World

(LONDON)– Rebel forces in Syria are building a transitional government after toppling the regime of President Bashar Assad in a lightning-quick advance across the country.

Meanwhile, the ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group. The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza.

Tensions remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides. The IDF and the Yemeni Houthis also continue to exchange attacks.

Negotiation team returning after ‘significant week’: Israeli PM office

The Israeli negotiation team will return to Israel from Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday after a “significant week of conducting negotiations” regarding a ceasefire and hostage deal, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said in a statement.

“The team returned for internal consultations in Israel regarding the continuation of negotiations for the return of our hostages,” the statement continued.

-ABC News’ Anna Burd

IDF ‘besieging’ 3 Gaza hospitals, health ministry says

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said in a statement Tuesday that Israeli forces are “intensifying” their attacks on three hospitals in the devastated and depopulated northern portion of the strip.

Israeli troops, the ministry in the Hamas-run territory said, are “besieging and directly targeting the Indonesian Hospital, Kamal Adwan Hospital and Al-Awda Hospital during the past hours and insisting on putting them out of service.”

The ministry said Israeli troops were “forcing the wounded and patients to evacuate the Indonesian Hospital,” while bombing “all departments of Kamal Adwan Hospital and its surroundings around the clock without stopping.”

“Shrapnel is scattered inside the hospital yards, causing terrifying sounds and serious damage,” the ministry said.

“We appeal to all international and UN institutions and concerned parties to urgently intervene to protect the health system in the Gaza Strip,” the ministry wrote.

On Monday, Palestinian officials said 20 people were injured when Israeli forces detonated a “robot bomb” in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital.

The IDF has not commented on the latest developments around Kamal Adwan or the other north Gaza hospitals.

-ABC News’ Nasser Atta
 

3 Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces said Monday that three soldiers were killed in combat in northern Gaza.

Cpt. Ilay Gavriel Atedgi, 22, Staff Sgt. Netanel Pessach, 21, and Sgt. First Class (res.) Hillel Diener, 21, were all killed by an explosion during an operation in the Beit Hanoun area, which has been a focus of Israel’s intense recent offensive in the northern part of the strip.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and the border zone is now 391.

Health officials in the Hamas-run territory say more than 45,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.

-ABC News’ Dana Savir and Ellie Kaufman

20 injured after bomb detonates near Gaza hospital

Twenty people were injured among the medical staff at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza Monday evening after a “robot bomb” was detonated in the hospital’s vicinity, according to medical sources.

ABC News has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for a comment.

-ABC News’ Samy Zyara

Israeli forces kill Hamas operative in Gaza City, IDF says

Israeli forces killed the head of the national security directorate of Hamas’ security mechanism during an attack on Sunday in Gaza City, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The Hamas operative, Tharwat Muhammad Ahmed Albec, was “operating in a command and control center” that was embedded in a “compound that previously served as the ‘Musa bin Nusayr’ school” in a neighborhood in Gaza City, the IDF said in a statement on Monday.

Hamas has yet to comment on the IDF’s statement.

-ABC News’ Dana Savir

‘Certain progress’ made in hostage negotiations: Netanyahu

“Certain progress” has been made in ongoing hostage and ceasefire negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a speech at the Israeli parliament on Monday.

“I can carefully say there has been a certain progress” made in the ongoing negotiations, Netanyahu said, adding that he “doesn’t know how long it’s going to take.”

“We will continue to operate in any way and without a pause until we bring them all back home from the enemy’s land,” he said.

-ABC News’ Dana Savir

Hamas reports Israeli attack on Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp

Hamas on Monday said the Israel Defense Forces killed or wounded at least 50 people in an air and ground assault on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

An IDF airstrike was followed by an incursion into the camp supported by 17 heavy vehicles, among them tanks and bulldozers, Hamas said.

Israeli forces also attacked Nuseirat camp two weeks ago, killing at least 33 people according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

The IDF is yet to comment on Monday’s operation.

