Monday, December 23
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***Live Updates*** Israel Orders ‘Complete Siege’ of Gaza Strip

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Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has approved a “complete siege” of the Gaza strip following Hamas’s massive terror attack on the Jewish state, which has killed over 900 people and wounded 2,500 more, according to reports. President Joe Biden confirmed the death of 11 U.S. citizens. There are over 100 hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. In response to the attack, the Israeli Airforce has struck at least 1,000 terror targets in Gaza. Iran reportedly assisted in the planning and approval of the attack.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates. All times eastern.

10:01 P.M. — The White House is lit up in blue and white in a show of support for Israel.

8:30 P.M. —

7:30 P.M. — A Pentagon official tells reporters that Hamas has committed “ISIS level savagery” against Israel citizens.

“I want to differentiate this from other times we have seen conflicts between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. This is ISIS level savagery that we have seen committed against Israeli civilians – houses burned to the ground, young people massacred at music festivals.,” the official says.

“We are working as fast as possible to provide critically needed munitions of various types and other equipment. We’re also contacting US industry to gain expedited shipment of pending Israeli orders for military equipment that otherwise may have been considered routine for movement,” the official adds.

7:15 P.M. — The United Arab Emirates privately urged Syria to stay out of Israel’s war against Hamas amid concerns of a larger regional conflict, according to Axios.

Read the full report here.

6:53 P.M. — Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) tells the Washington Free Beacon that the U.S.-Mexico border crisis could amount to a terror attack in America akin to what occurred in Israel.

“We should wake up ourselves. We could have the same thing happen next week to us,” McCarthy says. “We caught more people on the terrorist watchlist in February than we caught in the entire administration. We could have cells sitting inside of America right now.”

“We should take a step back and look at ourselves,” the lawmaker says. “Your intel is never perfect and we’ve got a wide-open border. They’re coming from 160 different countries.”

6:45 P.M. — In a joint statement, President Joe Biden, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni declare their “steadfast and united support to the State of Israel, and our unequivocal condemnation of Hamas and its appalling acts of terrorism.”

“Our countries will support Israel in its efforts to defend itself and its people against such atrocities. We further emphasize that this is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage,” the world leaders write.

“All of us recognize the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people and support equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike. But make no mistake: Hamas does not represent those aspirations, and it offers nothing for the Palestinian people other than more terror and bloodshed,” they add.

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6:36 P.M. — Former president Barack Obama issues a statement in support of Israel.

“All Americans should be horrified and outraged by the brazen terrorist attacks on Israel and the slaughter of innocent civilians,” Obama writes on social media.

“We grieve for those who died, pray for the safe return of those who’ve been held hostage, and stand squarely alongside our ally, Israel, as it dismantles Hamas,” the president adds.

“As we support Israel’s right to defend itself against terror, we must keep striving for a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” he continues.

6:00 P.M. — Says it all: 

5:16 P.M. — The Biden administration is warning Hezbollah to stay out of Israel’s war with Hamas. 

“We are deeply concerned about Hezbollah making the wrong decision and choosing to open a second front to this conflict,” an official says, according to the Times of Israel.

5:12 P.M. — President Joe Biden says the death toll of Americans in connection to Hamas’s terror attack on Israel has risen from 9 to 11, while more Americans are being held hostage by Hamas. 

“American citizens still remain unaccounted for, and we are working with Israeli officials to obtain more information as to their whereabouts,” the president says. “My heart goes out to every family impacted by the horrible events of the past few days. The pain these families have endured, the enormity of their loss, and the agony of those still awaiting information is unfathomable.”

5:07 P.M. — Roughly “1,500 bodies of Palestinian terrorists” have been located across Israel, Times of Israel reports, citing Israel-based Channel 13.

4:30 P.M. — Israeli strikes kill three Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon Monday, the radical Islamic organization announced.

Hezbollah says the terrorists were “martyred as a result of the Zionist aggression on south Lebanon Monday afternoon.”

3:30 P.M. — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells President Joe Biden that the Jewish state has no choice but to invade Gaza following Hamas’s terror attack on Israel, according to Axios. 

“We have to go in. We can’t negotiate now,” Netanyahu tells Biden.

“Biden did not try to press Netanyahu or convince him not to go through with a ground operation,” the outlet states.

