Israel's war in Gaza will continue throughout 2024, a military spokesman said, insisting that the country was preparing for "prolonged fighting" against Hamas militants.
"The IDF (Israeli army) must plan ahead, understanding that we will be required for additional tasks and warfare throughout this year," Daniel Hagari told reporters late on Sunday.
"The objectives of the war require prolonged fighting and we are preparing accordingly."
The war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group, which rules the Gaza Strip, erupted after Hamas fighters carried out a deadly attack on southern Israel on October 7.
The attack left around 1,140 people dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Some 250 people were also taken hostage by militants. The Israeli army says 129 people still remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's retaliatory land, sea and air assault on Gaza has so far killed at least 21,828 people, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Hagari said the army was currently "planning the management of the forces operating in the field" in the months ahead.
Hagari said some of the 300,000 army reservists would get a break from the conflict, with Israel seeking to boost its war-hit economy.
"Some of the reservists will return to their families and employment this week," he said.
"This will significantly ease the burden on the economy and allow them to gather strength for the upcoming activities in the next year, as the fighting will continue and they will still be required."
Since the ground operation began on October 27 in Gaza, the army has lost 172 soldiers inside the Palestinian coastal territory, including some in friendly fire incidents.
2023 worst year for Israeli settler violence: watchdog group
Israeli settlers killed at least 10 Palestinians and torched dozens of homes in the occupied West Bank in 2023, making it the "most violent" year on record for settler attacks, an Israeli watchdog said Monday.
Numerous West Bank attacks were carried out by a large group of Israeli settlers, and the violence spiked after Hamas's October 7 attacks on Israel, said Yesh Din, a human rights group.
"At least 10 Palestinians were killed by settlers and dozens of homes and vehicles were set on fire" last year, it said.
"2023 was the most violent year in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank in both the number of incidents and their severity."
The West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation since the 1967 Six-Day War, and tensions have escalated since the outbreak of fighting between Israel and the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers.
About 490,000 settlers live among approximately three million Palestinians in the West Bank, in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.
Yesh Din began monitoring settler violence against Palestinians in 2006.
"The first two months since October 7 were particularly violent, with Yesh Din documenting 242 settler violence incidents," it said, referring to the day when Hamas launched a series of deadly attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip.
"In these incidents, hundreds of Israelis raided Palestinian villages, setting fire to dozens of homes and vehicles," the watchdog said.
- 'Lack of trust' -
At least 317 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces and settlers in the West Bank since the Gaza war began, according to Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry.
Yesh Din refuted claims made by the military and police that there had been a decrease in settler violence in recent months, saying those numbers reflected a drop in complaints filed to Israeli authorities.
Since the current right-wing Israeli government came to power in December 2022, more Palestinians have expressed a "lack of trust" in Israeli law enforcement authorities in the West Bank, it said.
"Settler violence is the policy of the Israeli government," the watchdog charged about the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which includes settlers and ultra-nationalist hardliners.
Last month the United States said it would refuse visas for extremist Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians, stepping up pressure to curb the wave of violence in the West Bank.
Palestinian militant attacks in Israel and the West Bank, meanwhile, have killed at least 41 people in 2023, according to the Shin Bet security agency.
More than 520 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in 2023, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
After months of war, young Israelis hope for 'new beginning' in 2024
Seconds after ringing in the new year on a lively street in Tel Aviv, some young Israelis found themselves running for cover while others kept the party going with a shrug as missile defence systems intercepted a barrage of rockets overhead.
The attack at the stroke of midnight, just as many were trying to forget about the war in the Gaza Strip, seemed to underscore the fatigue at the ongoing fighting expressed by many of the young revellers gathered to celebrate New Year's Eve.
"We were all afraid ... my heart was pounding," Gabriel Zemelman, 26, said in front of a bar after the rocket fire.
"It's not like the usual life you imagine -- even me who was born here," he told an AFP reporter. "It's terrifying. You just saw the life we live, it's crazy."
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed responsibility for the attack in a video published on social media, saying they had fired M90-type rockets in "response to the massacres of civilians" carried out by Israel.
The Israeli army confirmed the attack, without reporting any casualties or damage.
The street in Tel Aviv was crowded with party-goers on Sunday night in spite of the ongoing war in Gaza, which has dragged on for nearly three months.
Or Gelerenter, a 17-year-old student, said she had initially been "afraid" to come out, but ultimately decided to join her friends to celebrate "a new beginning" for 2024.
Musician Boaz Bates said he was "praying for peace, for people to stop hating each other and come together".
The 25-year-old was sharply critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, noting that "at the end of the day, it's not them who are on the ground fighting".
- 'Get on with our lives' -
Ido Hurvitz had come out for dinner at a restaurant before going to a private party to ring in the new year. He said he hoped "we can learn to live together, because most of us want peace".
Despite the festive atmosphere, the 24-year-old technology student said his own feelings were lukewarm: "Our country is at war, but we have to get on with our lives, that's our way of winning."
Beside him, 24-year-old reservist Shir Taitou also had mixed feelings, explaining that she had wanted to come out, but was "sad" that some of her friends were mobilised in Gaza.
The war was triggered by Hamas's bloody October 7 attacks on Israel, which left around 1,140 people dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Militants also took around 250 people hostage, most of whom remain in Gaza.
In response, Israel launched a devastating offensive in the Gaza Strip, reducing vast areas of Gaza to a ruined wasteland and killing at least 21,822 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
In front of one Tel Aviv bar, people danced in the street to blaring techno music under a large sign that read "Bring them home now!" in reference to the hostages.
Some didn't have the heart to party, like server Ran Stahl, 24, who opted to work the New Year's party.
"I dressed well tonight because I need to get my head above water," he said, explaining that one of his friends was among those killed on October 7 at the Supernova music festival.
Since then, he hasn't felt "allowed" to have fun, he said.
"The minute I start to dance, I feel guilty -- the sadness and mourning come back."