Israel-Hamas War: What happened on Day 130?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden during their phone call on Sunday that "contrary to reports and interpretations in the Israeli media," he is indeed interested in reaching a deal to release the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

However, according to Netanyahu, it should be a deal that can pass through the cabinet, according to senior American and Israeli officials who are familiar with the contents of the conversation.

Is Netanyahu serious about reaching a hostage deal?

Senior officials in the Biden administration have questioned in the last two weeks whether Netanyahu is indeed serious about negotiations to reach a hostage deal or whether, in fact, the continued operation of the IDF against Hamas in the Gaza Strip is higher on his list of priorities.

One of the goals of the conversation between Biden and Netanyahu from the point of view of the White House was to make it clear to the prime minister that the president wants to see Israel conduct serious negotiations to try to reach a deal.

Biden's pressure on Netanyahu led to the fact that the prime minister today dispatched a delegation led by the head of the Mossad for talks in Cairo with the head of the CIA, the prime minister of Qatar, and the head of Egyptian intelligence in an attempt to bring about a breakthrough in the negotiations.

Benjamin Netanyahu and Joe Biden (credit: REUTERS)

'Generous terms' drawn up in Paris

Senior American and Israeli officials said that Netanyahu told Biden that Hamas's position was very far from the "generous terms" that he claimed were drawn up in Paris.

He pointed out that in the previous deal, Israel agreed to give a day of respite for every ten hostages who were released. Now, Israel agrees to give a day of respite to Hamas for everyone hostage who is released.

The prime minister emphasized to the president that he was ready to go to a hostage deal, even though it would stop the operational activity of the IDF - especially with regard to entering Rafah.

"But it is important to us if it is possible," Netanyahu told Biden.

The Biden administration is working “intensely” on a hostage deal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday night as the Israeli delegation to the Cairo talks returned home without any clear results.

“We are working to bring home the remaining hostages in Gaza; we are working intensely with Egypt, with Qatar on a proposal to bring about their release,” Blinken told reporters in Washington.

As part of an intense push for what US President Joe Biden said Monday he hoped would include a six-week pause to the war, CIA Director William Burns held talks in Cairo that followed one he had convened in Paris late last month with Qatar, Egyptian, and Israeli officials. 

Egypt and Qatar have been mediating the deal. Egyptian State Information Services reported that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also held talks with Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al-Thani that also dealt with increasing humanitarian assistance to Gaza and better protection for civilians, Egypt's state information service said.

People hold posters with pictures referring to the hostages captive in Gaza, in Vienna, Austria February 13, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/LEONHARD FOEGER)

Egypt cites 'keenness to continue consultation and coordination'

In a statement on its website, Cairo cited a "keenness to continue consultation and coordination" on the key issues, indicating that no breakthrough was made. 

The Egyptian statement made no mention of Israel. The Israeli delegation had left Cairo for home, a Reuters reporter said. The Israeli prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But Egyptian media reported that the talks had been positive.

At least three Palestinians were killed and 10 others injured by Israeli sniper fire on Gaza's Nasser Medical Complex since Tuesday afternoon, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.

MP Michael Freilich from the opposition New Flemish Alliance Party recounts his astonishment at the response of Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt, who openly admitted as a response to his inquiry that there indeed are groups who operate in Belgium on the account of Hamas, lobbying, and fundraising for the terror group designated as such by EU laws.

Much to Freilich’s shock, the minister also named the European Palestinian Council for Political Relations (EUPAC) as a proxy group fundraising and lobbying for the group responsible for the slaughter, rape, and kidnapping of at least 1,200 people on October 7.

EUPAC vaguely formulates its goals as aiming to “work to invest in the importance of the geo-strategic position of the Middle East region” as part of the Palestinian “struggle towards liberation from occupation.” This is done through meetings with high-ranking European officials, as well as seminars, campaigns, workshops, and more.

The council is led by Majed Al-Zeer, who has been recognized by German security authorities as a leading figure of Hamas operations in Europe, even naming him as a “representative of Hamas in Germany,” as revealed in mid-December 2023 by Der Spiegel. He was designated over a decade ago by Israel as a Hamas operative in Europe, along with the Palestinian Return Center he founded in London.

