, and how their actions were not questioned.

Pence said that he believed Israel deserves the same support from the Biden administration that the US received after 9/11.

"We need our leaders, and we need everyday Americans to resist the temptation of being drawn in to that traditional pattern of world opinion that somehow always seems to find a way to blame Israel," Pence said. "And we need to recognize that this is a moment where the very survival of the Jewish state of Israel is at risk."

In the CBN interview, he also recalled his time on the foreign affairs committee in Congress when Israel withdrew from Gaza. He said that he remembers seeing "synagogues bulldozed in Gaza", and that he expressed concern over whether Gaza could be a democracy in spite of the presence of terrorist organizations like Hamas.

He added that he believes that what happened on October 7 is evidence of the failure of those decisions, and also the failure the Palestinian leadership to step up and create prosperity for their own communities in Gaza. 

 When asked about his thoughts on antisemitism on college campuses and the widespread pro-Palestinian protests in support of Hamas's actions on October 7, Pence said that it was "deeply troubling," but he has also been moved by the outpouring of support for Israel across America as well.

"We stand with Israel because her cause is our cause, her values are our values, and her fight is our fight," Pence concluded.

Dozens of hostile aircraft intrusion alerts sounded in numerous separate communities in northern Israel on Saturday morning. 

Rocket alarms also sounded in a few communities in the north of the country.

Shortly thereafter, Israel's Home Front Command announced the hostile aircraft intrusion event had ended. No injuries, rocket falls, or downed hostile aircraft were reported in the immediate wake of the incident.

Later, the IDF said that it had detected 40 launches from Lebanese territory directed at the area of Meron, in northern Israel on Friday. Meron is approximately ten kilometers from the Israeli-Lebanon border.

The IDF added that it had identified no additional rocket launches or hostile aircraft intrusions in other locations.

IDF strikes terror cell

In response to the launches, the IDF stated that it had struck a terror cell that was involved in the launches.

Subsequently, roughly an hour after the first wave of alerts, numerous additional hostile aircraft intrusion alerts sounded in another part of the Israeli north, including areas such as Kiryat Shmona and the Golan Heights.

This is a developing story.

Dozens of hostile aircraft intrusion alerts sounded in numerous separate communities in northern Israel on Saturday morning.

This is a developing story.

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, posted on X on Friday night saying that the Gaza Strip "has become uninhabitable."

In a statement, also published in X, Griffiths wrote: "Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the beginning of the war. And the citizens of the Gaza Strip live under an existential threat every day, while rocket fire at Israel continues, and more than 120 hostages are held in the territory of the Gaza Strip."

Three months since the horrific 7 October attacks, Gaza has become a place of death and despair.

This war should never have started. But it’s long past time for it to end.

My statement:https://t.co/lkUlogG3Cm pic.twitter.com/kLFBZsKGLt

— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) January 5, 2024

Former US Vice President Mike Pence visited the headquarters of Israel's Northern Command on Friday night, Walla reported.

He met with Major-General Uri Gordin. At the meeting, Gordin presented Pence, with an up-to-date picture of Israel's activity in the northern sector of the country, and he noted that Hezbollah violated the decision for a regional ceasefire established by the United Nations at the end of the Second Lebanon War.

The former Vice President also met with reserve soldiers of the 7338th Artillery Brigade who have been protecting the northern border since October 7. In this meeting, Pence commended the commitment of the reserve officers who left their jobs and families to protect their country, as well as their determination to continue to do so until security is fully restored in the north. 

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen's Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said that any country to involve itself with the United States-led Red Sea coalition will lose its maritime security and be targeted.

Al-Houthi made the comments on Friday in an interview with the BBC.