Biden told Netanyahu not to launch pre-emptive strike on Hezbollah: report

AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean

Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus, resembled a ghost town on Sunday as Christmas Eve celebrations were called off because of the ongoing war between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists.

The festive lights and Christmas tree that normally decorate Manger Square were missing. The foreign tourists who gather each year to celebrate Christmas were also absent. Instead, dozens of Palestinian security forces patrolled the empty area.

The gift shops in the region were slow to open on Christmas Eve, but a few did when rain stopped pouring. Still, there were few visitors.

The cancellation of Christmas festivities this year is a significant blow to the town’s economy. Tourism makes up an estimated 70% of Bethlehem’s income, and most of that comes during the Christmas season.

More than 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza and Israel since Hamas launched its largest attack against Israel in decades on Oct. 7, leading to Israeli forces launching a ground operation into the territory.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov

More than a dozen Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in the Gaza Strip over the weekend, according to the Israeli military.

The 13 Israeli soldiers killed on Friday and Saturday died in battles in central and southern Gaza, the military said Sunday.

According to Israeli Army Radio, four soldiers were killed when their vehicle was struck by an anti-tank missile.

Another soldier was killed in northern Israel by fire from the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

The number of soldiers killed since Israel's ground offensive began now sits at 152.

More than 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza and Israel since Hamas launched its largest attack against Israel in decades on Oct. 7, leading to Israeli forces launching a ground operation into the territory.

Civilians have been repeatedly caught in the crossfire of the wider conflict, with thousands having been wounded, and many others having been taken hostage by Hamas and raped, tortured or murdered.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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A massive group of pro-Palestinian protesters in Chicago confronted lawmakers at their homes on Saturday and temporarily shut down an interstate to express support for Palestinians in Gaza.

The group, led by the "U.S. Palestinian Community Network," first stopped at the home of U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., in the city of Evanston, the group said on Instagram.

The demonstrators also confronted U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., at his home in Chicago, where they shouted chants of "Long live Palestine!"

At both locations and later on the interstate, they expressed support for a ceasefire and more support for Palestinians amid the war in the Middle East between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists.

Durbin spoke with protesters, according to a video posted by the group. He said he "will do more" to help Palestinian civilians but did not provide any specifics.

Then a caravan of nearly 100 vehicles then went toward O'Hare International Airport and disrupted traffic on I-190 and Manheim Road, according to FOX 32 Chicago. Both sides of the interstate were temporarily shut down, forcing traffic to remain at a standstill.

Traffic had resumed by 5 p.m., and the roadways were re-opened, the outlet reported.

Commercial vessels are sailing in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of northern Israel on December 21, 2023, following the United States' announcement of its intention to establish a multinational coalition to protect cargo ships traveling through the Red Sea from attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi group. (Photo by Mati Milstein/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Iran appears to have struck a ship off the Indian coast with an unmanned aerial vehicle, a U.S. official told Fox News on Saturday.

It comes as Houthi militants targeted multiple cargo ships on Saturday, as the group fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles into international shipping lanes located in the Southern Red Sea, according to U.S. Central Command.

No ships were impacted by the ballistic missiles, officials said.

The USS Laboon shot down four unmanned aerial drones on Saturday which originated from areas that the Houthis control in Yemen.

Read the full article about Iran by Jennifer Griffin and Adam Sabes

The United Nations emblem is seen in front of the United Nations Office (UNOG) in Geneva, Switzerland.

A House Committee is expected to launch an investigation into a United Nations agency that provides aid to Palestinians for alleged ties to Hamas, according to a report.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is planning to investigate the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East, which is also known as UNRWA, according to the New York Post.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., told the outlet that there's evidence of a connection between the UN agency and Hamas.

Read the full article about the House Foreign Affairs Committee by Adam Sabes

US President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media before boarding Marine One in Washington, DC, US, on Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023. (Photographer: Julia Nikhinson/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The White House released a statement about President Biden's call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, as the war between Israel and Hamas continues.

"President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel," the statement read. "The leaders discussed Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to include its objectives and phasing."

The White House noted that Biden advocated for Gazan civilians during the exchange.

"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's press release continued. "The leaders discussed the importance of securing the release of all remaining hostages."

"They agreed to remain in regular consultation both directly and through their respective national security teams," the statement added.

U.S. President Joe Biden talks to the press before boarding Marine One on the south lawn of the White House on December 23, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

President Biden gave a tight-lipped response when he was asked about his recent communication with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday.

"I had a private conversation," the president told reporters outside of the White House. "I did not ask for a ceasefire."

