Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 136?

Hassan Fadlallah, a Lebanese member of parliament and senior Hezbollah official, told Al Jazeera that everywhere in Israel was within range of Hezbollah missiles, Ynet reported on Monday.

He stated that Israel "wants to apply military pressure to calm its residents who live in the north. From day one, threats to destroy Lebanon have been issued. Israel is not in a position to set conditions."

He further added, according to Ynet, "Every point in Israel is within the range of Hezbollah missiles. The resistance has prepared all scenarios and is ready for the worst possibilities." 

The Deputy Chairman of Hamas in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, acknowledged in an interview with Al Jazeera on Monday that Hamas still had capabilities in Rafah, according to a recap of the interview posted to the Hamas Telegram channel. 

Al-Hayya led the Hamas delegation in the Cairo ceasefire talks earlier this month, Reuters reported at the time.

"Netanyahu retreated last week from what he had agreed to in the Paris paper, and I say that the occupation today is prolonging the battle with lies and hopes that will not be reached," Hamas quoted al-Hayya as saying on Monday. 

Al-Qassam Brigades still in Rafah

"Sometimes, he says the high price demanded by the movement in exchange for prisoners, and sometimes, he says he wants to dismantle the resistance and what remains of the capabilities of Al-Qassam in Rafah," he added.

Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades are the military wing of the terror organization.

Hamas politburo member Khalil al-Hayya attends a news conference in Damascus, Syria October 19, 2022. (credit: REUTERS/YAMAM AL SHAAR)

In recent weeks, Israel has called for a military operation in Rafah in order to destroy Hamas's remaining battalions there. 

In December, al-Hayya told Al Jazeera that the terror group conditioned the release of the hostages on the end of the Israeli "aggression."

Yemen's Houthi militants said on Monday they attacked two US ships, Sea Champion and Navis Fortuna, in the Gulf of Aden.

"The targeting operation was carried out with a number of appropriate naval missiles, and the casualties were accurate and direct, thanks to God," the group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a statement.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency received a report on Monday of an incident 100 nautical miles east of Yemen's port of Aden.

The UKMTO added that authorities were investigating the incident and no further details were immediately provided.

Unmanned underwater vessels

The decision by the Houthis to use unmanned “underwater vessels” presents a new danger. The group already used ballistic missiles, and small watercraft as well as helicopters in its attacks on ships. CENTCOM says that its “actions will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US Navy and merchant vessels.”

However, there are questions about whether the Houthis can and will be deterred. The group was pressed by Iran in October to join Hezbollah and Hamas in initiating attacks on Israel. In addition, Iran operationalized militias in Iraq and Syria to attack US forces.

As such, the Houthis are a key frontline force for Iran now, which has required the Houthis to continue to act against shipping. Even a few attacks a month are apparently enough to deter some shipping companies from using the important shipping lane via the Red Sea. 

Seth J. Frantzman contributed to this report.

An explosive device was thrown on an Israeli car on a road near Homesh in the West Bank, Israeli media reported on Monday. 

One person was wounded lightly, according to KAN. 

The military said forces were sent to the scene, provided medical treatment to the wounded, and were searching the area for suspects.

All European Union countries except Hungary warned Israel on Monday against launching an offensive in Rafah that they said would deepen the catastrophe of some 1.5 million refugees crammed into the city on the southern edge of Gaza.

"An attack on Rafah would be absolutely catastrophic ... it would be unconscionable," Ireland's Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said before a meeting of foreign ministers from the 27 EU member states in Brussels.

After the talks ended, all but one of them called in a joint statement for "an immediate humanitarian pause that would lead to a lasting ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and the provision of humanitarian assistance."

The statement was issued in the name of "Foreign Ministers of 26 Member-States of the European Union" and diplomats said Hungary - a close ally of the Israeli government - was the sole country that did not sign up.

"We ask the Israeli Government not to take military action in Rafah that would worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian situation and prevent the urgently needed provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance," the ministers said.

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a mosque in Rafah, February 12, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA)

Israel continues operations in Rafah

Israel is preparing to mount a ground invasion of Gaza's southernmost city, which it has called a last bastion of Hamas control after nearly five months of fighting.

