Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 135?

Israeli forces found boxes of medicine belonging to hostages kidnapped by Hamas as well as Hamas terrorists posing as medical staff in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said Sunday.

Hundreds of terrorists and suspected terrorists have been arrested from inside the hospital, including terrorists who took part in the October 7 massacre.

Inside the hospital, Israeli forces found many weapons, including some hidden in a vehicle used by Hamas terrorists to conduct the massacre. Additionally, a vehicle stolen from Kibbutz Nir Oz was found in the hospital area.

Boxes of medicine with the names of Israeli hostages on them were found in the hospital. The packages were closed and had not been transferred to the hostages, in violation of commitments made by Qatar to Israel.

"The IDF continues to invest all efforts, operational and intelligence, to return the abductees and will not let up until the mission is completed," said the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.

Hamas is looking for a successor for Yahya Sinwar as communications with the Gaza chief broke down completely, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said at a Sunday situational assessment.

"Hamas has no trust in its commanders," Gallant said in a visit to the IDF's Southern Command. "Hamas's Gaza branch returns no answer - there are no leaders on the field to speak with. 

"This means there is an auction happening to decide who runs Gaza...[Currently,] there is no one in control, and there is no one leading operations."

Gallant: Hamas is losing its fighting spirit

Gallant further stressed that Hamas's Khan Yunis division has been defeated, with the terror forces "no longer as an organized militant force in any form.

"The deepening of our Khan Yunis operations continues to prove its worth," Gallant told commanders at the security assessment. "Some 200 terrorists turned themselves in at Nasser Hospital, dozens more at al-Amal.

"This means Hamas is losing its fighting spirit," Gallant asserted. 

It could take a “year, a decade, and a generation” to transform Gaza, Minister Benny Gantz (National Unity) told the Conference of Presidents in Jerusalem as he rejected calls for unilateral Palestinian statehood.

“War now, peace later,” Gantz said, as he stressed the importance of eliminating the terror group after close to two decades in which Israel tried every option to contain it.

“We have tried everything but eliminating Hamas,” said Gantz, who is a former IDF chief of staff and a former minister of defense.

Lasting peace in the region could take a 'generation,' Gantz says

Israel is “facing a very long journey to change the reality in Gaza and from Gaza,” explained Gantz, who is also a member of the war cabinet.

“I would dare to say it would take a year, a decade, and a generation,” Gantz stated. He described a slow, painstaking process to transform the enclave’s governance and to ensure that Hamas is eliminated and does not regain control of Gaza.

“A year of getting in and getting out, getting in and getting out,” Gantz elaborated, as he explained that it would get easier and could be done with decreasing military force.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has compared Israel's war against Hamas to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis' extermination of Jews in the Holocaust on Sunday, Brazilian media reported.

"What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people does not exist at any other historical moment," said the president.

"In fact, it existed when Hitler decided to kill the Jews." Foreign Minister Israel Katz recalled the Brazilian ambassador to Israel for a reprimand following Lula's statements, saying, "The words of the Brazilian president are shameful and serious. No one will harm Israel's right to defend itself."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided with Katz to recall the Brazilian ambassador, saying, "This is about trivializing the Holocaust and trying to harm the Jewish people and Israel's right to defend itself. Comparing Israel to the Nazi Holocaust and Hitler is crossing a red line. Israel fights for its defense and securing its future until complete victory, and it does so while upholding international law." 

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, "Accusing Israel of perpetrating a Holocaust is outrageous and abhorrent. Brazil has stood with Israel for years." Gallant later accused President Lula of supporting Hamas - describing them as "a genocidal terrorist organization." The minister also said that Lula "brings great shame to his people and violates the values of the free world."

IDF Northern Command head Maj. -Gen. Uri Gordin met on Sunday with the northern residents' local defense groups to boost morale and coordinate further efforts versus Hezbollah and, if necessary, vis-a-vis Syria.

Gordin held a series of meetings with the different groups spread out across the northern border, both in order to hear their latest security concerns and to personally speed up defense processes to strengthen the groups.

“If we end up needing to go on the attack in the North, it will be with awesome power. The defense of your towns by your local defense groups, both those that have been evacuated and those that have not been evacuated, are a part of our broader defense concept,” said Gordin.

He added, “You are not just residents; you are an inseparable part of the defense line and our greater defense apparatus” in the North.

Further, Gordin complimented the local defense groups not only on their new level of organization and training that they have undertaken since October but also on their contribution to “changing the security reality” in the North, especially versus Hezbollah.

