Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 111?
Israel strikes southern Lebanese air base controlled by Iran, Hezbollah • CIA chief to meet with Israeli, Qatari officials for Gaza hostage talks
Israel will not provide details of Hamas terrorists to Red Cross, after objection from Ben-Gvir
An N12 report last week revealed that Israel intended to hand over information regarding Hamas terrorists taken from Gaza and jailed in Israel.
The State Attorney has acceded to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s objection to giving the International Committee of the Red Cross (IRC) information about Hamas terrorists who have been arrested in Gaza and detained in Israeli jails, Maariv reported on Wednesday.
The office has communicated this new position to the High Court, in response to a petition for information that, according to Israel’s N12 news outlet last week, the office had previously intended to hand over. The state will not provide the Red Cross with those details, the Attorney’s office said.
Ben-Gvir's response to State Attorney's decision
Following the announcement by the State Attorney’s office that it had accepted Ben-Gvir’s objection, the far-right National Security Minister said:
“My clear policy, from the first moment, is: humanitarian [aid] in exchange for humanitarian [aid]. If they [Hamas] want details about their cursed terrorists, then they should pass on details about our heroic hostages. It is a logical, normal, moral and legal demand, any normal country would demand it.
“It’s good that the State Attorney’s office understood and accepted my position,” Ben-Gvir added.
Go to the full article >>US 'concerned' at strikes on UNRWA facility in Khan Yunis
Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the US National Security Council, said in a White House statement on Thursday, "We are gravely concerned by reports today of strikes hitting a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) facility — with subsequent reports of fires in the building—in a neighborhood in southern Gaza where more than 30,000 displaced Palestinians had reportedly been sheltering.
"While we don’t yet have all the details on what happened and will continue to seek further information regarding today’s incidents," the statement continued.
Go to the full article >>Yemen's Houthis say they targeted US vessels with ballistic missiles
Yemen's Houthis said on Wednesday that they targeted a number of US warships with ballistic missiles in the Gulf of Aden and Bab al-Mandab while they were protecting two US commercial vessels.
The "clash" led to a US warship being directly hit and forced the two commercial vessels "to withdraw and return," the Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement.
Go to the full article >>IDF Chief to Comptroller: Back off from concurrent war probe
UNRWA accuses Israel of illegal strike; IDF discloses tactics for blocking Palestinians’ return to north
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi on Wednesday rejected State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman’s request to turn over internal military documents for a probe into the state’s failures that enabled Oct. 7. Englman made the request earlier this month.
Halevi noted that although the military was undertaking its probe independently and the IDF was supportive of a postwar state commission of inquiry, distracting the IDF mid-war with comptroller inquiries would be dangerous.
He said there was “no precedent for undertaking this kind of probe” mid-war, such that all parallel probes took place only after the fighting stalled.
Halevi added that such a probe would “distract commanders and harm the ability and quality of the IDF’s ongoing operational probe. It would also prevent implementing the lessons necessary to achieve war goals.” Halevi recommended that Englman delay the probe until a later date.
The comptroller had not rushed to go public on the issue but after his requests for information to perform his probe were submitted to the IDF, the Mossad, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and the National Security Council and then publicized, he was attacked for politicizing the process.
In response, he defended his probe as professional and non-partisan. Englman said that the war is so long and that aspects of it have slowed down enough so that the investigation into the failures of Oct. 7 could no longer be delayed; they have already waited months.
He was attacked as initiating the probe to dump the blame on the defense establishment while serving as a veneer for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hide behind so that he could avoid a state commission of inquiry, which might hit the prime minister harder than his own.
Although Englman issued some hard-hitting reports and is well respected internationally on climate change and cyber issues, his defense of the prime minister on legal corruption issues early in his term and the fact that he is not a former judge have created the space for allegations that he is a Netanyahu lieutenant.
Near the Gaza border, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told soldiers that any rumors from Hamas about being close to a hostage deal were false. He accused Hamas’s leadership outside of Gaza – many of whom reside in Qatar – of holding the internal leadership back from cutting a reasonable deal sooner and of living in luxurious hotels without caring about the misery of ordinary Gazans.
ACROSS THE BORDER, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, tank shells hit a UN training center that had been sheltering tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians. Footage circulating among Palestinians showed black smoke pouring into the sky above the training center, which is run by UNRWA, the UN relief organization for the Palestinians. A UNRWA team trying to reach the center was blocked, the organization’s director of Gaza affairs, Thomas White, told Reuters.
The IDF said the wider area was a significant base for Hamas terrorists. “Dismantling Hamas’s military framework in western Khan Yunis is the heart of the logic behind the operation,” the army said.
The US is concerned about the attack, Deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said, repeating Washington’s calls for the protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and aid facilities. “We deplore today’s attack on the UN’s Khan Yunis training center,” Patel told a news briefing, calling it “incredibly concerning.”
The IDF has documented at least dozens of incidents in which Hamas used hospitals, UN facilities, schools, and other sensitive sites to either stage attacks or store weaponry.
Responses from the UN
The director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza said that nine Palestinians were killed and 75 were injured when two tank rounds hit the building that was sheltering around 800 people. The IDF earlier ordered the evacuation of the area, which the UN humanitarian office said held half a million people, with four-fifths of them displaced by fighting in other parts of the coastal strip.
The Jerusalem Post has sought clarification about whether any specific Hamas activity was recorded in the area in question, whether an IDF targeting error had occurred, or whether the military had some other narrative, but did not receive a response by press time.