-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz and Tomek Rolski

Netanyahu says Israel will act against Houthis after missile strike

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his nation would “act forcefully” against the Houthis in Yemen after a weekend missile attack on Tel Aviv injured 16 people, according to Israeli emergency authorities.

“Just as we acted forcefully against the terrorist arms of Iran’s evil axis, so we will act against the Houthis — the result will be the same,” Netanyahu said in a statement posted to X.

Since October 2023, the Houthis have been launching attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea, as well as long-range drone and missile attacks towards Israel.

On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said it intercepted a Houthi missile but that debris destroyed a school building in Tel Aviv.

The Houthis — which have close ties with Iran and are part of the Tehran-led “Axis of Resistance” — are demanding an end to Israel’s war in Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, infiltration attack into southern Israel.

The U.S. and U.K. — supported by other allies — have launched a series of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen since January. Israel has also launched significant strikes in Yemen in recent months, most recently on Thursday.
 

At least 7 dead after IDF strikes humanitarian area in Gaza

At least seven people were killed after an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, which is located in the southern Gaza Strip.

The strike hit a collection of tents within what had been designated a humanitarian area, where displaced people were sheltering.

The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged the strike on Sunday, saying in a statement it was “an intelligence-based strike on a Hamas terrorist.”

“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the IDF said.

– ABC News’ William Gretsky

21 killed in Gaza, IDF northern offensive continues

The Gaza Ministry of Health said Saturday that 21 people were killed and 61 injured in three separate Israeli attacks over the last 24 hours in the Hamas-run territory.

A total of 45,227 people have been killed since the start of the war, health officials said.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces continued intense operations in northern Gaza, particularly around the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia.

The director of the hospital said there is shooting “around the clock” nearby, adding that on Friday the third floor and the hospital entrance were shelled.

The director said the IDF is blocking the entry of all requested medical supplies. Nine people need urgent evacuation for surgery in Gaza City and the hospital is currently treating over 70 people, he said.

-ABC News’ Samy Zyara and Victoria Beaule

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(LONDON) — Swiss Olympic snowboarder Sophie Hediger was tragically killed in an avalanche on Monday, according to the Swiss-Ski federation.

Hediger, 26, got caught in an avalanche at the mountain resort of Arosa in eastern Switzerland, the federation said.

“We are stunned and our thoughts are with Sophie’s family, to whom we express our deepest condolences,” Walter Reusser, the CEO of Swiss-Ski’s sports division, said in a statement on Tuesday.

No additional details about the incident are being released at the wishes of Hediger’s family and partner, Swiss-Ski said.

The athlete was a member of Switzerland’s national snowboard cross team and spent a lot of time in Arosa, Swiss-Ski said.

Hediger competed in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing in the women’s snowboard cross and the mixed team snowboard cross.

She earned her first two World Cup podium places in the 2023-24 season. She placed second in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in January, followed by third in Gudauri, Georgia, in February.

She dreamed of winning a medal in the Ski Freestyle and Snowboard World Championships in Engadin, Switzerland, in March, Swiss-Ski said.

“For the Swiss Ski family, the tragic death of Sophie Hediger has cast a dark shadow over the Christmas holidays,” Reusser said. “We are immeasurably sad.”

ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.

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(JERUSALEM) — Hanna Katzir, an Israeli hostage survivor who was released last year after 49 days of captivity in Gaza, has died, officials said.

Katzir, 78, struggled with a “complex medical condition” for “many months” after she was released, Kibbutz Nir Oz said in a statement.

During Hamas’ surprise terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Katzir was kidnapped from her home and her husband, Rami, was killed in their safe room at Kibbutz Nir Oz, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters said.

The couple’s son, Elad, was kidnapped and later killed in captivity, the Hostages Families Forum said. His body has since been returned to Israel.

Hanna Katzir spent 49 days as a hostage before she was released.

“Mom was a woman, wife, and devoted mother who was all about love. Her heart could not withstand the terrible suffering since October 7th,” her daughter, Carmit Palty Katzir, said in a statement.