Biden also said that the conversation was "long" but did not provide extensive details about their chat.

"Netanyahu sir, did you tell him not to strike Hamas in a preemptive strike?" a reporter asked the president.

"I had a long talk with Netanyahu today and it's a private conversation," Biden responded.

Fox News senior foreign correspondent Greg Palkot joined "Cavuto Live" on Saturday to give the latest updates from the Israel-Hamas war.

Palkot, who was reporting from Tel Aviv, explained that fighting has impacted how Christmas is celebrated in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ. Bethlehem is located in the West Bank.

"Christmas in Bethlehem in the West Bank is more subdued this year due to the war," he explained. "In Manger Square, there's no tree, no lights, tourists, very few celebrations. As the fight goes on, there will be a midnight mass on Christmas Eve for peace."

"A lot of people here hoping for peace and quiet. Still a lot of ugly noises down south," he added.

An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander was quoted by the country's media as saying Saturday that the the Mediterranean Sea could be closed if the U.S. and allies continue to commit "crimes" in Gaza, according to Reuters.

It's unclear how Iran could pull off such a maneuver, but Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi reportedly said "They shall soon await the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, [the Strait of] Gibraltar and other waterways."

The apparent warning comes a day after a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that Iran has been providing intelligence to Yemen's Houthi rebels on ship locations in the Red Sea during the recent series of attacks on commercial vessels in the area.

An Iranian surveillance vessel has been tracking the commercial ships and sharing locations for the Houthis to target with their drones and rockets, which are also provided by Iran. 

Fox News' Liz Friden and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.

The Israel Defense Forces announced Friday that five more of its soldiers have died in fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Four of the troops, identified as Sgt. Nir Rafael Kananian, 20, Sgt. Birhanu Kassie, 22, Maj. (res.) Shay Termin, 26, and Sgt.-Maj. Alexander Shpits, 41, died yesterday in battles in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the IDF.

The fifth soldier, 22-year-old Capt. Oshri Moshe Butzhak, died Saturday in fighting in northern Gaza, the IDF added.

The deaths bring the total number of Israeli troop losses in Gaza to 144, according to The Times of Israel.

President Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel on Oct. 18. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

In the early stages of the Israel-Hamas war, President Biden managed to convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to launch a pre-emptive strike against the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, The Wall Street Journal is reporting Saturday.

Officials told the newspaper that Israel had intelligence that Hezbollah attackers were preparing to cross Israel's northern border and initiate a multi-pronged assault just days after Hamas carried out its Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.

The reported intelligence pushed some of Israel's officials to be in favor of launching an early strike on Hezbollah, but the U.S. viewed the intelligence as unreliable, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Israeli airplanes were awaiting orders to launch the attack when Biden spoke to Netanyahu on Oct. 11 and asked him to stand down, stressing that going through with the operation could spark a larger, regional war, people familiar with the call also said to the newspaper.

The Israeli strike ended up never happening.

As of Saturday, Israel continues to engage in border skirmishes with Hezbollah. But the militant group has yet to launch a full-scale attack on Israel.

Scooter Braun, Justin Bieber's manager and former Kanye West collaborator, called out people in the music industry for not speaking out against Israel's Oct. 7 massacre. (Michael Buckner/Penske Media via Getty Images)

Justin Bieber’s former manager Scooter Braun took a stand for victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre this week, putting out a video with a relative of one of the victims of the tragedy that demanded artists in the music industry to speak out against the brutality.

In the video posted to the record company executive’s Instagram page on Friday, Braun and Rachel Goldberg, the mother of a young man named Hersh – who is still being held hostage by terror group Hamas – spread awareness about her son and other victims of the attack on the Nova music festival that happened near Kibbutz Re’im on the 7th. 

Sitting with Goldberg, Braun stated, "Her son is now 76 days being held in Gaza. The last images she saw of him, he had his left arm blown off. He’s a lefty like she is."

Braun then rebuked mainstream music artists and journalists for not speaking out on these victims’ behalf.

"I find it insane that I’m the one standing here with her, or that we’re the ones who had a conversation," he said, adding, "There should be people with 100 million followers and much bigger platforms who do this for a living, who are artists, who are reporters, who should be giving her a platform."

A few weeks after thousands of Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7, murdering 1,200 people and brutally kidnapping some 240 individuals, including more than 30 children, the devastated families of those held hostage in the Gaza Strip launched a global campaign demanding their release. 

With assistance from marketing and advertising professionals, the newly created Hostages and Missing Persons Forum in Israel turned to powerful social media platforms used by billions of people worldwide and asked to place paid advertisements to raise awareness of their plight. 

