Day 86 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Sunday, Dec. 31

Service members aboard the US Navy helicopters returned fire on Houthi gunmen, sinking three boats and killing the crews, US officials said. A fourth boat fled the area.

Rina Bassist, Ezgi Akin, Beatrice Farhat, 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.

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Live updates (all times EDT):

Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023

7:20 pm: Defense systems shoot down armed drone over Ain al-Assad air base in Iraq

Defense systems shot down an armed drone over the Ain al-Assad air base in Iraq that hosts US and international forces, Reuters reported. The incident occurred just hours after a similar event over the Erbil airport in northern Iraq, which also hosts US and foreign troops. There have been 102 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17, according to Reuters. 

7:30 am: Former Palestinian Authority minister killed in Israeli strike 

Sheikh Yousef Salama, a former Palestinian minister of endowments and religious affairs and Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher, was killed on Sunday morning in an Israeli airstrike on his home in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Wafa news agency reported.

Wafa said the house was targeted by the Israeli strike leading to Salama’s killing along with wounding and killing other members of his family.

5:15 am: US sinks three Houthi boats in Red Sea escalation

US Navy helicopters returned fire and and sank three small Houthi militants' boats in the Red Sea on Sunday, killing all their crew, in response to a distress call from a merchant vessel, military officials said.

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