Israel At War Tuesday January 2

 Israel at war day 88

- The US State Department expressed disapproval of the remarks made by Israeli Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, who advocated for the relocation of Palestinian Arabs outside of Gaza. State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller stated, “The United States condemns the provocative and irresponsible comments made by Israeli Ministers Smotrich and Ben Gvir. The forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza is not acceptable.”

- IDF says it’s at heightened state of readiness following Hamas leader’s assassination

- Harvard president Claudine Gay resigns effective tomorrow 

-  Islamic Republic state media is confirming that senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an explosion in Beirut tonight. 

This is a significant development. Israeli intelligence has been trying to kill al-Arouri for years and the United States has had a 5 million dollar bounty on him. Al-Arouri is a deputy political leader for Hamas and one of the founders of al-Qassam Brigades, the so-called military wing of Hamas.

- A massive explosion in Beirut. Reportedly a Senior Hamas leader Salach Arouri was killed by Israel in his apt with another senior terrorist Mohamad Chamdan and 4 other terrorist 

- Another soldier killed in Gaza today, bringing the toll of slain troops to 174.

Sufian Dagash, 21, from Maghar.

- The IDF says troops recently captured a Hamas stronghold in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, with special forces battling terror operatives inside tunnel networks beneath the site. The strategic” stronghold was used by Hamas’s intelligence division and other units of the terror group to “manage the fighting in the entire Gaza Strip.” all hamas terrorists hiding there were killed in  that battle

- US official: Biden admin pushed Israel for lower-intensity fighting in Gaza, troop withdrawal Israel’s plans to withdraw some forces from combat in the Gaza Strip appear to signal that Israel is shifting to lower-intensity fighting in the Palestinian enclave, a move the Biden administration has been pushing for, a US official tells NBC News.

- Joint Navy, Air Force and ground troops strike takes out Hamas operatives along Gaza coast

-Israeli aircraft and tanks stepped up strikes in southern Gaza overnight, after it announced plans to pull back some troops.

- Israel says the war in Gaza has many more months to go.

- Of the 171 Israeli soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s ground offensive against Hamas, 29 were killed by so-called friendly fire and other accidents, according to data released by the IDF on Monday.