Live Updates: Hezbollah chief keeps options open, Gaza journalists face higher death toll than US combat soldiers

The prospects of an all-out war in Lebanon seem to have been postponed after Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said the response to the killing of a Hamas leader in Lebanon earlier this week depends on the developments in the battlefield.

Nasrallah’s Friday speech came just three days after Hamas' deputy political head Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an apparent Israeli drone strike in the Dahiyeh district, south of Beirut.

The attack in the heart of the militant group's stronghold has raised questions about Hezbollah’s reaction. The Iran-backed movement had been engaged in heavy fire exchanges with the Israeli army along the Lebanon-Israel border since the war in Gaza began and concerns are growing about the skirmishes expanding into a wider war.

While Nasrallah held off from announcing an all-out war, he described the attack that killed Arouri as “a major and serious violation,” stressing that “the response is undoubtedly coming.”

On Thursday, senior White House adviser Amos Hochstein had arrived in Israel on Thursday for meetings with Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of a US effort to de-escalate tensions between the Israeli military and Hezbollah that have grown since the Israel-Hamas war began Oct. 7.

Hochstein’s mission faces challenges. After meeting with the US envoy, Netanyahu struck a defiant tone. 

"Bringing our citizens in the north and in the south back to their homes is part of the goals of the war, and we will reach it either diplomatically or militarily," he said. 

The situation in Gaza remains dire, amid ongoing air and ground operations by the Israeli military. In addition to tens of thousands of civilian casualties, journalists are particularly at risk. On Friday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reported that the death toll among media workers in the Palestinian enclave surpasses the mortality rate among combatants in recent wars.

The IFJ has recorded the death of 75 journalists in Gaza since Oct. 7 out of an estimated 1,000 working there before the war began — a mortality rate of 7.5%, which the IFJ has assessed far exceeds the death rate of US soldiers in past wars.

Israel launched an air, sea and ground campaign in Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ cross-border assault on Oct. 7, during which militants killed more than 1,200 people and took 240 others hostage.

The hostilities in the coastal enclave have left more than 22,313 people dead, 70% of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. At least 57,296 have been wounded and around 7,000 people are still missing and are presumably under the rubble.

Ezgi Akin, Beatrice Farhat, Rina Bassist, Elizabeth Hagedorn, Adam Lucente, Jack Dutton, Jared Szuba and Al-Monitor’s contributors on the ground in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel contributed to this blog.

Live updates (all times EST):

Friday, Jan. 5, 2024

4:40 pm: Israeli military causes uproar with plans to investigate its conduct on Oct. 7

Israeli military chief of staff Herzi Halevi has decided that the Israel Defense Forces will investigate its own preparedness and deployment on and before Oct. 7, the day that Hamas breached the Gaza border fence and attacked southern Israeli communities, reported the Israeli public broadcaster Kan on Thursday. Rina Bassist reports. 

1:17 pm: 'Battlefield will speak for itself', Hezbollah chief warns Israel amid retaliation fears

The prospects of an all-out war in Lebanon seem to have been postponed after Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said the response to the killing of a Hamas leader in Lebanon earlier this week depends on the developments in the battlefield. Beatrice Farhat reports.

10:28 am: Israel uncertain of Hezbollah's intentions, prepares for all options

The day after the Jan. 2 assassination of senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut widely attributed to Israel, vaunted former Mossad Director Zvi Zamir died at the age of 98 and was buried in Tel Aviv. In delivering his eulogy at the graveside, incumbent Mossad Director David Barnea paraphrased a biblical warning: "Every Arab mother should know: If her son took part in the massacre on Oct. 7, his blood shall be upon his own head."

While Israel does not expect Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to launch an all-out war, it is preparing for anything to happen. Ben Caspit reports.

9:45 am: Blinken returns to Middle East as concern of war's escalation grows

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the Middle East on Friday in a high-stakes trip aimed at preventing Israel’s monthslong battle against Hamas from sliding into a broader regional war that could draw in the United States.

