Israel-Hamas War Day 242: What's happening in Gaza, Middle East?

An IDF reservist was wounded by rocket interceptors in Safed following a barrage of rockets to Israel's North, Israeli media reported.

Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 36,550 Palestinians and wounded 82,959 since Oct. 7, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday.

A total of 71 Palestinians have been killed and 182 wounded in the past 24 hours, the ministry said in a statement.

Israel believes that more than a third of the remaining Gaza hostages are dead, a government tally showed on Tuesday, as the United States sought to advance their recovery under a proposal to wind down the war with Hamas.

Sirens went off in northern Israel Tuesday morning as hostile aircraft were reported in the area.

The affected areas include Kiryat Shmona, Beit Hillel, Metulla, and the northern Golan Heights, among others.

Israel is fighting an existential public relations war for its right to self-defense, Ambassador Mike Herzog told the annual Jerusalem Post Conference in New York, as he reflected on the last nine months of the Gaza war.

"While we fight the military war on the ground in Gaza, we fight another war which is critical as well, the war to defend our right to exist, our right to defend ourselves,” he said in a conversation with Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief Zvika Klein.

“It's a war of perceptions and narratives. It's a war against those who want to delegitimize the State of Israel. It is a critical war, and we need to think about this strategically, long term,” said Herzog who has been Israel’s Ambassador to the US since the war began on October 7.

The United States said on Monday it wants the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution backing the proposal to end the fighting in Gaza through a ceasefire and hostage deal.

"Numerous leaders and governments, including in the region, have endorsed this plan and we call on the Security Council to join them in calling for implementation of this deal without delay and without further conditions," US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement.

Hundreds of demonstrators were blocking both directions of Begin Road on Monday night outside the Kirya base in Tel Aviv, following the IDF spokesperson's announcement of the deaths of the hostages Yoram Metzger, Chaim Perry, Amiram Cooper, and Nadav Popplewell in Hamas captivity.

The protesters shouted "We are all hostages of a neglectful government." and "Everyone - now!"

Yemen's Houthis say they targeted a military site on Israel's port city of Eilat with a new ballistic missile, the Iranian-backed group's military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Monday.

The Houthi militia, which controls the most populous parts of Yemen and is aligned with Iran, has attacked ships off its coast for months, saying it is acting in solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in Gaza.

The group targeted the military site "with a ballistic missile 'Palestine' that is being revealed today for the first time, and the operation has successfully achieved its objective," Saree said in a televised address.