Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 135?

The government issued a proclamation disavowing unilateral Palestinian statehood, which the Knesset is expected to ratify Monday, as Israel hardened its stance against attempts by Western countries to issue such recognition.

“One thing Israel cannot agree to is an international diktat that would seek to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state, basically force a Palestinian state on Israel after the horror of October 7,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Conference of Presidents in Jerusalem on Sunday night.

US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew was in the room as Netanyahu described to the Jewish-American leaders how the government, at its weekly meeting that afternoon, had unanimously approved a statement detailing its position on unilateralism.

Israel's stance on a future with Palestinians 

“Israel utterly rejects international diktats regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians. A settlement, if it is to be reached, will come about solely through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions,” Netanyahu said as he read out word for word the text of the government proclamation. 

“Israel will continue to oppose unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Such recognition in the wake of the October 7th massacre would be a massive and unprecedented reward to terrorism and would prevent any future peace settlement,” Netanyahu stated to applaud from the audience.

“You should know that the people of Israel are really united on this,” he said, as he asked the Conference of Presidents to also affirm the statement.

Netanyahu’s statement and the government vote marks the third time in as many days that the Prime Minister has spoken out about this issue, which was also discussed by the security cabinet on Thursday night. 

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) had demanded that the security cabinet and or the government take such a step as European countries have weighed unilateral statehood declarations, and the US has pushed for a two-state resolution to the conflict as part of its renewed push for an Israeli-Saudi normalization deal.

At the Conference of Presidents, which gathered at the Museum of Tolerance, Lew was asked if the Biden Administration planned to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood.

Norway has agreed to help transfer frozen tax funds earmarked for the Palestinian Authority (PA) that were collected by Israel, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, providing vital funding to the Western-backed entity.

"The temporary scheme will play a crucial role in preventing the Palestinian Authority from collapsing financially," the Norwegian ministry said in a statement.

In a London theater, a British comedian, Paul Currie, berated an Israeli member of the audience for refusing to stand up and applaud the Palestinian flag, shouting at him in abusive language to “get out of my show.”

In Ontario, Leah Goldstein, a champion cyclist and motivational speaker whose parents are Israeli and who served in the IDF over three decades ago, was disinvited from being the keynote speaker at a women’s empowerment event because of her background.

In Arizona and New Mexico, two clubs that scheduled a performance with the Jewish rapper Matisyahu canceled shows following complaints that he performed in front of IDF soldiers and for pro-Israel groups.

All of that happened in the last week, part of a disturbing trend of what JTA described as a “growing number of incidents in which Jewish and pro-Israel athletes and celebrities have had appearances scuttled, or threatened to be canceled, amid fierce criticism by pro-Palestinan activists.”

And that is to say nothing about pro-Israeli politicians, such as Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who are badgered constantly by pro-Palestinian (pro-Hamas?) protesters asking how many children need to die before they condemn “Israel’s genocide.”

The chilling impact on pro-Israeli, Jewish performers

And the reaction from the pro-Israel community? Generally, very polite.

In London, the theater issued an apology and said Currie would never be invited back to perform; in Arizona, Matisyahu performed a benefit concert at an alternative venue; and in New York, Adams approached a group of protesters haranguing him and said simply: “Bring the hostages home.”

But these types of incidents have a chilling impact on other pro-Israeli or Jewish performers and politicians who might be unwilling to stand with Israel out of fear that they, too, will be blackballed or hounded. The result will be fewer public figures willing to voice support for Israel, creating the impression that such support is not out there.

The reflexive, polite response of the organized Jewish community to those canceling appearances, because the guest is Jewish, a Zionist, once served in the IDF, or supports Israel, is to issue a condemnation, released data showing a startling increase in antisemitism, or ask for an apology.

A suspicious envelope was found at the Prime Minister's Office on Sunday evening, with security guards and forensic teams from the police rushing to the scene.