There are 100 hostages remaining in Gaza, many of whom are feared dead.

“Each day in captivity endangers the lives of our loved ones,” Carmit Palty Katzir said. “A comprehensive agreement for the return of our 100 brothers and sisters must move forward.”

Hanna Katzir’s funeral will take place at Kibbutz Nir Oz on Tuesday.

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(LONDON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that more 3,000 North Korean soldiers are believed to have been killed or wounded fighting for Moscow in Russia’s western Kursk region.

Zelenskyy posted to Telegram on Monday following a briefing by Kyiv’s top commander — Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi — on the ongoing battle in Kursk, underway since Ukrainian troops launched a surprise cross-border incursion there in August.

“There are risks of sending additional soldiers and military equipment to the Russian army from North Korea,” Zelenskyy said, vowing “tangible responses” to any such move. “According to preliminary data, the number of killed and wounded North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region already exceeds 3,000 people.”

Ukrainian special forces claimed on Monday to have inflicted more than 100 casualties among North Korean forces over three days of operations.

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces branch claimed in a post to its official Telegram channel that 77 North Koreans were killed and 40 wounded in recent fighting.

On Sunday, the SSO posted photos of what it said were North Korean troops killed in Russia’s western Kursk region. The SSO also uploaded photos of purportedly fabricated Russian military identity cards. ABC News was not immediately able to independently verify the images.

“Russia is trying to hide the presence of military personnel from North Korea by issuing them with fake documents,” the SSO wrote.

It added that the documents “do not have all the seals, photographs, the patronymics are given in the Russian manner and the place of birth is signed as the Republic of Tuva,” the home region of Sergei Shoigu — formerly Russia’s defense minister and now the secretary of the Security Council.

The SSO said the signatures of the document owners were written in Korean, which it said “indicates the real origin of these soldiers.”

U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian officials have said there are currently up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers inside Russia, deployed there primarily to help push Kyiv’s forces out of positions taken in Kursk.

Ukrainian military sources told ABC News in November that North Koreans were expected to be among the 50,000 troops arrayed for a major counter-offensive in Kursk.

The deployment of troops marks a new milestone in North Korean support for Russia’s war, Pyongyang already having supplied Moscow with ammunition and weapons — including ballistic missiles — since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Kyiv has “preliminary data that the Russians have begun to use North Korean soldiers in their assaults — a significant number of them.”

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, meanwhile, has reported “significant casualties” among North Korean troops deployed on the front lines alongside Russian units.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday that Seoul expects Pyongyang to send more troops and equipment to Russia.

“North Korea is preparing to rotate or increase the deployment of troops [in Russia], while currently supplying 240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled artillery,” said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, as quoted by Yonhap.

“There are also some signs of [the North] moving to manufacture and supply suicide drones,” the JCS said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a drone production and test facility in November. Then, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Kim “underscored the need to build a serial production system as early as possible and go into full-scale mass production.”

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(LONDON)– Rebel forces in Syria are building a transitional government after toppling the regime of President Bashar Assad in a lightning-quick advance across the country.

Meanwhile, the ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group. The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza.

Tensions remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides. The IDF and the Yemeni Houthis also continue to exchange attacks.

Hamas reports Israeli attack on Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp

Hamas on Monday said the Israel Defense Forces killed or wounded at least 50 people in an air and ground assault on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

An IDF airstrike was followed by an incursion into the camp supported by 17 heavy vehicles, among them tanks and bulldozers, Hamas said.

Israeli forces also attacked Nuseirat camp two weeks ago, killing at least 33 people according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

The IDF is yet to comment on Monday’s operation.

-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz and Tomek Rolski

Netanyahu says Israel will act against Houthis after missile strike

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his nation would “act forcefully” against the Houthis in Yemen after a weekend missile attack on Tel Aviv injured 16 people, according to Israeli emergency authorities.

“Just as we acted forcefully against the terrorist arms of Iran’s evil axis, so we will act against the Houthis — the result will be the same,” Netanyahu said in a statement posted to X.

