Israel at war day 459: What happened in Gaza, West Bank?

During a situational assessment and discussion with commanders Monday night in Jabalya, in northern Gaza, IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi vowed the Israeli military would continue until Hamas understood that it needed to free all the hostages being held in the Strip, the IDF reported on Tuesday.

The Israeli document that forms the basis of the hostage negotiation talks in Doha, Qatar was published by Israeli public broadcaster KAN on Tuesday evening. 

The US believes if the deployment of the Lebanese Army to southern Lebanon continues as is, there will be no reason for the IDF to remain there or extend the 60-day stage of the ceasefire, a source told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Tuesday that he hopes to have good things to report about the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza by the time Trump is sworn in as president on January 20.

Witkoff, at a press conference held by Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, said, "I'm really hopeful that by the inaugural we'll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president."

“The battle in the 1967 occupied lands is open in all means… but not at the expense of the Palestinian Authority,” said Jibril Rajoub, former head of the PA’s preventive security forces and current president of the Palestinian Football Association.

Rajoub spoke last week, at a time when the PA is in a tight corner between the Israeli government and rising popular support for Hamas in the West Bank.

"I wouldn’t be surprised if [Democrats MK] Yair Golan betrayed [Israel] on October 7," Likud MK Nissim Vaturi claimed in an interview with the Knesset Channel on Tuesday.

When asked by the interviewer whether he truly believes Golan betrayed the country, Vaturi responded, "With his statements, I wouldn’t be surprised by anything."

During its nearly three months of combat in northern Gaza, the Kfir Brigade, under the command of Division 162, destroyed tunnels, located weapons, and eliminated numerous terrorists, including some who partook in the October 7 massacre, the IDF announced on Tuesday after the brigade concluded its operations in the area. 

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) Deputy Commander Admiral Brad Cooper arrived in Israel on Thursday as the guest of Deputy Chief of Staff Major-General Amir Baram to discuss joint operational activities between the two militaries.

Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Gal Hirsch is meeting with counterparts from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and Austria on Tuesday at the residence of President Isaac Herzog.

Sergeant (Sgt.) Ido Samiach was killed in battle while fighting in the Gaza Strip, the IDF announced on Tuesday.