Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 123?

There has been "some movement" on a deal to secure the release of hostages by Hamas, US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday, adding that there had been a response from the militant group that he described as "a little over the top."

"Hamas has responded to the initial hostage deal proposal, but the details of that cannot be made public at this time," Qatari Prime Minister Mohammad Al-Thani said Tuesday during a public press conference in Doha with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“I would like to inform the media that we have received a reply from Hamas about the general framework of the agreement for hostages," he continued,  "The reply includes some comments, but in general, it is positive." 

Without expanding further, he said, “However, given the sensitivity of the circumstances, we will not tackle details."

“We are optimistic, and we have delivered the response to the Israeli party,” he said.

The US House of Representatives rejected a Republican-led bill on Tuesday that would provide $17.6 billion to Israel, as Democrats said they wanted a vote instead on a broader measure that would also provide assistance to Ukraine, international humanitarian funding and new money for border security.

The vote was 250 to 180, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage.

Opponents called the Israel legislation a political ploy by Republicans to distract from their opposition to a $118 billion Senate bill combining an overhaul of US immigration policy and new funding for border security with billions of dollars in emergency aid for Ukraine, Israel and partners in the Indo-Pacific region.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson had said the Senate bill was "dead on arrival" in the chamber even before it was introduced. And Senate Republican leaders said on Tuesday they did not think the measure would receive enough votes to pass.

"This accomplishes nothing and delays aid getting out to our allies and providing humanitarian relief," said Representative Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, urging opposition to the Israel-only bill. "Our allies are facing existential threats and our friends and foes around the globe are watching, waiting to see how America will respond."

Nearly half (47%) of Israeli residents believe returning the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7th is the highest priority of Israel’s war against Hamas – whereas 42% of Israelis said that toppling Hamas’ grip over the Gaza Strip should be Israel’s main priority, a poll published Tuesday by the Israeli Democracy Institute (IDI) discovered.

The 47% to 42% split is divided further based on demographics, with 53% of female respondents saying that releasing hostages is the most important factor in the war compared to 40% of male respondents.  69% of Arab-Israelis said bringing the hostages home should be the main goal, versus a tiny minority (8%) who prioritize toppling Hamas. A sizeable 23% of Arab Israelis say they don't know.

Responses to the question of what Israel’s main goal of the war should be were further divided on political lines. For example, 71% of respondents who identify with Israel’s Labor party said the primary goal should be retrieving hostages, while 20% of Labor party supporters said the primary factor of the war should be to defeat Hamas militarily. Conversely, 77% of Religious Zionism supporters said defeating Hamas should be Israel’s primary goal, compared to 19% who said saving Israeli hostages superseded the need to defeat Hamas. 

Israeli forces operate in Khan Yunis, Gaza's south, February 4, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Hostages and Hamas polarize Israelis

While Israelis have multiple considerations when it comes to the Israel-Hamas War and the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israelis who prioritize the rescue of hostages have clashed with Israelis who believe that the IDF completely removing Hamas from power should be the priority.

Demonstrators protested in front of President Isaac Herzog’s Residence in Jerusalem on Saturday night, calling for more action to be taken to release the hostages and demanding the immediate announcement of elections.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in the Likud faction meeting that defeating Hamas "will take time, months, not years," Israeli media reported on Monday. Furthermore, he stated, "Our goal is complete victory on Hamas. We will kill the leadership of Hamas. That's why we need to continue to operate in all areas of the Gaza Strip. We must not end the war before then."

While the question of prioritizing hostages compared to military goals is the biggest question in Israeli public discourse, there are several pertinent topics the IDI poll covered. 

When it comes to Israeli elections, which are currently scheduled for November 2026, 71% of respondents said that the elections should be called sooner: 38% of respondents think elections should be held when the war ends, while 33% think elections should be announced now and then held in around three months. Although 38% of Jewish Israelis in the political right wing said elections should be held at the previously scheduled time, only 6% of left-wing Israelis agreed.

Regarding a now-suspended inquiry into the Israeli government’s internal failures on October 7th, 43% of Israeli respondents said the suspension was the right move, compared to 42% who said the inquiry should proceed.

Pollsters also asked how Israelis feel about the International Court of Justice case brought against Israel by South Africa, which purported that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians. 50% of Jewish Israelis said the ICJ ruling was too harsh against Israel, though 39% of Jewish Israeli respondents said they felt the ruling was lenient. Only 19% of Arab Israelis said the ICJ ruling against Israel was harsh, compared to 46% who called it lenient and 35% who said they did not know.

Furthermore, only 39% of Israelis think the State of Israel is successfully ensuring the security of its citizens – this is similar to the rate in 2022 but represents a sharp decline from 76% in 2020 and 56% in 2021.

Saudi Arabia has told the US its position stands that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized on the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem, and Israeli "aggression" on the Gaza Strip stops, the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby said that the Biden administration has received positive feedback that Saudi Arabia and Israel are willing to continue to have normalization discussions.