Since October 2023, the Houthis have been launching attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea, as well as long-range drone and missile attacks towards Israel.

On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said it intercepted a Houthi missile but that debris destroyed a school building in Tel Aviv.

The Houthis — which have close ties with Iran and are part of the Tehran-led “Axis of Resistance” — are demanding an end to Israel’s war in Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, infiltration attack into southern Israel.

The U.S. and U.K. — supported by other allies — have launched a series of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen since January. Israel has also launched significant strikes in Yemen in recent months, most recently on Thursday.
 

At least 7 dead after IDF strikes humanitarian area in Gaza

At least seven people were killed after an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, which is located in the southern Gaza Strip.

The strike hit a collection of tents within what had been designated a humanitarian area, where displaced people were sheltering.

The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged the strike on Sunday, saying in a statement it was “an intelligence-based strike on a Hamas terrorist.”

“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the IDF said.

– ABC News’ William Gretsky

21 killed in Gaza, IDF northern offensive continues

The Gaza Ministry of Health said Saturday that 21 people were killed and 61 injured in three separate Israeli attacks over the last 24 hours in the Hamas-run territory.

A total of 45,227 people have been killed since the start of the war, health officials said.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces continued intense operations in northern Gaza, particularly around the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia.

The director of the hospital said there is shooting “around the clock” nearby, adding that on Friday the third floor and the hospital entrance were shelled.

The director said the IDF is blocking the entry of all requested medical supplies. Nine people need urgent evacuation for surgery in Gaza City and the hospital is currently treating over 70 people, he said.

-ABC News’ Samy Zyara and Victoria Beaule

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(LONDON) — Ukrainian special forces claimed on Monday to have inflicted more than 100 casualties among North Korean forces over three days of operations.

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces branch claimed in a post to its official Telegram channel that 77 North Koreans were killed and 40 wounded in recent fighting.

On Sunday, the SSO posted photos of what it said were North Korean troops killed in Russia’s western Kursk region. The SSO also uploaded photos of purportedly fabricated Russian military identity cards. ABC News was not immediately able to independently verify the images.

“Russia is trying to hide the presence of military personnel from North Korea by issuing them with fake documents,” the SSO wrote.

It added that the documents “do not have all the seals, photographs, the patronymics are given in the Russian manner and the place of birth is signed as the Republic of Tuva,” the home region of Sergei Shoigu — formerly Russia’s defense minister and now the secretary of the Security Council.

The SSO said the signatures of the document owners were written in Korean, which it said “indicates the real origin of these soldiers.”

U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian officials have said there are currently up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers inside Russia, deployed there primarily to help push Kyiv’s forces out of positions taken in Russia’s western Kursk region since August 2024.

Ukrainian military sources told ABC News in November that North Koreans were expected to be among the 50,000 troops arrayed for a major counter-offensive in Kursk.

The deployment of troops marks a new milestone in North Korean support for Russia’s war, Pyongyang already having supplied Moscow with ammunition and weapons — including ballistic missiles — since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Kyiv has “preliminary data that the Russians have begun to use North Korean soldiers in their assaults — a significant number of them.”

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, meanwhile, has reported “significant casualties” among North Korean troops deployed on the front lines alongside Russian units.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday that Seoul expects Pyongyang to send more troops and equipment to Russia.

“North Korea is preparing to rotate or increase the deployment of troops [in Russia], while currently supplying 240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled artillery,” said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, as quoted by Yonhap.

“There are also some signs of [the North] moving to manufacture and supply suicide drones,” the JCS said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a drone production and test facility in November. Then, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Kim “underscored the need to build a serial production system as early as possible and go into full-scale mass production.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) —  At least five people, including a 9-year-old, are now known to have been killed in the vehicle-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday, German officials said Saturday. The four other victims killed in the attack were adults, according to police.

At least 200 more people were injured when a car plowed into festive market-goers in the eastern German city, around 75 miles west of the capital Berlin, according to Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt Reiner Haseloff.

