Monday morning news: December 4, 2023

SOUND: [Air raid sirens]

Gaza fighting » Air raid sirens blare in Tel Aviv as Israel and Hamas trade rocket fire.

But Gaza is once again at the center of the firestorm,

SOUND: [Airstrike]

after a weeklong cease-fire between Israel and the terror group Hamas collapsed over the weekend.

SOUND: [Missile strike]

Airstrikes shaking the ground in southern Gaza as the Israeli Defense Forces — or IDF — penetrate deeper into the territory, targeting Hamas strongholds.

The IDF says recent strikes have hit weapons manufacturing sites and tunnel entrances … and have also killed another prominent Hamas commander.

NETANYAHU: [Speaking Hebrew]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, “We will continue the war until we achieve all its aims,” and that means the total annihilation of the terrorist group.

Gaza hostages » But as the IDF shifts focus to the more densely populated southern region. The U.S. government continues to pressure Israel to do all it can to minimize the civilian toll of the war.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says Israeli forces are taking steps to do that.

KIRBY: They have actually given civilians in Gaza, a list, a map that's online, where a list of areas where they can go to be more safe. There's not too many modern militaries in advance of conducting operations that would actually do that. So they are making an effort.

Still, U.N. officials say Gaza residents are running out of refuge.

Kirby says the U.S. government and others are working hard to try and revive the cease-fire to secure the release of more hostages.

But Hamas has reportedly declared that it will not free any more captives until the war is over.

Ships attacked » Meantime, on Capitol Hill Republican lawmakers are demanding stronger action against other Iran-backed militants in the Middle East.

A U.S. warship in the Red Sea opened fire in self-defense Sunday after Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked commercial vessels with drones and missile strikes.

Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts:

RICKETTS: What you have to have is a strong strategy. I think that since October 17, there have been 75 attacks by Iranian-based proxies on our soldiers, not just these Houthi attacks these add to them, and we've had very little response back and that's what we have to change.

The Houthi attacks damaged two commercial ships.

Border » Lawmakers in the Senate are trying to pass a bill to address the crisis on the U.S. southern border. But Republicans and Democrats are nowhere close to a deal.

GOP Congressman Mike Turner says the House is also trying to tackle the crisis.

TURNER: Americans overwhelmingly want the southern border addressed. It represents a national security threat, as his own security advisers are telling him. We can’t have millions of people continue to cross our border.

In a remote part of Arizona, so many migrants are crossing the border illegally that officials are shutting down a nearby border crossing. That’s so that the agents who staff the checkpoint can help patrol open areas.

Cartels and smugglers, exploiting gaps in the border wall, have turned the desert crossing around Lukeville into a major migration route.

DeSantis / debate » Ron DeSantis has made good on his campaign promise to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties completing the whirlwind over the weekend.

DESANTIS: I’m asking for your support in the Iowa caucuses. We are going to win, and when we do, that is going to change this country for many, many years to come.

DeSantis recently won the endorsement of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, and he’s counting on a big showing in the Hawkeye State.

He’s running a distant second in GOP polls, trailing Donald Trump by 30 points in Iowa and by nearly 50 points nationally.

Trump’s Republican rivals for the presidency will debate for a fourth time this coming Wednesday in Alabama.

Church attack » At least four people are dead after a bomb detonated during a church service in the Philippines. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: The Philippines’ president initially said foreign terrorists were behind the bombing which struck a Catholic mass in a university gymnasium in the city of Marawi.

ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack which also wounded dozens of people.

The terror group has been active in the region for years.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: double jeopardy and immigration law on Legal Docket. Plus, the Monday Moneybeat.

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