Mostly short video clips depicting the lives of ordinary civilians and children held captive by a U.S.-designated terror organization, multiple ads were placed on Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram, but the Chinese-owned video-sharing app, TikTok, refused to accept any of them, deeming them "too political."

Meanwhile, the social media platform, which has faced accusations of not doing enough to clamp down on hate-filled antisemitic and anti-Israel content and which Jewish employees at the company revealed recently allows politically motivated employees to enforce its moderating policies, readily accepted paid campaigns highlighting the plight of Palestinian children in Gaza. 

An internal memo, written by a senior TikTok employee in the Israel office and seen by Fox News Digital, highlighted in detail an unequal policy toward the paid humanitarian campaigns pitched by Israeli families as compared to pro-Palestinian groups, as well as a flippant, even biased, approach to organic content uploaded by users to the site that is graphically violent and deeply inciting – violating some of the company’s own community guidelines. 

A spokesperson for TikTok responded by saying, "These allegations are false and do not reflect TikTok policies in any way." 

The Israeli Air Force on Saturday has released a video appearing to show an airstrike taking out Hassan Atrash, who it says was "responsible for the trade, production and equipping of the military arm of Hamas."

The Air Force said it coordinated the airstrike with assistance from the Shin Bet intelligence agency.

"In addition, he took part in the smuggling of weapons from various countries to the Gaza Strip. In recent times he was involved in smuggling weapons to Judea and Samaria as well," it added.

The footage shows an aircraft tracking a car traveling through an urban area. 

A missile is then launched at the target, generating a massive explosion.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday has issued a fresh call for countries to launch an economic boycott of Israel, reports say.

"It is the duty of the Islamic countries to prevent the sending of oil, fuel, and goods to Israel," he said, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Khamenei has made similar claims in the past.

"What the Islamic governments should insist is an immediate halt to the crimes [the Israelis] are committing in Gaza. The bombardments should immediately stop," Khamenei was quoted by Iranian state media as saying in early November, according to The Associated Press. "They should block the flow of oil and food to the Zionist regime. Islamic governments shouldn’t have economic cooperation with the Zionist regime." 

Palestinians look at a destroyed residential building following an Israeli strike in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday, Dec. 23. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Sky News on Saturday that a cease-fire could be implemented "tomorrow" in the Gaza Strip if Hamas agrees to release the more than 100 remaining hostages in its captivity.

"We're ready for another humanitarian pause as we did in November," Regev reportedly added.

About 129 hostages are believed to remain in the Gaza Strip.

Gadi Haggai, a 73-year-old Israeli-American taken captive by Hamas, has become the first American hostage to have died in the war. His death was announced Friday.

Israeli soldiers are seen on Friday, Dec. 15 in a tunnel that the military says Hamas militants used to attack the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. (AP/Ariel Schalit)

The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that its troops working in cooperation with the Shin Bet intelligence agency have arrested more than 200 individuals suspected to be linked to Hamas activities in the Gaza Strip.

"Some of the arrested operatives chose to assimilate into the civilian population and surrender, and were taken to Israel with the field investigators of Unit 504 in the Intelligence Division and the Shin Bet coordinators," the IDF said. 

Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Dec. 21 (Israel Defense Forces/Reuters)

An Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip has killed at least 18 people, the BBC is reporting, citing Palestinian media.

The development comes as the Palestinian Ministry of Affairs is accusing Israel's military of escalating their campaign against Hamas following the approval of a U.N. Security Council resolution Friday calling for "urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities" in the Gaza Strip.

"The escalation of the occupation's aggression [is happening] across all regions of Gaza, from its north to its south, with the complete destruction of residential areas and the targeting of all human life elements," the Palestinian Ministry of Affairs wrote in a statement on X. "This aggression has taken place in areas such as Jabalia, Shuja'iyya, Sheikh Radwan, Tuffah, and others, as happened today in Deir al-Balah and continues in Khan Younis and Rafah."

Hamas has continued to reject offers from Israel of a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages.

Fox News' Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

A ship that a British maritime security firm is describing as "Israel-affiliated" has been attacked Saturday off the west coast of India, reports say.

The vessel, a Liberian-flagged chemical products tanker, was targeted 120 miles from Veraval, Sky News is reporting, citing a statement from Ambrey.

"The unmanned aerial vehicle attack caused an explosion and a fire onboard," a spokesperson from the firm reportedly said. "Some structural damage was also reported and some water was taken onboard. The vessel was Israel-affiliated. She had last called Saudi Arabia and was destined for India at the time."