There are many hostages still held by Hamas in Rafah, Israel's hostages and missing person coordinator Gal Hirsch said in an interview with CNN's Alex Marquardt on Saturday.

Hirsch made this statement after being asked by Marquardt if a hostage deal could be reached before any Israeli ground operation in the southern Gazan city. The Israeli official also said that there are many terrorists located in the city as well.

"Hamas is still here," he said. "We do not want to cause collateral damage. Rafah has many people there that Hamas uses right now as human shields. We are doing our best - everything we can, everything that is possible, to avoid collateral damage," he continued. "But Rafah must be next because we must release our hostages."

"We want a deal very much," Hirsch said, "and we know we need to pay prices, but Hamas's demands are disconnected from reality - delusional. We hope very much that they will come much closer to the zone of a potential agreement."

A deal "out of bounds"

When asked by Marquardt what specifically about the deal is "out of bounds" for Israel, Hirsch said that Hamas knows their demands are completely out of bounds and expressed concern about who exactly is on the other side of the negotiations within Hamas.

"We need proof that on the other side, there is someone who can deliver," the Israeli official continued regarding the question of whether Hamas officials are in touch with their own leaders on the ground in Gaza. The proof that Hirsch says he wants to see includes whether or not the medical supplies that were sent to Israeli hostages actually reached them. 

Visitation rights to the Temple Mount for Palestinian Muslims from the West Bank will be limited to those over the age of 60 or under the age of 10, and limitations on Muslim Israeli citizens will be "examined", a source confirmed on Sunday evening.

The decision was agreed upon at the end of a meeting on the issue between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and a number of other ministers and security officials.

The number of West Bank Palestinians that meet the criteria is approximately 15,000, and "tens of thousands" of residents of east-Jerusalem and Muslim Israeli citizens will also be allowed in, but the Israel Police will first examine the option of an age limit for the latter groups, the source said.

The meeting included members of Israel's war cabinet – Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, National Unity ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, and Shas chairman MK Aryeh Deri – as well as Ben-Gvir, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz. The forum was convened ad-hoc for a discussion on this specific issue.

The month-long Muslim holiday of Ramadan, which begins this year on March 10, usually brings with it heightened security tensions, and tensions are expected to be higher than usual this year due to the ongoing war in Gaza. Reports on Friday, which a spokesperson for Ben-Gvir said on Sunday were "largely correct," said that the national security minister's position was to prevent Arab residents of the West Bank from entering the mount entirely while only allowing entry for Israeli Arabs aged 70 and above.

Ben-Gvir expressed concerns that adopting the other security bodies' positions could lead to the display of tens of thousands of Hamas flags on the Temple Mount, and lead to outbreaks of violence.

US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew dismissed reports about potential US unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood, as he underscored that such a future state would be demilitarized.

“We have never said that was our policy,” Lew told the Conference of Presidents when quizzed about the matter on Sunday night.

“Our policy is that there should be an over-the-horizon process” toward Palestinian statehood that involved Israel, said Lew, who took up his post in October and rarely makes public addresses.

Lew stresses 'real possibility' for Saudi peace deal

He advocated for the advancement of a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia that would include a two-state option.

“Now is a moment in time where there is a real possibility that by engaging with normalization negotiations with Saudi Arabia and engaging in a process of of working to reform, revamp and revitalize the Palestinian Authority, that there could be a demilitarized Palestinian state that lives side by side” with Israel, Lew said.

“If the value of having normalization” with Saudi Arabia is as important as I think it is,” it will force a conversation in Israel about this, Lew said.

Residents of Gaza border communities will be allowed to return to their homes starting on March 1, according to an agreement reached between the leaders of the communities, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the director-general of the Finance Ministry, the director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, and the director-general of the Tkuma Directorate.

Those who choose to stay in the hotels for evacuees will be able to do so until July 7. Grants will be provided to the affected residents as well.

