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 carried out airstrikes on two Houthi drone boats on February 5, according to US Central Command. The statement said that the US had targeted “two Houthi explosive uncrewed surface vehicles (USV).” This is the latest in numerous US strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. The Houthis continue to threaten shipping in the Red Sea and off the coast of Yemen. They also have targeted Israel with missiles and drones. The Houthis use drones and missiles to target ships.

NBC News is the only news crew on the USS Eisenhower, the main carrier involved in the strikes. They wrote on February 4, “One by one, more than two dozen aircraft—Navy F/A-18 fighter jets, E/A18 Growler radar jammers, E2 Hawkeye reconnaissance planes as well helicopters and tankers—roared off the deck of this aircraft carrier Saturday night to conduct joint US-British attacks on Iranian-backed Houthis. U.S. officials declined to comment on the effectiveness of Saturday’s strikes in Yemen. On Friday, the carrier’s F/A-18 aircraft intercepted multiple drones that Houthi forces were preparing to launch, military officers told NBC News.”

Their report also notes that the carrier is a “vast, 1,000-foot, 100,000-ton Nimitz-class carrier, has a crew of roughly 5,000 and is like a city on the sea.” But this is also a “vexing” mission for US pilots, NBC reported. This is the challenge. The US is trying to stop Houthi attacks. This could mean using strikes on leadership or other ways to deter the group through a disproportionate response. Or it could involve trying to strike and pre-empt the attacks by hitting missiles and drones and the launchers. So far the US has preferred the second approach. What this means is gambling that the Houthis don’t have an inexhaustible amount of missiles and drones. It also means letting the Houthis choose the time and place to attack and hoping US pilots are within range at that time and place.

Key questions will remain if this conflict continues. Can the Houthis replace and rebuild their anti-ship missiles? Will the Houthis be deterred? It appears the Iranians are the ones behind the Houthi attacks, which means the real issue is whether Iran wants the threats to the Red Sea to continue. It’s important to acknowledge how unprecedented the current situation is. In the past, when Israel and Hamas fought conflicts, the conflicts did not usually expand beyond Gaza. Sometimes there were some tensions in the West Bank. However, Iran has brought miliitas to the borders of Israel and has operationalized them to attack Israel from the north with Hezbollah and also to try to close off the Red Sea to shipping and also to carry out 160 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria. Iran also got the militias to attack US forces in Jordan, killing three people.

A fighter jet is launched from the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower during a strike against what the U.S. military describe as Houthi military targets in Yemen, February 3, 2024 (credit: US NAVY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

Therefore this is a regional Iranian war in which Iran is trying to take over the region. Iran is seeking to close the Red Sea to commercial ships but not ships linked to its friends in Moscow and Beijing. As such, this is part of the wider anti-western, anti-Israel, and anti-US strategy of Iran. Can the floating “city” of the Eisenhower off the coast stop the attacks? This is a key question. The NBC reports leave many questions.

Meanwhile, the US is also operating against Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. The US carried out attacks on 85 sites on February 2 in response to the murder of three Americans in Jordan on January 27. It doesn’t appear those strikes hit significant targets, meaning that the groups still have a plethora of missiles and drones to continue their threats. They have already continued to target US forces in Syria. The US also appears to be hampered in its strikes in Iraq and Syria by the fact that some countries don’t want to participate in the strikes. That means Jordan, which was attacked on January 27, has assured Iraq it was not involved in the retaliation.

Many countries in the region appear to be hedging their bets on this. US key partners in the Gulf, for instance, have been concerned about US policies for years. The US pressured Saudi Arabia to end its role in Yemen fighting the Houthis. Saudi and Iran reconciled in a China-backed deal last year. Now the Saudis wonder why the US pressured them to stop their war, only for the US to now do airstrikes in Yemen.

These complex factors add a lot of uncertainty to whether the US can accomplish its goals in Yemen, Iraq and Syria. Will the strikes stop the attacks by the Iranian-backed forces or merely reduce some capabilities? There will be lessons to learn, and it appears the ball is in Iran’s court for now. 

Terrorists from the village of Jalbun shot at a house in the kibbutz of Merav in northern Israel. The security forces shot at the source and began chasing the attackers, Kan News reported on Tuesday. 

The house was reportedly damaged. 

An IDF Psychological Warfare unit operated an unauthorized Telegram Channel entitled “72 Virgins - Uncensored,” the military admitted to Haaretz earlier this week after the paper reported on the channel last month.