The kingdom stated to affirm its steadfast position to Washington on the Palestinian issue in the light of the comments attributed to Kirby, the ministry said.

Attempts to normalize ties

The idea of Israel and Saudi Arabia formally cementing ties has been under discussion since the Saudis gave their quiet assent to Gulf neighbors United Arab Emirates and Bahrain establishing ties with Israel in 2020.

SAUDI FOREIGN Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken (credit: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters, TOMER NEUBERG/FLASH90)

Saudi Arabia put US-backed plans to normalize ties with Israel on ice, sources familiar with Riyadh's thinking told Reuters in Oct, 2023, as the war between Hamas and Israeli forces escalated.

Israel began its military offensive in Gaza after Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Israeli missiles struck Syria's Homs, Syrian state media reported on Wednesday, with local sources saying the attacks targeted several Syrian army outposts and an airbase in the area.

Syrian air defenses shot down a number of missiles, state media said, without giving details on the targets hit.

Since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians and soldiers, Israel has escalated its strikes on Iranian-backed militia targets in Syria and also struck Syrian army air defenses and some Syrian forces.

The attacks targeted the Shuyrat airbase and the several locations on outskirts of Homs, according to a Syrian military intelligence source familiar with the matter.

A rocket from Syria lands in Israel. January 1, 2024. (credit: SCREENSHOT/X)

Iran's growing influence

Israel has for years carried out attacks on what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war that started in 2011.

Fighters allied with Iran, including Hezbollah, now hold sway in vast areas in eastern, southern and northwestern Syria and in several suburbs around the capital.

Egyptian officials said on Tuesday they have received Hamas' response to a proposed ceasefire agreement they proposed for the Gaza Strip, a statement from Egypt's state information service said.

Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told Reuters on Tuesday that the group intends for the release of the largest number possible of Palestinians who are being held in Israeli prisons.

Hamad's comments come after Hamas earlier announced that they had delivered their response to a framework agreement devised by Egypt and Qatar that aims to bring a complete ceasefire to Gaza.

"Netanyahu is trying to make everyone believe that he has or will achieve victory to preserve his coalition government," Hamad told Reuters, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He added that it took Hamas some time to issue a response because "many of (the agreement's) issues were unclear and ambiguous."

Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told the Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Tuesday evening that "Portugal will do everything to pressure those who need to be pressured and to promote the release of the captives."

The president’s comments came during a meeting with a delegation from the forum, organized by the Israeli Embassy in Portugal. 

The meeting was attended by representatives of seven families who made the trip to the western European country.

"The effort to bring back the hostages is an international and cross-border effort,” de Sousa said. “There are also a number of captives with Portuguese connections, and we must exert the pressure to bring all the captives back home quickly."

Argentine president Javier Milei’s visit to Israel was widely covered in Arabic-speaking outlets, with many pointing to the fact that he arrived at Ben Gurion Airport aboard an Israeli El Al airplane and commenters denouncing his pledge to move his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to the capital Jerusalem.

Hamas wrote in an official statement,” we strongly condemn and denounce the announcement by the President of Argentina of his intention to transfer his country’s embassy to the Nazi-Zionist entity to occupied Jerusalem, and we consider it an infringement on the rights of our Palestinian people to their land, and a violation of the rules of international law considering Jerusalem an occupied Palestinian land.”

The terror group also called on Milei to “rescind this unjust and wrong decision, which places Argentina as a partner to the Zionist occupier.”

The Biden administration, along with its NATO allies - France, Britain, Germany, and Italy, hopes to announce within a few weeks the new understandings that will put an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and restore calm to the northern border. Senior Israeli officials and a knowledgeable source close to this issue revealed this.

The main objective of the Biden administration since October 7 has been to prevent a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah and to prevent the Gaza crisis from spreading to other countries in the Middle East. Biden entrusted the Israeli-Lebanese portfolio to his close advisor, Amos Hochstein, who conducted negotiations between Israel and Lebanon for the maritime border agreement signed in October 2022.

Sources familiar with the matter said that the United States hopes that the prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas will lead to a decrease in the fighting in Gaza and contribute to achieving calm on the northern border. However, the US is prepared to announce the new understanding between Israel and Lebanon even if that does not happen.

The clashes along the northern border between Israel and Hezbollah have been escalating for the past four months. Israel has evacuated tens of thousands of residents from settlements near the border due to fears of a raid by Hezbollah's Radwan forces. These residents are currently unable to return to their homes.

Israel has repeatedly stated that the situation along the border must change, either through diplomatic or military means, to allow the residents to return safely. One of Israel's conditions is for Hezbollah's Radwan forces to be pushed about 10 kilometers away from the border with Israel, beyond the range where anti-tank missiles can reach Israeli communities.