Israel-Hamas War day 307: What's happening in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon?

National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby addressed reporters on Friday afternoon in a rare counterattack of Finance Minister Smotrich's "extremist, ridiculous" charges against a hostage deal less than 24 hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu positively responded to the joint statement from the US, Qatar and Egypt imploring negotiations to continue next week. 

In a Friday morning post on X, Smotrich accused the mediators of "creating symmetry" between the hostages and the Palestinian prisoners who would be exchanged for their release. 

"The time has not come to release the abominable terrorists who killed the Jews," Smotrich wrote. "And above all, the time has not really come for a surrender deal that would stop war before the destruction of the Nazis of Hamas and Daesh and allow them to rehabilitate and return to murdering Jews again."

Dozens of Russian military personnel are being trained in Iran to use the Fath-360 close-range ballistic missile system, two European intelligence sources told Reuters, adding that they expected the imminent delivery of hundreds of the satellite-guided weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

Russian defense ministry representatives are believed to have signed a contract on Dec. 13 in Tehran with Iranian officials for the Fath-360 and another ballistic missile system built by Iran's government-owned Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO) called the Ababil, said the two intelligence officials, who requested anonymity in order to discuss sensitive matters.

Citing multiple confidential intelligence sources, the officials said that Russian personnel have visited Iran to learn how to operate the Fath-360 defense system, which launches missiles with a maximum range of 120 km (75 miles) and a warhead of 150 kg. One of the sources said that that "the only next possible" step after training would be actual delivery of the missiles to Russia.

Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah launcher containing ready-to-fire rockets in the area of Hamaam in southern Lebanon, the IDF announced on Friday.

The IAF struck terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Ayta ash Shab, Mehabib, Markaba, and Kfarkela, the military added. 

Additionally, IDF artillery reportedly struck in the area of Meiss El Jabal following the identification of projectiles launched from the vicinity toward Israeli territory.

The Biden administration will not allow "extremists," including in Israel, to push Gaza ceasefire talks off course, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday and accused Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of making false claims.

Kirby said that Smotrich's claims that a ceasefire deal would be a surrender to Hamas or that hostages should not be exchanged for prisoners are "dead wrong," and said the minister was misleading the Israeli public.

 Hamas' armed al-Qassam Brigades pledged allegiance to Hamas' new leader Yahya Sinwar, the group's spokesman, Abu Ubaida, said on Friday.

"We announce our full readiness to implement his decisions," Abu Ubaida added in a statement on Telegram.

The Biden administration has decided to lift a ban on US sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday, reversing a three-year-old policy to pressure the kingdom to wind down the Yemen war.

The administration briefed Congress this week on its decision to lift the ban, a congressional aide said. One source said sales could resume as early as next week. The US government was moving ahead on Friday afternoon with notifications about a sale, a person briefed on the matter said.

"The Saudis have met their end of the deal, and we are prepared to meet ours, returning these cases regular order through appropriate congressional notification and consultation," a senior Biden administration official said.

The United States has determined that alleged human rights violations by an Israeli Defense Force unit have been "effectively remediated" after reviewing new information provided by Israel, the State Department said on Friday.

Following the determination, spokesperson Matthew Miller said in an email that the unit involved, the Netzah Yehuda battalion, can continue to receive US security assistance.

The US had called for a criminal investigation after battalion soldiers were accused of being involved in the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian-American man.

An Israeli airstrike on a car deep inside Lebanon killed a senior Hamas commander on Friday evening, the IDF, Hamas, and security sources reported.

The strike, on the southern edges of the Lebanese port city of Sidon, some 60 kilometers (nearly 40 miles) from the frontier, killed Samer Mahmoud al-Haj, a Hamas security official who works in the nearby refugee camp for Palestinians, Ain al-Hilweh. His bodyguard was critically wounded, the three sources said.

Al-Haj was responsible for directing attacks against Israel, the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) reported in a joint statement. He was also reportedly the commander of Hamas forces in Ain al-Hilweh and was responsible for recruiting and training more terrorists there.

Iran is set to carry out an order by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to "harshly punish" Israel over the assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran, a Revolutionary Guards deputy commander was quoted as saying on Friday by local news agencies.

"The supreme leader's orders regarding the harsh punishment of Israel and revenge for the blood of martyr Ismail Haniyeh are clear and explicit ...and they will be implemented in the best possible way," said Ali Fadavi, cited by Iranian media.

French President Emmanuel Macron held a phone call on Friday with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, during which Macron reaffirmed his calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, said a statement from Macron's office.

Macron, who also spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday, added that France would remain mobilized within the United Nations' peacekeeping force UNIFIL to try and maintain stability in Lebanon.