President Trump said he had heard that as many as half of Gaza’s population would leave if given the chance, adding that he has long believed people there would relocate if offered better living conditions. He also said the United States is doing a great deal to help the people of Gaza, noting that Israel is as well.

Trump: “Iran may be acting badly. It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but if it is, they know what the consequences will be — and they’ll be very powerful, possibly even more powerful than last time.”

Trump on Syria: “Your new president — I respect him. He’s a very strong person, and that’s what Syria needs. You can’t put in a choir boy or someone who’s perfectly polished with no life experience. You need the opposite there. He’s tough. We get along very well, and I couldn’t ask for more.”

Israel’s envoy to the United Nations, Danon, said that when the Somali government under Siad Barre carried out a massacre against the people of Somaliland, the international community remained silent, but Israel did not. He noted that in 1990, Israel’s ambassador to the UN at the time, Yohanan Bein, sent a letter to the UN Security Council warning about the massacre in the city of Hargeisa. Danon said that even when it was inconvenient and came at a diplomatic cost, Israel chose to act, calling this an example of moral leadership.

China announced the successful test of its YJ-20 hypersonic missile, launched from a Type 055 destroyer. According to Beijing, the missile has a range of about 1,500 km, carries a 400-kg warhead, and can reach speeds of up to 10 times the speed of sound.

U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at 1 p.m. ET tomorrow.

China’s Eastern Theater Command announced tonight that it will conduct a snap military exercise in the Taiwan Strait and around Taiwan, dubbed “Justice Mission 2025.” The drill is set to begin later this evening and run through Tuesday, December 30. Units from the People’s Liberation Army, Navy, Air Force, and Rocket Force will take part. The exercise appears to rehearse a blockade of Taiwan from the north, south, and east, simulating the early stages of a potential future invasion. Given that a significant portion of U.S. naval and military assets are currently positioned in the Caribbean, along with recent discussion about the Trump administration shifting focus away from Asia and Europe toward the Western Hemisphere, some observers argue that this could be a relatively opportune moment for China to apply pressure on Taiwan—even if Beijing is not yet fully prepared for a broader conflict involving Japan, South Korea, and the United States.

Russia has already begun, or is likely in the process of, deploying new nuclear-capable intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missiles—known to the Russian Armed Forces as Oreshnik—at a former airbase near Krichev in eastern Belarus. Two U.S. researchers reached the conclusion after analyzing satellite imagery, a finding that broadly aligns with U.S. intelligence assessments shared with Reuters. The deployment could significantly enhance Russia’s ability to rapidly strike targets across Europe in the event of a conventional or nuclear conflict with NATO. In response, the Pentagon has accelerated plans to deploy U.S. cruise and hypersonic surface-to-surface missiles in Germany, including the Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), also known as Dark Eagle. The system, which uses a hypersonic boost-glide vehicle, is expected to be stationed in Germany beginning in 2026.

The Syzran oil refinery was struck overnight, with local residents reporting that the attack damaged the ELOU-AVT-5 unit responsible for primary crude oil processing into gasoline, diesel, and other fuels.