Shortly after the October 7 massacre, on October 9, the unit, whose primary targets are foreign and enemy audiences, created and operated the channel, this time veered toward the Israeli public, without authorization.

Sharing exclusive information

The channel's administrators posted graphic content, including videos in which the bodies of terrorists can be seen, accompanied by the caption “Shatter the terrorists’ fantasies.” They also posted images and videos of the elimination of terrorists and footage of the Gaza Strip, urging their followers to share the content so that “everyone can see we’re screwing them.

Critically, the channel also shared exclusive information from IDF investigations, to which only Israel’s defense establishment was supposed to be privy, according to the paper. 

The Telegram logo is seen on a screen of a smartphone in this picture illustration (credit: ILYA NAYMUCHIN)

Haaretz further noted the operators of the channel used low register and crude language to veil the origin of the channel.

This can be exemplified through captions such as “Exterminating the roaches…exterminating the Hamas rats…Share this beauty,” to accompany photos of captured Gazans and bodies of Hamas terrorists. 

In an additional video, in which a soldier is seen reportedly dipping his bullets in lard, the text read, “What a man!!!!! Greases his bullets with lards. You won’t get your virgins.”

A different video, showing an Israeli car allegedly driving over the body of a terrorist time and time again, was accompanied by “Very good, Gershon!!! Run him over, run him over!!!! Screw the bastards! Flatten them.”

The content posted on the channel was not exclusive to Gaza. In the October 11 incident, which saw a violent gathering of La Familia followers at the Sheba Medical Center following reports that a Hamas terrorist was hospitalized there, the channel posted a video with the caption, “My brothers, the heroesssss, La Familia fans, love you!!!!!!! What heroes, they came to screw the Arabs.”

The channel garnered some 5,300 followers and shared hundreds of posts. 

The IDF's Spokesperson's Unit told Haaretz that following an investigation, "it was found that the Telegram page was operated by the IDF without authorization and without authority. The incident has been dealt with."

A new report from the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) is sounding the alarm on Iran’s closeness to going nuclear, upgrading its threat level to “Extreme Danger,” the highest of its six ratings, for the first time since the group began following the Iranian nuclear program in the 1990s.

Since 2022, the report says, Iran’s ‘breakout’ time has been zero— that is to say, Iran “has more than enough… highly enriched uranium (HEU) to directly fashion a nuclear explosive.” Uranium itself is not the only component required to fashion a nuclear weapon, though it is by far the hardest to come by. “If Iran wanted to further enrich its 60 percent enriched uranium up to 90 percent weapon-grade uranium (WGU)... it could do so quickly,” the report says. 

“[Iran] can break out and produce enough weapon-grade enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in a week,” it goes on, “using only a fraction of its 60 percent enriched uranium. This breakout could be difficult for inspectors to detect promptly, if Iran took steps to delay inspectors’ access.”

Troops of the 98th Division continued operations in western Khan Yunis, where they encountered Hamas terrorists in civilian clothes, the IDF’s Spokesperson’s Unit said on Tuesday.

In the past few days, soldiers killed dozens of terrorists and arrested some 80 suspected terrorists, including a number of terrorists who partook in the October 7 massacre.

Givati Brigade snipers eliminated more than 15 terrorists while fighters of the 646th Brigade Combat Team killed a  lookout hiding in a building.

Yair Ansbacher, a military expert and consultant, provided his insights regarding Israel's warfare tactics, stressing that this is, counter to some opinions, a war over Israel's very right to exist.

"There is a very distorted, yet popular Israeli opinion at present, which holds that since we were 'screwed over,' and seeing as we were caught off guard by a strategically well planned attack by Hamas, despite all the prior warnings we had, that this means that we must continue to be 'screwed over.' What people do not understand by taking this stance is what's really at stake: the future of all Israeli civilians," Ansbacher said at the beginning of his interview with Maariv in late January.

"What this war is really about is the very existence of the Israeli people both in the State of Israel and abroad," he explained. The war Israel is currently waging involves several dimensions, he added. First and foremost, "the human, emotional dimension, which collides with Hamas's approach. Hamas knows how sensitive we are to other human life.

"The second dimension which we should be aware of and understand is a strategic, rational one. Through it, we must realize that Hamas has essentially taken all of Israel hostage. In fact, what campaigners like Ronen Tzur and his colleagues did was to raise this issue from a tactical, military level, to a strategic, geo-political level – an event that is of the utmost importance to the fate of the country and of the entire war."

