Palestinian media reports three dead and several wounded in an Israeli airstrike targeting a vehicle in the al-Zahra area of the central Gaza Strip.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

The IDF says its airstrike in the central Gaza Strip earlier today targeted several suspects who had been piloting a drone that was "affiliated with the Hamas terror group."

The military says that the drone had posed a threat to Israeli soldiers stationed in the area, and as a result, an airstrike was conducted against the suspects.

According to Palestinian media, the strike killed three photojournalists who had been working for an Egyptian governmental humanitarian agency.

The IDF says that the strike was carried out "in accordance with the required chain of command approvals," but further details are under review.

A Hezbollah operative who, according to the IDF, was responsible for preventing the Lebanese army from dismantling a weapons cache in southern Lebanon last month, was killed in an Israeli airstrike today, the military says.

Abu Ali Salameh, who the IDF says served as a Hezbollah "liaison officer" in the village of Yanouh, in the Tyre area, was targeted while driving on a road near the coastal Lebanese city.

"As part of his role, the terrorist managed Hezbollah's activities in the village of Yanouh, to enable Hezbollah to operate within the civilian area and in private properties in the village, and to embed terror infrastructure in the heart of the population through the deliberate and cynical exploitation of residents to advance Hezbollah's terror objectives," the military says.

According to the IDF, on December 13, Israel sent a request to the Lebanese army, via the US-led ceasefire oversight mechanism, to take action against a Hezbollah weapons depot in Yanouh.

"Salameh received the report from the Lebanese Armed Forces and passed it on to other Hezbollah elements. Upon the arrival of the Lebanese Armed Forces, Hezbollah terrorists prevented them from dismantling the infrastructure by creating a gathering that enabled Hezbollah to move the weapons out of the property," the military claims.

At the time, the IDF had published an evacuation warning ahead of a planned strike on the site, before postponing it after the Lebanese army arrived in an attempt to dismantle it.

The IDF says that Salameh coordinated with the Lebanese army to document the site without weapons, "thereby claiming that the site was empty."

"During the Lebanese Armed Forces' operation, several suspicious boxes were removed from the compound through the rear door of the property," the IDF says.

The army says Salameh's actions constitute a violation of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon.

After issuing evacuation warnings in southern Lebanon, the IDF says it has launched a wave of strikes on Hezbollah sites.

Footage published by Lebanese media shows one of the Israeli strikes against a Hezbollah site in the southern Lebanese village of Qennarit.

As the government works to advance legislation giving ultra-Orthodox men renewed exemptions from military service, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir tells Haredi troops that expanding their enlistment is "an essential operational necessity to ensure our readiness for the challenges of the future."

"The scope of the missions and challenges before us is broad and demanding. Accordingly, the IDF is required to expand its ranks," Zamir tells soldiers of the Nevatim Airbase's ground defense unit, which is composed of ultra-Orthodox men.

He says that legislation that will extend mandatory military service for men back to 36 months is "only one component" that will reduce "some of the burden on reserve servicemembers."

"At the same time, the enlistment of the Haredi public is an operational necessity and a moral obligation of us commanders toward all those who serve, in order to distribute the burden equally among all segments of the population," Zamir says.

"You are proof that it is possible to fully preserve a Haredi way of life while performing meaningful military service," he tells the troops.

Zamir says the IDF is preparing to approve and issue a General Staff order formalizing arrangements facilitating service conditions for ultra-Orthodox troops, "which will enable the entire Haredi population to join service frameworks and designated units to maintain a Haredi way of life without harming the character of service of other IDF servicemembers.

"I call on the Haredi public to choose, as you have, meaningful service and contribution to the security of the state," he adds.

The IDF says its wave of airstrikes in southern Lebanon this evening targeted Hezbollah infrastructure that was embedded within "the heart of the civilian population."

Ahead of the strikes, the military issued evacuation warnings for residents of several towns in southern Lebanon.

According to the IDF, the strikes targeted Hezbollah weapon depots, including one located underground.

