Israel at war: What happened on day 45?

Representatives of the hostages' families asked National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir not to advance legislation on the death penalty for terrorists that Otzma Yehudit was pushing for in a National Security Committee meeting on Monday.

"The timing of this risks the lives of our loved ones beyond the existing risk and it doesn't even advance any public purpose," they said. "The death penalty is a sensitive topic that needs to be debated in closed meetings and in professional forums."

"The debate on the death penalty for terrorists is a mental terror attack, a flammable that risks the lives of kidnapped children," said representative Noam Dan.

The families' request was ignored by the Otzma Yehudit MKs present at the meeting who argued why the law was necessary but didn't address the issue of the timing.

Israeli lawmaker tells hostages families they 'don't have mandate on pain'

MK Almog Cohen told the families that they don't have "a mandate on pain."

The families of some 240 hostages taken into Gaza on October 7 "do not have a mandate on the pain," coalition MK Almog Cohen (Otzma Yehudit) charged at the families during a Knesset debate on enacting the death penalty to Palestinian terrorists on Monday.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced on Saturday evening that on Monday, the preparation for the first reading of the death penalty law for terrorists will be discussed in the National Security Committee.

The bill calling to enact the death penalty for terrorists "severely endangers the lives of" the Gaza hostages, the Hostages' Families Forum said on Monday morning.

"The death penalty is a sensitive topic that must be discussed in a closed, professional forum," the forum added. "The discussion's timing endangers our loved ones without actively promoting a public interest."

Hostage father: You only want to kill more Arabs

During the raucous hearing, Cohen attacked the hostages' families after being confronted by one father who accused the lawmakers of debating the bill only because they "want to kill Arabs...you have killed enough.

"Stop talking about killing Arabs, start talking about saving Jews."

Cohen replied, "what is that statement?! You do not have a mandate on the pain - if you want to speak, speak."

According to Israeli media, Cohen left the debate shortly after the altercation.

The mother of a 21-year-old Israeli hostage kidnapped to Gaza by Hamas from the Nova music festival at Kibbutz Re'im on October 7 sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, begging for him to keep the return of the hostages at the forefront of his efforts.

Orit Meir, the mother of Almog Meir Jan, I sent a letter encouraging Netanyahu to truly keep the hostages as his priority in his diplomacy efforts throughout the war.

She noted that reports of negotiations to return hostages appeared to be false claims.

"Trust in leadership would erode. Alienation and resentment would fester, threatening to tear our society apart. Who would be willing to serve and risk sacrificing their lives in defense of a state that leaves its own behind?"

Orit Meir, mother of a hostage captured on October 7th by Hamas

Israeli artillery forces struck several terror targets across the Lebanese border early on Monday morning, the IDF said.

Hezbollah responded to the fire, with sirens sounded in northern Israel later on Monday that caused a fire along the northern border. IDF and firefighting forces were at the scene.

The IDF also struck the source of the rocket fire, it said.

An Israeli bill calling to enact the death penalty for terrorists "severely endangers the lives of" the Gaza hostages, the Hostages' Families Forum said on Monday morning.

"The death penalty is a sensitive topic that must be discussed in a closed, professional forum," the forum added. "The discussion's timing endangers our loved ones without actively promoting a public interest."

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced on Saturday evening that on Monday, the preparation for the first reading of the death penalty law for terrorists will be discussed in the National Security Committee.

Israel has a moral obligation to bring all hostages taken by Hamas into Gaza home, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told the hostages' families in a late Sunday meeting.

"We have a moral obligation for every single one of the hostages," Smotrich told the families. "The State of Israel is exhausting every effort to bring them home.

"It is our moral, Jewish, and national obligation to our citizens."

More than 100 evacuees from Gaza are set to arrive in Turkey on Monday, including dozens of people who will receive medical treatment there, Turkey's health minister and a foreign ministry source said.

Sixty-one patients, accompanied by some 49 relatives, arrived in Egypt from Gaza on Sunday evening and were scheduled to fly to Ankara on Monday morning after spending the night at Al Arish hospital, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

He said last week that Ankara wanted to bring as many of the nearly 1,000 cancer patients from Gaza to Turkey as possible. The first 27 patients arrived in Ankara last Thursday.

Separately, a group of 87 people, consisting of Turks, Turkish Cypriots and their relatives, arrived in Egypt from Gaza on Sunday and was set to fly to Istanbul on Monday evening, a foreign ministry source said.

Iran denied Israeli claims that it was involved in the seizure of a British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo ship in the southern Red Sea by Yemen's Houthis, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday at a press conference.

On Sunday, Israel said the incident was an "Iranian act of terrorism" with consequences for international maritime security.

The Houthis, an ally of Tehran, have been launching long-range missile and drone salvoes at Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian Hamas terrorists fighting in the Gaza Strip.

The IDF continued its operations across the Gaza Strip on Monday, killing three Hamas division commanders after being led to the terrorists by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the Military Intelligence Directorate.

Israeli forces on the ground and in the air continued destroying terror infrastructure, including tunnels, across Gaza.

As part of efforts to locate Hamas's hidden caches, fighter jets in coordination with the IDF's 933rd Nahal Brigade struck and killed a terror cell hiding in a warehouse containing various weaponry.

The IDF released footage of the strike on the Gaza warehouse.

Arab and Muslim ministers called on Monday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as their delegation visited Beijing on the first leg of a tour to push for an end to hostilities and to allow humanitarian aid into the territory.

The delegation, which is set to meet officials representing the permanent members of the UN Security Council, is also piling pressure on the West to reject Israel's justification of its actions against Palestinians as self-defense.

The officials holding meetings with China's top diplomat Wang Yi on Monday are from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia, Palestine and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, among others.