On Friday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant shared further details about the 12 UNRWA employees accused of participating in the October 7 attack on Israel. The details are important because they shed light on the background of the men and key aspects of how they were connected to the attack. This possibly provides a window into a larger story about those participating in the massacre of October 7.

First of all, here are a few details that Gallant shared on Friday. “In addition to these 12 workers, we have significant indications, based on intelligence, that over 30 UNRWA workers participated in the massacre, facilitated the taking of hostages, looted and stole from Israeli communities, and more,” he said. This means UNRWA has lost its legitimacy and Gallant has “instructed the defense establishment to begin transferring responsibilities related to the delivery of aid, to additional organizations.”

Israel believes that out of 13,000 UNRWA employees, 12% percent are affiliated with Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. “185 UNRWA workers are active in the military branches of Hamas and 51 are active in the PIJ military branch,” Gallant said. Hamas has exploited this to use UNRWA institutions to store weapons and also build tunnels under them.

What might these details reveal about the larger picture of October 7? If we assume that UNRWA’s employees are representative, to some extent, of the wider society in Gaza, then is it possible to conclude that Hamas has successfully infiltrated around ten percent of Gaza? Certainly, Hamas, when there were Palestinian elections, polled larger than ten percent. But it didn’t always poll so high. There was a time when the extremist group had only a small number of hard-core murderous supporters. Therefore, it may be reasonable to conclude that removing Hamas from Gaza or at least removing it from being embedded into the civilian society, is possible. This is because disentangling it from the 90 percent who are not connected to it is likely possible.

The number of members compared to the number who are actively involved in fighting is also interesting. Gallant said that Israel believes that there are 1,468 members of UNRWA who are active in Hamas or PIJ. However, of those, a total of 185 are involved in the “military branch,” and 51 are part of PIJ. This could illustrate that even among those who are members of Hamas in Gaza, around ten percent of them are actually fighters. Let’s do a little math here now. There are around two million people in Gaza. Half of them are men. While women are active in Hamas, men make up the terrorists in the Hamas battalions in Gaza. Therefore, let’s say there are a million males in Gaza, but half of them are under the age of 18, according to most reports on the demographics of Gaza. Therefore, there are around 500,000 potential adult male recruits for Hamas. Some of these men are too old, and the UNRWA list of 12 men shows that many were born in the 1970s and 1980s. Therefore, the actual demographic of recruits might be around 300,000. Hamas recruits teenagers and children through summer camps, but it’s hard to know how many teens might be members of their fighting group.

If we take 300,000 potential recruits and take ten percent of that, we get 30,000, which is the actual estimate used for the size of Hamas battalions. Has Hamas successfully recruited ten percent of the military-age men in Gaza? Maybe it has. But the UNRWA numbers tell us that in places where civilians do support Hamas or are active with the group, maybe ten to twenty percent will be part of its terrorist squads.

What this may reveal is that Hamas doesn’t have a huge pool of recruits to bring in new men to its battalions. The IDF estimates that it has eliminated around 10,000 Hamas fighters and wounded another 10,000. That represents around 18 of the 24 Hamas battalions in Gaza. Many of those battalions began the war with around 1,000 men and have lost several hundred men in battle and seen another few hundred wounded. That means they are down to just a third of their original strength.

How would Hamas fill these ranks again? Clearly, it would have to resort to pressing teenagers into its ranks or going deep into the battling order by recruiting older civilians who support Hamas but had chosen not to be fighters. That means recruiting people who already chose not to be active fighters.

Israel swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko was booed by the crowd at the Doha World Championships after finishing runner-up in the women's 400 meters individual medley on Sunday.

A chorus of boos rained down on Gorbenko as she was interviewed by the floor presenter at the Aspire Dome pool after the race.

Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko just got booed during her interview after getting 2nd in the Women’s 400 IM at the Swimming World Championships in Doha pic.twitter.com/3ajYuryn63

— Kyle Sockwell (@kylesockwell) February 18, 2024

Briton Freya Constance Colbert won the event.