Another leader of EUPAC is Mazen Kahil, another Israel-designated Hamas leader in Europe, who reportedly served as treasurer of the Committee for Charity and Support for the Palestinians (CBSP, for the French Comité de Bienfaisance et de Secours aux Palestiniens), another group added by the US in 2003 to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists for its financial ties to Hamas.

Israel recovered a video from the last few days of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a tunnel under Gaza's Khan Yunis. The IDF revealed the video to the public on Tuesday evening.

Walla, citing Channel 13's Or Heller, noted that Sinwar was captured on film by a camera installed by Hamas. The IDF has reportedly been operating in that tunnel over the previous days. According to Maariv, the video shows Sinwar surrounded by his family and children. 

Before revealing the video, IDF Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari noted that the IDF had arrested family members of Hamas terror leaders, adding that these relatives are "providing us with large amounts of intelligence."

Hagari stressed that Israeli forces will find Sinwar, "dead or alive."

The head of Hamas’s Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, along with a delegation of officials from the terrorist organization’s leadership, met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Tuesday, Hamas announced on its Telegram channel.

Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian reportedly led an Iranian delegation at the meeting.

According to Hamas, the two parties discussed recent news from Gaza, including political and “on-the-ground” developments.

Hamas added that they reviewed Iran’s diplomatic efforts “to stop the genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and to support Palestinian rights.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich gave the instruction that shipments of flour intended for UNRWA in Gaza be withheld, the ministry announced on Tuesday.

Smotrich, in coordination with Prime Minister Netanyahu, also instructed for an alternative to UNRWA, one that would ensure supplies do not end up in the possession of Hamas, to be examined.

"Now the world also knows that UNRWA is a central part of the war machine of the Hamas terrorists,” Smotrich said. “There is a consensus wall-to-wall in the emergency government and the cabinet on the need to prevent assistance from reaching Hamas, and I will act accordingly in my areas of responsibility."

Sheryl Sandberg spoke of global silence on sexual violence used by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and beyond in a CNN interview on Monday night, discussing the completion of her new documentary, Screams Before Silence.

Sandberg, an American philanthropist and former technology executive known for her fight for equality opportunities for women, unveiled her new documentary based on gender-based violence perpetrated by Hamas this week. Her documentary included the testimony of released hostage Agam Goldstein-Almog.

Goldstein-Almog was only 17 years old when she was brutally kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and taken from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. She watched as her father and older sister were both brutally murdered by the intruders before being rounded up and taken into Gaza with her mother and two younger brothers.

In an exclusive interview, the young survivor told of horrific stories of other captives being sexually violated while in captivity. 

"He entered her in the shower and pointed a gun at her head and started kissing her, and she started crying...he took off all her clothes and touched her all over the body," Goldstein-Almog told of her fellow captive.

"He asked her to touch his member in all kinds of ways and touched her member as well. She told me she just didn't stop crying and he didn't stop doing what he was doing to her. And he enjoys it. And all this time his gun was inside her head," she added.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi stated that the laws surrounding conscription for the army in Israel should change such that all members of Israeli society are called up to defend the country.

In these challenging times, one thing is very clear - everyone should do their part to protect our home,” Halevi said. “This is a different time, and prior realities should be reexamined. We are currently promoting immediate enlistment solutions in order to fill our ranks in light of the ongoing fighting. More of this will be required in the future.

Currently, under Israeli law, Israeli Arabs and the Ultra-Orthodox are not required to serve in the IDF. Last week, war cabinet Minister Benny Gantz said that "in the long term," a service bill must be gradually implemented so that these two groups could "enter the circle of service,"

“The IDF has always sought to integrate all parts of Israeli society among its ranks,” the IDF chief of staff continued. “This war demonstrates the need for change. To join the service, to protect our home. We have a historic opportunity to expand the IDF’s recruitment sources at a time when the necessity is very high. We will know how to produce the solutions and the right conditions for every population that will join this noble mission.”

Halevi also spoke on the latest updates from the ground in Gaza.

"IDF reaching places that the enemy never imagined"

"In the south of the Gaza Strip, in Khan Yunis, we are reaching places that the enemy never imagined we would reach," Halevi said.