Iran appears to have issued a threat to Israel after reports an Israeli air strike killed a top Iranian general in Syria. Reports: Iran tells Israel it ‘will pay for killing general’ – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), a branch of its armed forces, has said Israel “will pay” for killing one of its commanders, Iranian state TV reports. Reuters and Tasnim news agency said earlier an air strike outside of Damascus, Syria, killed Sayyed Razi Mousavi, an IRGC member responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Syria and Iran.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards described him as one of the Guards’ oldest advisers in Syria, with the rank of brigadier-general. “Undoubtedly, the usurper and savage Zionist regime will pay for this crime,” the Guards said in a statement read on Iranian state TV.  There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military. In pictures: Israeli soldiers near Gaza border – Images have emerged of Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border in southern Israel. Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will expand its Gaza ground offensive in the coming days.

Speaking to members of his Likud Party, Mr Netanyahu said the war “isn’t close to finished”. He spoke after returning from a visit to troops fighting inside Gaza, and as Egypt is floating a proposal to end the Israel-Hamas war. Hostages’ families interrupt Netanyahu in parliament Family members of hostages interrupted Benjamin Netanyahu during a special session of parliament today, CNN has reported. They shouted “there is no time” and “now, now, now” while holding posters and signs with the names and photos of their relatives.

Messages written on them included “what if this were your daughter” and “80 days, each minute is like hell”. The prime minister said that he will “shake every tree and turn every stone to bring back all the kidnapped”, reported CNN. Eyewitness: No lights, trees or celebrations in Jerusalem Nicole Johnston, Sky News correspondent in Jerusalem – While we could hear the church bells ring out across Jerusalem from our position on the roof top of the Austrian Hospice, in the old city, down below, in the narrow lanes, it was sombre and still.

There is no Christmas celebration in the Christian communities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) this year. They are praying for an end to the war. Many of the shops are shuttered, and there are no Christmas trees or lights in the streets. We met Armenian Christian, Hagop Djernazian, who lives in Jerusalem’s old city.    He said: “For the first time, we are not celebrating because of the war in Gaza.” “You can feel the anger within the communities.” He says the number of Christians in the OPT has been steadily falling, especially in the last two years, and there are now less than 8,000 Christians left in Jerusalem.

“The reason people are leaving is because of the pressure from different Israeli authorities on our churches and communities, the lack of job opportunities and education, and attacks on Christians’ holy sites,” Hagop Djernazian explained to us. Israel ‘not doing enough’ to bring hostages back, opposition leader says. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has said the country is “not doing enough” to bring the hostages back, The Times of Israel reports. Speaking to politicians in the country today, Mr Lapid said that the hostages needed to be brought back home “now”. “Sinwar can be killed next month as well,” he said, adding that “we are not doing enough”. “We need to do everything and we will do everything to bring them back, all of them.”

Earlier we reported on comments from Benjamin Netanyahu who said that Israel will not succeed in freeing the remaining hostages held in Gaza without military pressure. He said: “We wouldn’t have succeeded up until now to release more than 100 hostages without military pressure. And we won’t succeed at releasing all the hostages without military pressure.” In pictures: Displaced Palestinians at refugee camp.

The Israel-Hamas war has driven the vast majority of the 2.3 million Gazans from their homes, and the UN says conditions are catastrophic. Since a week-long truce collapsed at the start of the month, fighting has only intensified on the ground, with war spreading from the north to the full length of the densely populated strip. Here are some of the images emerging from a refugee camp in Rafah, southern Israel, where Palestinians who have fled their homes have been sheltering…

Courtesy: Sky News