While the fighting and humanitarian issues continue in the south, some Palestinians have tried to return to northern Gaza after the IDF pulled a significant number of troops out of the area. The military on Wednesday disclosed how it is preventing them from returning, pending a resolution of the war and the hostage situation.
Is it safe to return home yet?
Hamas has been trying to pressure Palestinians to return to northern Gaza without surrendering or returning the approximately 130 hostages it is still holding. When a group of approximately 30 civilians, including children, gathered to begin moving toward the crossover point near the Gaza River, the IDF fired white smoke to discourage them from approaching.
This usually works, but if they continue to approach, then the IDF will shoot live-fire warning shots in the air and on the ground nearby to deter them. There have been a very small number of civilians who have continued past this point, so it has been easy to arrest them and then send them back south.
In contrast, if someone presenting a danger approaches the crossover point, IDF soldiers are authorized, after trying warning shots, to also fire at the person’s legs.
To date, Brigade 646, which has been involved in this effort, has been successful in preventing Palestinians from returning, as the IDF blocked Hamas from trying to reestablish itself more generally in central or northern Gaza.
Last week, the same brigade bombed key points that Hamas used in tunnels to get past Wadi Ghaza. Working with the Yahalom unit, they destroyed the tunnel network, which was located one and a half kilometers from the border. It was one kilometer long and reached a depth of 20 meters.
While destroying the tunnel, troops also found and seized Hamas rockets, including some platforms hidden in the ground or bushes.
Elsewhere in Khan Yunis, forces from the 98th Division continued their encirclement of Hamas terrorists, killing several terror cells. Multiple armed groups of terrorists attempted ambushes, including with anti-tank missiles, but were taken out in aerial strikes.
The IDF considers western Khan Yunis the heart of Hamas’s operations, including areas where its top two leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif, grew up.
IN THE NORTH, the IDF hit Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, including the village of Yaroun, Hezbollah military locations, and terror infrastructure.
The military also said it struck other areas in southern Lebanon to eliminate threats.
There were no rockets from Hamas for the third consecutive day, only three rocket sirens in the North, and the average number of rocket sirens for the week dropped to single digits.
Jerusalem Post Staff and Reuters contributed to this report.
Go to the full article >>Qatar appalled Netanyahu's called them problematic mediators
The comments were said during a private meeting that was taped. That tape was then leaked to Channel 12, which published Netanyahu's remarks on Tuesday night.
Qatar said it was appalled that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called them “problematic mediators” in a conversation he held with relatives of the hostages held in Gaza.
“We are appalled by the alleged remarks attributed to the Israeli Prime Minister in various media reports about Qatar’s mediation role,” Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari wrote in a post on X.
“These remarks, if validated, are irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives, but are not surprising,” he said.
Ansari accused Netanyahu of undermining the mediation.
“If the reported remarks are found to be true, the Israeli PM would only be obstructing and undermining the mediation process for reasons that appear to serve his political career instead of prioritizing saving innocent lives, including Israeli hostages,” Ansari said.
“Instead of concerning himself with Qatar’s strategic relations with the United States, we hope Netanyahu decides to operate in good faith and concentrate on the release of the hostages,” he said.\
The comments were supposed to be private, but were then leaked
The comments were said during a private meeting that was taped. That tape was then leaked to Channel 12, which published Netanyahu's remarks on Tuesday night.
Qatar and Egypt have been mediating a potential second hostage deal for the remaining 132 captives out of the 253 Hamas seized during its October 7 attack against Israel.
During a November deal mediated by Qatar and Egypt, 105 were freed. In addition, the IDF has returned eleven bodies of the captives from Gaza.
Answer said, “For months, and following a successful mediation last year that led to the release of more than a hundred hostages, Qatar has been engaged in regular dialogue with the negotiating parties, including Israeli institutions, attempting to establish the framework for a new hostage agreement and the immediate entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
Go to the full article >>Hezbollah rockets that landed in Israel possibly contained deadly white phosphorus
If this is true, this would be the first time that Hezbollah has used white phosphorus.
Two mortar shells that were fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon into the Metulla area last week are suspected to have contained white phosphorus, according to Israeli media reports on Wednesday.
The reports say that after the mortars landed, the explosions led to a big fire and even engulfed part of the road that they hit.
If this is true, this would be the first time that Hezbollah has used white phosphorus.
White phosphorus can be legally used in some situations
White phosphorus munitions can be legally employed on the battlefield for purposes such as producing smoke screens, generating illumination, marking targets, or causing the ignition of bunkers and buildings.
Under Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, white phosphorus is classified as an incendiary weapon. This protocol explicitly prohibits the use of incendiary weapons against military targets located in areas with civilian populations, such as Metulla, where the mortars landed. However, it is important to note that Hezbollah has not ratified the protocol and is not obligated by its provisions.
Hezbollah and the IDF have been regularly trading fire since the outbreak of the war.
Go to the full article >>Protesters for Gaza hostage release deal block central highway
Protesters demonstrating for the release of the hostages from Gaza have blocked traffic on the Ayalon highway, a central highway in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
The protest came as Qatar has communicated to Israel that Hamas is temporarily delaying all further talks about an outline for a hostage deal.
The hostages have been in captivity for 110 days.
Go to the full article >>Israel-Hamas War: What you need to know
- Hamas launched a massive attack on October 7, with thousands of terrorists infiltrating from the Gaza border and taking some 240 hostages into Gaza
- Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, including over 350 in the Re'im music festival and hundreds of Israeli civilians across Gaza border communities
- 136 hostages remain in Gaza, IDF says