The Magdeburg Christmas market will be closed for the remainder of the season, police told reporters Saturday.

At least 41 of those injured in the attack are in serious condition, according to police. Their lives are still thought to be in danger, according to Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

A suspect — a doctor from Saudi Arabia aged around 50 — was arrested, Haselhoff said. The man has lived in Germany since 2006. A rental car was used in the attack, the minister said.

He will be charged with 5 counts of murder and grievous bodily harm, according to police.

The first emergency call came in at 7:02 p.m. local time and the driver was stopped within three minutes of the attack, according to a police official. Police believe the suspect entered via the space left open for emergency vehicles to access the area.

Police believe the suspect acted alone.

The prosecutor said they are still clarifying the motive behind the attack, but said that it’s possibly linked to “dissatisfaction with the treatment of refugees from Saudi Arabia and how they’ve been treated in Germany,” but they will “need more time” to determine this.

Police said the suspect has undergone physical and psychological exams but police do not yet have the results.

At Magdeburg Cathedral, a huge crowd gathered on Saturday inside and outside for a memorial service to the victims. Attendees included the mayor, Sholz and first responders.

Elsewhere in the city, a smaller crowd held an anti-immigrant protest with a sign that said “Remigration” and waved German flags, as well as flags of Imperial Germany and ones reading “Homeland.”

U.S. law enforcement sources told ABC News that German authorities are treating the attack as a terrorist incident.

“We send our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and injured and to all those affected by this terrible incident,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

“We stand in solidarity with the people of Germany in grieving the loss of life. The United States is ready to provide assistance as recovery efforts continue and authorities investigate this horrible incident,” Miller’s statement continued.

Scholz offered his condolences to those affected. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Scholz said in a statement. “We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.”

Friday’s ramming incident came almost exactly eight years after a similar terror attack at a Christmas market in the German capital. On Dec. 19, 2016, a man drove a truck into a crowd at a market in Berlin, killing 13 and injuring dozens.

U.S. law enforcement officials have warned of similar vehicle-ramming attacks on American soil, particularly over the festive season.

A joint threat assessment about New Year’s Eve in New York City’s Times Square, for example, noted the use of vehicle-ramming alone or in conjunction with other tactics “has become a recurring tactic employed by threat actors in the West.”

The NYPD, out of an abundance of caution, will surge resources to similar areas around the city, including Christmas markets, according to NYPD deputy commissioner for counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner.

“We know this is a very festive time, it is a busy time in the city, and we are going to make sure that all of our holiday markets, all of our holiday activities are protected by our counter weapons teams, by officers on patrol, all our counter-terrorism officers, our critical response command,” Weiner told ABC New York station WABC.

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(WASHINGTON) — Two U.S. Navy pilots ejected safely over the Red Sea after their F/A-18 fighter aircraft was mistakenly shot down early Sunday in what military officials are calling “an apparent case of friendly fire.”

One of the pilots has minor injuries, according to a news release from U.S. Central Command.

The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the aircraft, that was flying off the USS Harry S. Truman, according to the news release.

The military said a full investigation is underway.

The U.S. Navy has been patrolling the region for over a year to combat ongoing attacks on commercial ships from the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

Several hours earlier, the military said U.S forces conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility used by the Houthis and shot down multiple uncrewed aerial vehicles and an anti-ship cruise missile.

That operation involved the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy and included F/A-18 aircraft.

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(LONDON) —  Two Russian airports were put under flight restrictions early Saturday after authorities alleged an attack by Ukrainian drones, according to state-run news agencies.

The state-owned RIA Novosti agency reported that Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency announced a temporary block on landing and takeoff at Kazan International Airport and restrictions at Gagarin Airport in the city of Saratov — both in the southwest of the country.

Kazan is more than 600 miles from the closest Ukrainian-controlled territory. Saratov is more than 350 miles from Ukrainian-held territory.

