The ceasefire in Gaza is broadly holding, despite sporadic clashes between the Israel Defense Forces and Gaza militants -- plus deadly IDF airstrikes.
Israeli forces inside the strip have pulled back to the so-called "yellow line." Israel Defense Forces chief Eyal Zamir said the position constitutes "a new border line" with Gaza.
The ceasefire is still in the first of three proposed phases. The details of the second phase of the agreement are yet to be agreed. The remains of one deceased hostage are still thought to be in Gaza.
Israeli strikes are also ongoing against alleged Hezbollah targets in southern and eastern Lebanon.
Gaza cold weather death toll rises to 13, health officials say
A one-month-old infant, Saeed Asaad Abdeen, died in Gaza due to a "severe drop in temperature," the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
Displaced Palestinian girls eat donated food portions near a charity kitchen in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Dec. 17, 2025.
Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images
The number of deceased people who have arrived at hospitals in the Gaza Strip as a result of a recent winter storm and resulting extreme cold stood at 13 as of Thursday morning, the ministry said.
ABC News' Nasser Atta, Diaa Ostaz, Samy Zyara and Guy Davies
Dec 18, 2025, 5:01 AM EST
IDF says it 'eliminated' person who crossed Gaza 'yellow line'
The Israel Defense Forces said in a post to X on Thursday that its warplanes "eliminated" a person who crossed the so-called "yellow line" in Gaza and allegedly approached Israeli forces "in a manner that posed an immediate threat."
Palestinians walk along a street surrounded by buildings destroyed during Israeli strikes in Gaza City, on Dec. 17, 2025.
Jehad Alshrafi/AP
Israeli forces withdrew to the yellow line in October as part of the ceasefire deal with Hamas. The partial withdrawal left Israeli forces in control of more than half of the strip.
The yellow line was intended as the first of three demarcation lines, to which Israeli forces would withdraw as the ceasefire progressed through its three stages.
Dec 18, 2025, 4:35 AM EST
IDF launches series of strikes in south Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said it launched a series of strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday, targeting what it alleged were one Hezbollah member and several military facilities used by the group.
Smoke rises from the site of a series of Israeli airstrikes that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of al-Katrani on Dec. 18, 2025.
Rabih Daher/AFP via Getty Images
In a post to X, the IDF said it attacked a Hezbollah member in the Al-Tayyiba area of southern Lebanon.
In an earlier post, the IDF reported several strikes on what it called Hezbollah "infrastructure sites" elsewhere in the region.
Among the targets were an alleged Hezbollah military compound the IDF said was used for training and weapons storage. Several other "military structures" were also attacked, the IDF said.
Dec 17, 2025, 4:25 AM EST
Gaza faces severe storms and flooding
Displaced Palestinians are grappling with inclement weather in the Gaza Strip as a winter storm floods parts of the devastated territory.
Palestinians stand next to a flooded area after heavy rains in a makeshift camp for displaced people in Zawaida, central Gaza Strip, on Dec. 17, 2025.
Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
Emerging pictures and video footage from Gaza showed tents, streets, shops and even hospitals having been flooded.
The Hamas-run Palestinian Civil Defense said that at least 15 partially damaged houses collapsed since the storm began last week, killing 12 people.
The U.N. said that around 92 percent of residential buildings in Gaza are either totally or partially destroyed, raising concerns that more structures could collapse as heavy rain and strong winds continue.
The director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza said in a statement on Tuesday that the emergency and operating departments of the facility were flooded due to heavy rainfall, while health workers were reporting more weather-related illnesses.
"There has been a significant increase in the admission of children and patients with chronic illnesses to the hospital as a result of the weather systems," the director said.
The stormy weather comes on top of existing shortages of medical supplies across Gaza, even after the ceasefire deal reached by Israel and Hamas in October.
Humanitarian groups and U.N. bodies have accused Israel of continuing to throttle the flow of aid into Gaza despite the ceasefire.
The Israeli government has rejected such reports. On Tuesday, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in a post to X, “Far more aid is entering than Gaza requires.”
-ABC News’ Samy Zyara, Diaa Ostaz, Jordana Miller and Somayeh Malekian