"In the first ceasefire," he added, "Hamas succeeded in halting Israel's momentum. We transitioned to a different type of fighting in the northern Gaza Strip – to urban, guerrilla warfare. This compensated Hamas for Israel's own, sudden surprise attack against it when Israel entered the Gaza Strip."

Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip, February 4, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

"The way in which Hamas is fighting, and its use of the underground tunnels, these tactics are all meant to achieve one goal – to force Israel to maneuver. Given that time is not in the country's favor, the more time it takes Israel to maneuver, the more the country's legitimacy to defend itself begins to be challenged worldwide. International condemnation will intensify, so Hamas hopes, to the point where Israel is sanctioned – this is what Hamas is counting on, this is what it hopes will bring about our eventual failure. Because with sanctions, we will be unable to achieve the main war objective, which is the destruction of Hamas," he explained.

"This gives our local and global enemies the legitimacy to continue pushing for our complete destruction, somewhat like sharks act when they smell blood," he continued. "Dealing with the issue of Gaza and with that of the hostages is critical. This is a strategic, existential battle, not just an incident, though unfortunately, significant parts of the security establishment still refer to it as such, which is a strategic mistake like no other."

Qatar mediating with Hamas is like Eichmann mediating with Hitler

Regarding recent negotiations, he said: "To conduct negotiations during the war through Qatari mediation is like making a deal with Adolf Hitler through Adolf Eichmann's mediation. Qatar is the one who built, mediated, funded, and gave ideological support to Hamas – who are among the worst of our enemies. Therefore, any deal is bad from the outset. We also give Hamas a lot of credit and respect as a partner to make deals with.

"Hamas will certainly demand that it be given time to locate kidnapped individuals," he warned. "In their audacity, they already requested that Israel not monitor them with its drones. Significantly, a deal that includes the release of murderers and terrorists is a bad one, as we learned all too well from the Gilad Schalit deal. Their approach is disconnected, detached, and insane. They consider a deal a victory for themselves."

"I interviewed a Hamas Nukhba terrorist on October 8, and I asked him: 'What now?' He casually replied: 'We will get a deal.' I replied, 'Do you really think so? Look around you, look at the level of the damage done, Israel will never agree to such a thing.' But he persisted: 'Of course Israel will.'"

At the end of the interview, Ansbacher expressed his opinion on how Israel should respond to the Israeli hostages held in Gaza: "Only through determined operational activity, including special operations that Israel is too fearful of carrying out at the moment due to political concerns, in fear that it would be accused of failure. Apply as much maneuvering in warfare as possible, exert pressure on Qatar and bring it back to the center of attention as well. It is fine to consider targeting Qatar – after all, this is an enemy state."

"It is terrible that we find ourselves in a status where Qatar has earned some kind of immunity. The issue of putting pressure on Palestinian prisoners is also a sensitive one. We do nothing in this regard, but they could, and should be used as leverage," he concluded. 

A cargo ship in the Red Sea suffered minor damage after being hit by a projectile while sailing off the coast of Yemen's Hodeidah, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency and British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Tuesday.

The ship, located 57 nautical miles west of Hodeidah, said a projectile was fired at its port side and a small craft was seen on its port side. The projectile passed over the deck and caused slight damage to the bridge windows, the UKMTO note said.

UKMTO received the report just after midnight GMT Tuesday.

Ambrey said the Barbados-flagged, general cargo ship owned by a British company incurred physical damage from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) while sailing south east through the Red Sea. No injuries were reported, the ship performed evasive maneuvers and continued its journey, Ambrey said.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group 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 Gaza Strip.

Houthi tribesmen gather to show defiance after U.S. and UK air strikes on Houthi positions near Sanaa, Yemen February 4, 2024 (credit: KHALED ABDULLAH/REUTERS)

No immediate comment from Houthis on incident

The attacks have disrupted global shipping and forced firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa, and also stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spread to destabilize the wider Middle East.

There was no immediate comment in Houthi-run media on the incident.

The United States and Britain a month ago began striking Houthi targets in Yemen in retaliation for the months of attacks on Red Sea shipping.

The US military said its forces conducted a strike in self-defense on Monday afternoon Yemen time against two Houthi explosive uncrewed surface vehicles (USV) that it said presented an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader and Yesh Atid chairman MK Yair Lapid discussed the latter’s offer to supply a “safety net,” during a periodic security update on Monday, Lapid said in a video statement after the meeting.