Israel accuses Hamas terrorists of hiding among civilians, something the group denies, and says "extraordinary measures" were being taken to avoid civilian casualties.

But EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said it would be impossible to prevent civilian deaths.

"We have to continue putting pressure on Israel to make them understand that there are so many people in the streets of Rafah, it will be impossible to avoid civilian casualties," he said.

"This, certainly, will be against the respect of humanitarian law."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also called on Israel to respect humanitarian law, but said that Israel had the "right to self-defense" as it was clear that Hamas fighters were still operating from Rafah.

"The most important thing would be that Hamas would lay down its weapons," she said.

"Over a million people went to the south of Gaza because the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) told them so. They can't just disappear in the sky."

The United States has proposed a rival draft United Nations Security Council resolution that would underscore the body's "support for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable," according to the text seen by Reuters on Monday.

Washington has been averse to the word ceasefire in any UN action on the Israel-Hamas war, but the US draft text echoes language that President Joe Biden said he used last week in conversations with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The US draft text also "determines that under current circumstances a major ground offensive into Rafah would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement including potentially into neighboring countries."

Israel plans to storm Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than 1 millions Palestinians have sought shelter, prompting international concern that such a move would sharply worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The draft US resolution says such a move "would have serious implications for regional peace and security, and therefore underscores that such a major ground offensive should not proceed under current circumstances."

Palestinians gather near a crater at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 18, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)

It was not immediately clear when or if the draft resolution would be put to a vote in the 15-member council.

Algeria's stake in the matter?

The US put forward the text after Algeria on Saturday requested the council vote on Tuesday on its draft resolution, which would demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield quickly signaled that it would be vetoed.

Washington traditionally shields its ally Israel from UN action and has already twice vetoed council resolutions since Oct. 7. But it has also abstained twice, allowing the council to adopt resolutions that aimed to boost humanitarian aid to Gaza and called for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses in fighting.

The US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar are seeking to negotiate a pause in the war and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Algeria put forward an initial draft resolution more than two weeks ago. But Thomas-Greenfield said the text could jeopardize the "sensitive negotiations" on the hostages.

The Gaza war began when fighters from the Hamas terrorist group that runs Gaza attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. In retaliation, Israel launched a ground invasion on Gaza that health authorities say has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians with thousands more bodies feared lost amid the ruins.

"With or without a permanent settlement, Israel will maintain full security control over the entire area west of Jordan," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.

"This, of course, includes Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip," he clarified. 

A wave of hostile aircraft intrusion alerts sounded in Israel's northern border on Monday evening. 

Sources in Yemen reported US strikes in the region of al-Hudaydah in Yemen on Monday, according to N12. 

The Shin Bet, in conjunction with the police, arrested an Israeli citizen resident of the Negev, along with his wife, in January on suspicion of having ties with Hamas terrorists abroad, the Shin Bet announced on Monday. 

The investigation revealed that the 53-year-old suspect, Osama al-Okbi, identified with Hamas ideology and transferred financial aid to Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, amounting to tens of thousands of shekels.

Al-Okbi found the funds through charity, collecting donations from mosques in the Negev, which he would subsequently transfer to the hands of the Hamas in the Strip, the Shin Bet said.

Contact with senior Hamas officials

The Shin Bet also noted that the suspect was in contact several times with senior Hamas officials during trips to Turkey, using his wife’s presence as a cover story. On these occasions, al-Okbi raised funds for Hamas’s terror activities. 

SALEH AL-AROURI and Yahya Sinwar, in Cairo, 2017. Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and others remain alive, hidden somewhere in the hundreds of kilometers of tunnels that exist under the rubble in Gaza, says the writer. (credit: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

During his most recent trip to Turkey, in June 2023, al-Okbi met with the then-head of Hamas’s political bureau Saleh al-Arouri, who was killed in Lebanon in January 2024.

The State Attorney's Office filed to the Be'er Sheva District Court an indictment against Osama al-Okbi for contact with a foreign agent and terrorist offenses.

Al-Okbi was charged with the offenses of contact with a foreign agent, prohibition of dealing with terrorist property, and prohibition of dealing with property for terrorist purposes, the State Attorney said.