"The infrastructures that were struck were located in the heart of a civilian population. This is another example of the cynical use by the Hezbollah terror organization of Lebanese civilians as human shields and of the organization’s activity from within civilian assets," the army says.

The IDF adds that Hezbollah's activity at the sites constitute a violation of the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, and pose a threat to Israel.

The Israeli Air Force struck four land crossings on the Lebanese-Syria border in Lebanon's northern Hermel region a short while ago, with the IDF saying that the routes were used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons.

In addition to the strikes on the border crossings, the IDF says that a strike it carried out earlier today near Sidon killed a "key" Hezbollah weapons smuggler.

Mohammad Awatsheh was involved in managing weapon transfers to Hezbollah, "including through a front company that transported prohibited goods from various countries, including Iraq, Syria, and Gulf states," the military says.

Additionally, the military says Awatsheh was the handler for "numerous smugglers responsible for transferring weapons from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon."

An attempt to smuggle ten pistols into Israel from Jordan using a drone last night was foiled, the military says.

The IDF says the drone was spotted crossing the border by soldiers monitoring surveillance cameras. Troops of the Yoav Regional Brigade then downed the device.

The drone was found to be ferrying ten handguns, which were handed over to the police, the IDF says.

According to a military source, the same drone had been used in another smuggling earlier on Wednesday, which the IDF failed to intercept.

An IDF reservist wounded in a Hamas attack in the southern Gaza Strip in October succumbed to his wounds overnight, the military says.

Sgt. Maj. (res.) Asael Babad, 38, an infantryman with the Menashe Brigade's 941st Battalion, from the West Bank settlement of Bnei Adam, was seriously injured when Palestinian terror operatives attacked soldiers in Rafah on October 19, less than a week into a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

At the time of his injury, Babad had been serving with the Gaza Division.

According to an IDF probe, the cell of operatives emerged from a tunnel on the Israeli-side of the ceasefire line and fired RPGs at an excavator, killing two troops of the Nahal Brigade. At the same time, another excavator was hit by sniper fire, wounding two more troops, one seriously and one moderately. Another soldier was moderately wounded by sniper fire a short while later, according to the initial investigation.

Babad's death brings Israel's toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 477.

The chief of the Israeli Air Force, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar says the IAF is "prepared, alert, and ready," amid the ongoing tensions with Iran.

"At all times, we are required to be prepared for surprises. Our responsibility is to reduce, as much as possible, the damage to the Israeli home front. We will do everything to protect, even knowing that it is impossible to guarantee zero harm," Bar says to soldiers at an Iron Dome battery yesterday, according to remarks provided by the IDF.

"Alongside strong defense, the air force maintains a lethal offensive arm capable of operating deep within enemy territory. The entire air force is prepared, alert, and ready," he says.

Bar says the IAF has learned and drawn lessons from the 12-day war with Iran in June, "and we are arriving stronger."

During a visit to the West Bank city of Hebron yesterday, where the IDF has been carrying out a counter-terrorism raid, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says violent attacks by extremist Israeli settlers are "unacceptable actions."

Data published by the army this week showed that there had been a 27% rise in attacks by extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank in the past year, and severe attacks spiked by over 50%.

"The IDF and the security forces are the only entities authorized to use the force required to carry out the mission of defending the sector," Zamir says, according to remarks provided by the army.

"Alongside the uncompromising fight against terrorism, groups or individuals must not be allowed to take the law into their own hands. These are unacceptable actions that harm the entire settlement [movement]," he adds.

The IDF says it recently demolished a kilometer-long Hamas tunnel on the Israeli side of the Gaza ceasefire line in the Strip's center.

The underground route, in the Central Camps area, is described by the IDF as a Hamas attack tunnel.

According to the military, the tunnel contained weapons used by the terror group, and also featured three rooms where Hamas operatives would reside.

Lebanese media reports an Israeli drone strike near the northeastern city of Baalbek in the Beqaa Valley.

There are no immediate reports of injuries, and the IDF has not yet commented.