Blinken’s visit to the region — his fourth since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostage — comes days after a suspected Israeli strike killed a top Hamas official in Beirut and twin explosions claimed by the Islamic State killed nearly 100 people in central Iran. Elizabeth Hagedorn reports.

9:21 am: Gaza journalists killed at rate of 7.5%, higher than US soldiers in recent wars: IFJ

The Israel-Hamas war has taken a heavy toll on Gaza journalists, with a global journalist organization reporting on Friday that the death toll among media workers in the Palestinian enclave surpasses the mortality rate among combatants in recent wars.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has recorded the death of 75 journalists in Gaza since Oct. 7 out of an estimated 1,000 working there before the war began — a mortality rate of 7.5%, which the IFJ has assessed far exceeds the death rate of US soldiers in past wars. Beatrice Farhat reports.

Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024

1:01 pm: 'Quietly complicit': second US official quits over Biden’s Gaza war handling

A US official in the Department of Education became the second in the Biden administration to publicly resign over the president’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza. 

Tariq Habash, a Palestinian American policy adviser in the Department of Education’s Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, said he could no longer represent an administration that “does not value all human life equally.” Read Al-Monitor's report.

11:43 am: What we know about US strike that killed Iraqi militia leader in Baghdad

A high-ranking Iraqi militia commander was killed in a suspected US military strike on Thursday as the regional conflict related to the Gaza war continues to heat up.

Reuters and Fox News confirmed that the US military carried out a strike on a vehicle in Baghdad carrying Harakat al-Nujaba figures in response to attacks on US forces in the country. The strike killed the leader of the group and another person, a US official told Reuters, without naming the target. Adam Lucente reports.

9:15 am: Over 1 million people displaced to Gaza’s Rafah since war began

The United Nations said Wednesday that more than 1 million displaced Palestinians have arrived in the southern border town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, when the war with Israel started.

The situation continues to deteriorate in the Palestinian enclave as the devastating war enters its 90th day and amid growing concerns that the violence will spill into a wider regional conflict. Beatrice Farhat reports.

Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024

7:00 pm: US braces for escalation as Hezbollah weighs Israel retaliation

Israel's suspected killing of Saleh al-Arouri, a senior Hamas member based in Lebanon, has raised fears of more spillover from the war in Gaza. Elizabeth Hagedorn reports.

4:50 pm: Germany, Canada urge citizens to leave Lebanon as Hezbollah vows to retaliate

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared the United States responsible for the war in Gaza in a Wednesday speech, vowing retaliation for the killing of Saleh al-Arouri, a top Hamas official in Beirut, as several Western governments urged their citizens to leave Lebanon. Adam Lucente reports.

3:52 pm: Salam Fayyad says he's not part of postwar Gaza talks

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad distanced himself from reports suggesting that he should be nominated to run Gaza after the war ends. “I am not part of this discussion or a party to it,” he said, adding, “any such discussion must be based on national consensus and certainly should not be restricted to Gaza alone," referencing the need for a political settlement to include Gaza as well as the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Daoud Kuttab reports.

12:01 pm: Israel braces for retaliation by Hamas, Hezbollah for Arouri's death

While already on high alert over the war in Gaza, Israeli security agencies are being especially vigilant for possible attacks by Hezbollah after Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri was killed Tuesday evening in Beirut. Israel anticipates not only a strong reaction by Hamas in Gaza or the West Bank, but also a possible response by Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border or against Israeli or Jewish targets abroad. Rina Bassist reports.

11:37 am: Israel-Lebanon border heats up in aftermath of Arouri’s killing

The exchanges of fire between the Israeli military and Lebanese Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border are intensifying ahead of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s speech scheduled for today. Beatrice Farhat reports.

6:20 am: What does Israeli military drawdown mean for Gaza war?

The Israeli military is preparing for what could be seen as the third phase of the war in Gaza, with fewer troops on the ground and more precisely targeted operations. 

Four Israeli combat brigades are set to stop fighting this week in the Gaza Strip. Israeli military chief of staff Herzi Halevi reportedly decided to release two reserve brigades, the infantry-vocational school brigade and an armored-corps training brigade. Rina Bassist reports.