The press service of the head of the Tatarstan region — of which Kazan is the largest city — said authorities recorded eight drones attacking the city, with no reported casualties, according to the state-run Tass news agency.

“One was at an industrial enterprise, one was over a river and six were at a residential area,” the press service said, as quoted by Tass.

Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin said that fires were reported in houses in three districts of the city and announced selective evacuation of schools where it was deemed necessary, Tass reported.

Tatarstan head Rustam Minnikhanov wrote on Telegram that the region was subjected to “a massive UAV attack.”

“All forces have been deployed,” Minnikhanov added. “The most important thing is not to panic. We have instructed the government to inform the population about evacuation sites in a timely manner.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it downed six Ukrainian drones over the city, which it said were “flying in three waves from different directions.” Three were shot down and three defeated using electronic warfare measures, the ministry said.

In total, the ministry said it shot down 19 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.

Ukraine’s air force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 113 drones into Ukraine overnight, of which air defense teams shot down 57.

Another 56 went missing due to “active countermeasures” by Ukrainian defenders, the air force added.

Air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine on Saturday morning with the air force warning of a “threat of the use of ballistic weapons throughout the territory of Ukraine.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that the latest destroyed an oncology center in the southern city of Kherson and damaged apartment buildings in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Kyiv was targeted by ballistic missiles, while Sumy, Kryvyi Rih, the Dnipropetrovsk region and the Donetsk regions all reported shelling.

Seven people were reported injured in Zaporizhzhia and six in Kharkiv, officials said.

“This is the Russian terror we are countering,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “I am grateful to our partners who continue to stand with Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia. Together, through our collective strength, we will secure a lasting peace.”

Saturday’s attacks followed a combined missile and drone strike on Kyiv early on Friday, which the Kyiv City Military Administration said caused significant damage to buildings in the city center and killed at least one person.

The strike also damaged several foreign embassies, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tkhiyi told journalists on Friday. Tkhiyi described the attack as “barbaric.”

ABC News’ Natalya Kushnir, Anastasia Bagaeva and Victoria Beaule contributed to this report.

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(LONDON) — At least five people are now known to have been killed in the vehicle-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday, the Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt Reiner Haseloff told journalists on Saturday.

Haseloff said that at least 200 more people were injured when a car plowed into festive market-goers in the eastern German city, around 75 miles west of the capital Berlin.

A young child and an adult were among those killed in the attack, according to Haseloff. At least 15 of those injured were seriously hurt, according to a local official.

A suspect — a doctor from Saudi Arabia aged around 50 — was arrested, Haselhoff said. The man has lived in Germany since 2006. A rental car was used in the attack, the minister said.

The motive is unknown at this time, U.S. sources said. But U.S. law enforcement sources told ABC News that German authorities are treating the attack as a terrorist incident.

“We send our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and injured and to all those affected by this terrible incident,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

“We stand in solidarity with the people of Germany in grieving the loss of life. The United States is ready to provide assistance as recovery efforts continue and authorities investigate this horrible incident,” Miller’s statement continued.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered his condolences to those affected. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Scholz said in a statement. “We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.”

Friday’s ramming incident came almost exactly eight years after a similar terror attack at a Christmas market in the German capital. On Dec. 19, 2016, a man drove a truck into a crowd at a market in Berlin, killing 13 and injuring dozens.

U.S. law enforcement officials have warned of similar vehicle-ramming attacks on American soil, particularly over the festive season.

A joint threat assessment about New Year’s Eve in New York City’s Times Square, for example, noted the use of vehicle-ramming alone or in conjunction with other tactics “has become a recurring tactic employed by threat actors in the West.”

The NYPD, out of an abundance of caution, will surge resources to similar areas around the city, including Christmas markets, according to NYPD deputy commissioner for counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner.

“We know this is a very festive time, it is a busy time in the city, and we are going to make sure that all of our holiday markets, all of our holiday activities are protected by our counter weapons teams, by officers on patrol, all our counter-terrorism officers, our critical response command,” Weiner told ABC New York station WABC.

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