The attack comes as Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels continue to target ships in the Red Sea, prompting the U.S. and other countries to launch a multinational effort to protect the busy corridor.

Weapons the IDF claims to have found in the Gaza Strip. (IDF)

The Israel Defense Forces shared an image on X Saturday saying its troops have "found toy boxes filled with dozens of mortar shells, warheads and RPG type anti-tank missiles in a kindergarten in Gaza."

Farther north, the Israeli Air Force said it "attacked this morning and during the night a number of terrorist targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, including operational infrastructures, terrorist infrastructures and a military compound."

The Israel Defense Forces said Friday that as part of its recent military operations in the Gaza Strip, it "Fired decoy shots, luring dozens of terrorists into a building that served as a Hamas headquarters and directed an Israeli Air Force strike on the building, eliminating the terrorists."

The IDF also said in an update on X that its troops "Identified terrorists attempting to attack troops and eliminated them by sniper fire, as well as located and destroyed terrorist infrastructure, including buildings used as Hamas military sites."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the press after the Security Council adopted resolution on Gaza humanitarian aid at U.N. Headquarters in New York City on Friday, Dec. 22. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the "real problem" when it comes to delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza is the way Israel is conducting its military campaign against Hamas.

Guterres made the comment Friday after the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution demanding a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war by a 13-0 vote, with U.S. and Russia abstaining.

"The real problem is that the way Israel is conducting these offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza," Guterres said following the vote. 

He said "an effective aid operation in Gaza requires security staff who can work in safety, logistical capacity and the resumption of commercial activity," but those "elements do not exist."

"We waited 71 days for Israel finally to allow aid to enter Gaza via the Kerem Shalom Crossing. And the crossing was then hit while aid trucks were in the area," Guterres said.

"It's 36 of our colleagues in Gaza have been killed in 75 days, something we have never seen in the history of the United Nations. Nowhere is safe in Gaza," he added.

A fiery article in the revolutionary newspaper of the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran earlier this month threatened the U.S. and its assets, as well as its allies, in the Middle East.

According to the Dec. 11 article titled "Maximum Pressure With A ‘Balance Of Horror And Fear,'" the paper Kayhan wrote, "Today, in adherence to Imam [Khomeini's] school of thought, the only way to confront America's belligerent policy, and to deter and isolate the Zionist regime, is to apply maximum pressure by means of 'a balance of horror and fear.'’

The Islamic Republic tends to not refer to the Jewish state as Israel but to use the phrase "Zionist regime" in a pejorative sense of the Middle East’s only democracy.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was the first supreme leader of the Islamic Republic after the 1979 Iranian revolution. Ali Khamenei, the current supreme leader of Iran’s clerical regime, uses the newspaper Kayhan to express his views and thinking. The Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) first located and translated the Kayhan article from Farsi into English.

Iran’s proxies have intensified their attacks on American forces since Tehran’s strategic partner, Hamas, invaded Israel and murdered 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans in southern Israel.

Kayhan boasted in its article that Khomeini developed the "horror and fear" strategy to fight the West and urged attacks on U.S. vessels in the Persian Gulf. According to Kayhan, Iran "has now created a powerful, effective, and viable means of deterrence in the Persian Gulf and in international waters, and has forced its will on the Americans."

A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "Calls for horror and fear are despicable and dangerous. The United States does not seek conflict with Iran, but as the Biden Administration has shown, the United States will do what is necessary to defend itself, its people, and its interests from threats emanating from Iran."

The spokesperson added, "We have made clear in public and private messaging to Iran that it should not escalate or widen the conflict – or take advantage of the current situation. And our bolstered presence in the region, including the arrival of two aircraft carrier groups, is a clear message to any actor in the region – be it nation-state or otherwise – that this is not a time to take advantage of the conflict between Israel and Hamas to widen this conflict."

Israeli soldiers sit in an armored vehicle near the border of the Gaza Strip on Monday, Dec. 18. (AP/Leo Correa)

Israeli forces have almost reached full operational control of northern Gaza and are preparing to expand south, officials said Friday. 

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops continue to fight in the Daraj Tuffah area, along with less intense fighting in other areas of the north. 

“In recent days, IDF soldiers have fought in the Issa area in the south of Gaza City, underneath Hamas' central stronghold in the area,” he said. “The soldiers uncovered significant underground terror infrastructure.” 

IDF is simultaneously preparing to expand military operations into the southern portion of Gaza, Hagari said. 

Israeli troops have been engaging in ground operations in Khan Younis, the second largest city in the Gaza Strip.