Day 78 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Saturday, Dec. 23

Clashes continued between Israel and Hezbollah on the Lebanon border and Iraqi militias claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Israel’s Karish gas field in the Mediterranean Sea.

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.

Click here for our most recent updates.

Live updates (all times EDT):

Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023

6:00 pm: Biden presses Netanyahu on protecting civilians but does not ask for cease-fire

President Joe Biden pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to protect civilian lives in Gaza, the White House said, as the country's forces mounted fresh military strikes in the territory.

The conversation came a day after the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding "safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale," though it stopped short of calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas militants.

"The President emphasized the critical need to protect the civilian population including those supporting the humanitarian aid operation, and the importance of allowing civilians to move safely away from areas of ongoing fighting," the White House said in a statement.

Biden told reporters at the White House earlier in the day that he had a "long talk" with Netanyahu, which he described as "a private conversation."

In response to a follow-up question, Biden said, "I did not ask for a cease-fire."

3:30 pm: Hamas says 200 killed in 24 hours of Israeli strikes on Gaza

More than 200 people were killed in 24 hours of Israeli strikes, Gaza officials said Saturday, and Israel announced the death of five soldiers after the UN failed to call for a cease-fire.

Eleven weeks into the Israel-Hamas war, Israeli forces pressed on with their offensive, a day after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution for more aid to flow into the besieged Gaza Strip.

Smoke rose over Khan Younis and AFP footage showed smoke drifting over the north of the coastal territory.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported 201 deaths in the past 24 hours across the territory, updating the death toll since the start of the war to 20,258, most of them women and children.

10:00 am: 'Israel-affiliated' ship struck by drone off Indian coast

A merchant vessel off the west coast of India was hit by a drone, British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Saturday, according to Reuters.

The strike caused a fire on the Liberian-flagged chemical products tanker but was extinguished without crew casualties in the incident 120 miles (200 kilometers) southwest of Veraval, India, it said.

“Some structural damage was also reported and some water was taken onboard. The vessel was Israel-affiliated," the firm said on its website, adding that it was "destined for India at the time."

It said the Indian navy was responding.

8:00 am: Egyptian, Iranian presidents hold phone call

The presidents of Egypt and Iran, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Ebrahim Raisi, discussed the situation in Gaza and normalizing diplomatic ties between their two countries in what Iranian state television said on Saturday was their first phone call. 

"Raisi said Iran was ready to provide all its capacities to stop the genocide by the Zionist regime and send aid to the Palestinians," Iranian state TV reported.

7:00 am: Iran threatens to 'close' Mediterranean

An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander said the Mediterranean Sea could be closed if the United States and its allies continued to commit "crimes" in Gaza, Iranian media outlets reported on Saturday.

"They shall soon await the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, Gibraltar and other waterways," Tasnim quoted Mohammad Reza Naqdi, coordinating commander of the IRGC, as saying, according to Reuters.

Iran has no direct access to the Mediterranean itself and it was not clear how IRGC could attempt to close it off, although Naqdi talked of "the birth of new powers of resistance and the closure of other waterways."

"Yesterday, the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz became a nightmare for them, and today they are trapped ... in the Red Sea," Naqdi was quoted as saying.

Click here for our most recent updates.