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.

At least 32 hostages held in Gaza, nearly a quarter of the estimated 136 hostages held captive in the Hamas-run enclave, are dead, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing the IDF.

The families of the 32 deceased individuals whose deaths have been confirmed have been informed. 

Hamas has yet to confirm or reject the IDF report. Further, the Islamist terror organization has a history of reporting hostages killed in captivity as having been hit by Israeli airstrikes.

Also, in announcing the deaths of hostages in its captivity, Hamas has previously released teaser videos prior to such announcements.

The NYT noted that while Israel strives to place mounting pressure on Hamas to release hostages through its military campaign in the Strip, the families of many of the hostages still in Gaza have said the IDF’s operations have placed the hostages at further risk.

Most hostages returned in swaps with Hamas

The vast majority of the hostages returned from captivity were released during December’s pause in the fighting when Israel swapped Palestinian security prisoners for hostages. 

Ori Megidish was rescued by IDF troops in October of last year, but no other hostages have since been rescued in this manner thus far.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded an immediate inquiry on Tuesday into the IDF drill simulating the kindapping of Palestinians by Jewish settlers in the Wet Bank.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu is demandinng answers and an inquiry from the IDF into the training drill," a Prime Minister's Office statement read.

Netanyahu was quoted as saying that the "fictitious scenario is detached from reality, undeserving and does an injustice to an entire and dear public.

"I am not prepared to accept such insensitivity toward our brothers and sisters in Judea and Samaria."

Israeli forces have encircled the Nasser Hospital in northern Khan Yunis, one of the "final Hamas strongholds in the southern Gaza city, a military source told Israeli media on Tuesday.

Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck targets near the hospital early Tuesday morning. Defense establishment officials believe that senior Hamas officers and commanders who remain in Khan Yunis are hiding in the hospital.

♦️فيديو| دبابات الاحتلال تطلق النار تجاه الأهالي في محيط مجمع ناصر الطبي بخانيونس بعد محاصرة المنطقة#غزة #فلسطين #غزة_تحت_القصف #طوفان_الأقصى#Gaza #GazaUnderAttack #Palestine #Photography #News #Israel pic.twitter.com/s4xyzGkWiH

— شبكة قدس فيد (@quds_feed) February 6, 2024

The leader of Yemen's Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said on Tuesday that the group "will further escalate" if the Israeli attack on Gaza does not stop.

Iran-aligned Houthis have been targeting commercial vessels with drones and missiles in the Red Sea since mid-November in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Suffering from terminal brain cancer, the mother of Israeli hostage Noa Argamani just wants a chance to hug her daughter one last time and bid her farewell.

Argamani, 26, has been held hostage in Gaza since she was kidnapped along with her boyfriend Avinatan Or from the Supernova festival in Israel's Negev Desert on the morning of October 7.

She became one of the faces of the hostage crisis when footage of her abduction by two men on a motorbike emerged online. In the footage, a distraught Argamani shouts: "Don't kill me!"

Yaffe Ohad, Argamani's aunt, says she fears time is running out for both her niece and sister-in-law.

"The illness is very serious, progressing at a fast pace. I very much hope that time will not run out for her to see Noa," Ohad said of her sister-in-law Liora, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I've been looking at her for four months, and I know that her emotional state greatly affects her physical state. And I'm very worried about her life. The longer Noa doesn't come back, it affects her for the worse."

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib rejected an international proposal for Hezbollah to withdraw away from Israel’s northern border to behind the Litani River, as set out under United Nations Security Council 1701.

His statement was carried by the Arabic language newspaper Al-Watan in advance of a visit today by French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, following his stop in Israel on Sunday.

This formula of a Hezbollah withdrawal eight to ten kilometers from the Israeli border was “rejected by Lebanon, which will not accept half-solutions that do not bring the desired peace and do not secure stability,’ Bou Habib told Al-Watan.

He demanded the full implementation of Resolution 1701, which included resolutions to points of geographical dispute between Israel and Lebanon, such as in the area of Sheba Farm area and the village Ghajar, explaining that no partial solutions were possible when it came to Resolution 1701, which set out the ceasefire terms that ended the second Lebanon War.

That resolution forbids the presence of a non-state actor, such as the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah, in the area between the Litani River and Israel’s border.

Smoke rises during an exchange of fire between the IDF and terrorists from the Hezbollah organization on the border between Israel and Lebanon, January 8, 2024. (credit: AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90)

Israel prefers a diplomatic solution

US special envoy Amos Hochstein, who last year spoke of the possibility of resolving the territorial dispute between the two countries, was in Israel on Sunday but, according to unconfirmed media reports, did not travel on to Lebanon. While in Israel, he met with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz, who previously held that post.

Bou Habib’s statement comes amid an uptake in violence along the northern border and increased internal domestic pressure from Israeli evacuees in that area for a resolution to the crisis that would allow them to return home.

A terrorist armed with a gun and a knife approached an IDF post near Nablus and shot at the post, Ynet reported on Tuesday. 

The IDF later stated that the reservists of Battalion 8109, who were on duty at the time of the incident, opened fire at the terrorist, killing him. 

No casualties were reported among the Israeli forces, and the weapons found on the terrorist were confiscated and transferred to security forces, the IDF added. 

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) expects a preliminary report into Israeli claims that a dozen of its employees took part in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel to be ready by early next month, its representative in Lebanon said Tuesday.

Israel has accused 12 of UNRWA's 13,000 employees in the Gaza Strip of taking part in the Hamas-led assault on Israel last year. The claims came as Israel faced a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its war on Gaza, and after years of it calling for the agency to be disbanded.

UNRWA's representative in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus told reporters in Beirut that 19 donors had suspended their funding following the accusations.

"We expect a preliminary investigation report in early March, based on which we assume donors would look into their decisions of having suspended funding to UNRWA," Klaus said.

Hundreds of protestors arrived at the Kerem Shalom crossing and blocked the trucks expected to enter the Gaza Strip, clashing with the police forces, N12 reported on Tuesday.