“I told the prime minister – I don’t care about ministries, I served as foreign minister, I served as finance minister, I served as prime minister. I care about one thing only – returning the hostages, and if he needs a security net of any kind – that we enter the government, from outside the government, in any way – he should just say so,” Lapid told KAN News after the meeting.

Lapid has offered, in recent weeks, to join the government to free the 136 Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity, based on the assumption that far-right ministers, National Security Minister MK Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, may leave the government over a hostage deal if it includes a significant cease-fire and releasing many convicted Palestinian terrorists. This would leave the governing coalition without a majority in the Knesset.

Earlier on Monday, Lapid said in response to a question by The Jerusalem Post at a press conference, that Ben-Gvir, who leads the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) Party, is the “face of Israel and of the government that people in the world see, and this is not only outrageous, it is dangerous.”

Opposition head Yair Lapid answers a question for the Jerusalem Post's Eliav Breuer. February 5, 2024. (credit: Screenshot/Eliav Breuer)

Politicians react to Ben-Gvir interview

Asked whether Ben-Gvir’s statements were indeed harmful, as he is not a member of the war cabinet and does not have much contact with US officials, Lapid said, “Unfortunately, the outrageous things he said to the WSJ influenced quite a bit … I think people do take him seriously because they know the size and magnitude of his effect on the government … and is a political force.”

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in a speech later in the evening, said that “Ben-Gvir is not part of the authoritative body that makes decisions.”

Lapid warned that the month of Ramadan is around the corner and that Ben-Gvir’s conduct will lead to another disaster, as Ramadan is considered a period of heightened security tensions.

“I see it as my duty to warn the government. The country is not ready. There is no preparation. No plan. There were no sufficient discussions on the operational and diplomatic levels. We are on the way to a disaster, another disaster,” Lapid warned.

Lapid claimed that while Ben-Gvir “wanted” the tension to “go up in flames,” this was not what Israel needed. He called on the prime minister to “remove Ben-Gvir’s authorities, and immediately form a senior team to prepare the country.”

Ben-Gvir addressed the criticism in his weekly press conference later on Monday. While he recognized the “complicated reality” of Israel’s relationship with the US administration, Ben-Gvir reiterated that “the Biden administration must stop pressuring us to supply fuel and humanitarian equipment that end up going to Hamas.”

Ben-Gvir added that he learned two things from the responses: First, that many people in Israel agreed with him that Biden’s actions were contributing to Hamas’s ability to fight Israel, and second, that both political analysts and members of the Likud did not like his criticism. Ben-Gvir claimed that thousands of people had written to him saying that they agreed with his claim, and also that an “anonymous source” in the Likud contacted members of the party and told them to bash him publicly.

“I want to say to that source, and I want to say to those Knesset members, and I want to say to those analysts: I do things my way, without wavering, without backing down, [I] continue to raise things that hurt Israelis: There is a problem with the small [war] cabinet’s conduct facing the US administration,” Ben-Gvir said.

In a bizarre occurrence on Monday afternoon, Yoav Gallant and Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz, both in the war cabinet, announced within minutes of each other that they were giving separate press conferences at the same time on Monday evening. The two were unaware of each other’s plans, and Gantz canceled his press conference soon after. Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman criticized the government over the occurrence and argued that it showed that the government was not functioning properly.

In other news on Monday, Finance Minister and Religious Zionist Party chairman Bezalel Smotrich placed the national budget for the year 2024 on the Knesset agenda, over two weeks after a January 20 deadline required by Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Law: State Economy. The Knesset, by law, must debate the budget for a minimum of 30 days, and according to law, on February 19, there will be a sweeping budget cut to all government ministries, which will be in effect until the new budget law passes.

The consequences of the delay are that the government will be unable to conduct any new transactions beginning on February 19 and until the budget passes.

Smotrich at his weekly press conference on Monday said that his party “respected Basic Laws,” but that its methodical work to prepare the budget did not enable him to bring it to the Knesset on time. Smotrich played down the consequences of the February 19 budget cut, saying that it will be a “fake cut,” since the budget bill is expected to pass soon after. Smotrich also laid blame on Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, claiming she advised him to violate the Basic Law rather than lengthen the deadline since changing it over specific issues subverts their constitutional status.

MK Dan Illouz, a member of Likud, led a petition signed by 20 members of the Knesset to members of parliament from the countries that froze United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) funding, requesting that the freeze be made permanent.

The letter argues that, “UNRWA's involvement in activities counterproductive to peace and security, notably on October 7th, necessitate a critical reassessment of aid channels to Palestinians.”