Although Gordin did make the comment about a readiness to launch a broader attack on Hezbollah if it does not withdraw its Radwan troops to around the Litani River, his comments emphasizing the local defense groups power to change reality also led to a recent report by the Jerusalem Post that even if Hezbollah does not withdraw 100%, there may be a point where the government will urge evacuated northern to return to their homes having made “enough” progress.

The idea being entertained quietly by some top defense officials would be that having pushed back most of Hezbollah’s forces to the Litani and boosted northern security from one to two IDF divisions, as well as boosting the local northern defense groups, residents could be convinced to return.

Yesh Atid's Yair Lapid rejected a call by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to support a government motion rejecting a unilateral recognition by Western states of a Palestinian state, calling this a "transparent attempt to divert the discussion away from the return of the hostages and the draft-dodger law."

Lapid stressed that Yesh Atid is opposed to all unilateral moves.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has compared Israel's war against Hamas to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis' extermination of Jews in the Holocaust on Sunday, Brazilian media reported.

"What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people does not exist at any other historical moment," said the president.

"In fact, it existed when Hitler decided to kill the Jews." The October 7 attack by Hamas, which killed over 1,200 people, has been reported as the "deadliest day for the Jews since the Holocaust," as described by US President Joe Biden days after the attack and also by numerous Israeli officials and Jewish social media users.

The president stated that the deaths in Gaza are a "massacre" and a "genocide," reports quoted him as saying.

Lula made these statements in an interview with journalists at a hotel he was staying at in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The president was previously in Cairo, where he met with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The Brazilian daily newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported that the war in Gaza was the main topic of Lula's five-day trip abroad.

Luka had already criticized Israel for its "disproportionate response" after the Hamas attack.

Israel is "facing a very long journey to change the reality in Gaza and from Gaza," which will unfold over "a year, a decade, and a generation," MK Benny Gantz said during an address to the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations on Sunday.

Gantz described his approach as "war now, peace later." This meant that in the coming year, Israel must defeat Hamas militarily and begin a process of replacing it with unaffiliated Palestinians to take over the administration of civilian life in the Gaza Strip, with the backing of an international coalition.

During the next decade, Israel could then agree to the development of the Strip – including irrigation, industry, and other aspects.

A Border Police officer was seriously wounded in a firefight with terrorists as Israeli forces eliminated a senior terrorist in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Tulkarm on Sunday, according to a joint statement by the IDF, Shin Bet, and Border Police.

Undercover Border Police units operated under the guidance of Shin Bet intelligence and in cooperation with the IDF to arrest Ahmad Fayez Al-Awfi, a commander in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades suspected of being involved in several shooting attacks and the murder of Tulkarm residents suspected of collaborating with Israeli forces.

While attempting to arrest Awfi, a firefight erupted, during which the terrorist was eliminated. Israeli forces also exchanged fire with other terrorists during the raid, eliminating another terrorist identified by Palestinian media as Nabil Atta Muhammad Amer.

During the exchange of fire, a Border Police officer was seriously wounded and transferred to the hospital for medical treatment.

Weapons seized by Israeli forces in Tulkarm (credit: ISRAEL POLICE)

Senior Hamas terrorist arrested in Ramallah

Additionally, overnight, a senior Hamas terrorist was arrested by Israeli forces in Ramallah.

In Balata, near Nablus, IDF soldiers arrested two suspects, and in the area under the responsibility of the Yehuda Brigade, several suspects were questioned.

Since the beginning of the war, over 3,100 suspects have been arrested in the West Bank, including over 1,350 associated with Hamas.

Despite the independent success of IDF ground forces in invading Gaza, Israel simply would not have had sufficient time to execute the invasion this far, if its Iron Dome forces had not negated most of Hamas’s and Hezbollah’s rocket threats throughout.

On January 14, the IDF said that Hamas had fired some 9,000 rockets into Israeli airspace from Gaza, while some 2,000 rockets fell short.

Besides Hamas, Hezbollah had fired some 2,000 rockets or anti-tank missiles into Israel from Lebanon and another 30 or so from Syria.

Trying to understand what changed for the Iron Dome teams during this much more intense war on both the northern and southern fronts – though Israeli air defense has been very strong for well over a decade running – The Jerusalem Post interviewed IDF Lt. “O” responsible for the Haifa region and Lt. “N” responsible for the Gaza Corridor.