2:50 P.M. — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the nation, comparing Hamas to ISIS and vows to destroy the terror group in Gaza.

“We have always known what Hamas is. Now the world knows. Hamas is ISIS,” the prime minister says. “Hamas is ISIS and we will eliminate it in exactly the same manner that the enlightened world eliminated ISIS.”

“I promise you dear citizens, all our enemies will know it was a terrible mistake to attack Israel,” the leader adds. “What we will do to our enemies in the next few days will echo for generations.”

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2:20 P.M. — In the wake of Hamas’s terror attack on Israel, Czech Republic Prime Minister Petr Fiala signals support for moving his country’s embassy to Jerusalem.

“I am convinced that this would be a desirable step at the present time,” the prime minister says. “I intend to discuss the specific course of action in this situation with my coalition partners.”

2:00 P.M. — Israeli media, citing a statement from the ZAKA search and rescue group, reports approximately 100 bodies have been removed from Kibbutz Be’eri. “A resident earlier told Kan that the community had been completely destroyed in the Hamas assault,” the Times of Israel says.

1:50 P.M. —

1:37 P.M. — Larry Summers, President Emeritus of Harvard University, torches the school’s students over their support for the terror attacks on Israel.

As Breitbart News reported:

In a joint statement signed by at least 57 student groups, the students blamed Israel for the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas killing Israelis.

“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” a joint statement by scores of Harvard student groups read.

“Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum,” the statement continue. “For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to ‘open the gates of hell,’ and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced.”

“Palestinians in Gaza have no shelters for refuge and nowhere to escape,” the Harvard students added. “In the coming days, Palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of Israel’s violence.”

1:20 P.M. — A Hamas official claims will execute an Israeli hostage for every new civilian house bombed without warning, per reports. 

1:09 P.M. — Hamas’s terror attack on Israel has killed over 900 people, the Times of Israel, citing local media, reports. 

12:30 P.M. — The European Union announces it is immediately suspending a portion of its assistance to Palestinians in the wake of Hamas’s terror attack on Israel.

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“As the biggest donor of the Palestinians, the European Commission is putting its full development portfolio under review, worth a total of €691m,” EU commissioner Oliver Varhelyi writes on social media.

12:01 P.M. — Israel has mobilized 300,000 reservists in the past 48 hours as its forces continue strikes against Hamas terror targets in Gaza.

11:55 A.M. — The White House calls a lid before noon, Fox News reports. 

11:50 A.M. —  Israeli strikes have killed a Hezbollah terrorist, according to the group. Speaking to Lebanese media, a spokesperson for Hezbollah says the group will fight back “in accordance with the deterrence rules it has imposed.”

11:30 A.M. — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office swats down a report claiming that he received a warning of an imminent attack from Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, according to the Times of Israel. 

“This is total fake news,” the statement says.

The leader “has not spoken with or met with [Kamel] since the formation of the government — not by backchannels nor directly.”

11:13 A.M. — Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry is denouncing Hamas’s terror attack on Israel, saying in a statement that its assaults “constitute a dangerous escalation.”

“Bahrain denounces [….] the kidnapping of civilians from their homes as hostages,” the statement reads.

11:00 A.M. — Secretary of State Antony Blinken appears to have deleted a tweet saying he encouraged Turkey’s efforts to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. 

10:26 A.M. — Rockets strikes in the the Jerusalem region injures three people, according to Magen David Adom ambulance service.

Times of Israel reports:

MDA says medics are treating a man in his 20s who has been seriously wounded by shrapnel as a result of a rocket impact in Abu Ghosh, west of Jerusalem.

Another two people are being treated in an undisclosed area near Jerusalem — a woman in her 60s in critical condition, and a man with light injuries, MDA says.

10:26 A.M. — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells politicians from Southern Israel that the country’s fight against Hamas will change the course of Middle East history.

“I know you’ve been through tough, terrible things. What Hamas will go through will be tough and terrible — we’re already in the midst of the battle and we’ve only just begun,” Netanyahu says. “The nation will turn over every stone to help you all. I ask that you stand strong because we are going to change the Middle East.”

10:06 A.M. — IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus says one of Israel’s objectives is from Hamas’s control over Gaza.

10:02 A.M. — Israeli forces neutralize “a number of militants” who entered the territory of the Jewish state from Lebanon, says an IDF spokesperson.

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