Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 136?

The IDF found in recent days a security video showing Shiri Bibas and her children Ariel (4) and Kfir (1) alive in captivity in Gaza in the early days of the war, Israeli media reported on Monday. 

Later, at a press briefing, IDF Spokesman Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari explained that, on October 7, Shiri was kidnapped with her children by terrorists and brought to an outpost in Khan Yunis, where they were detained by a terror group by the name of Kataib Mujahadin.

There, Shiri was forced by armed terrorists to wear a piece of cloth with Kfir probably attached in a sling under the cloth, with Ariel following her. The terrorists then forced her and her children into a vehicle and onto a different location. 

The video is dated to October 7, and shows they reached Khan Yunis alive, Hagari said.

"From the information available to us, we are concerned for the safety of Shiri and the children, and we will not rest or rest until we bring them home," the spokesman added.  

Hagari also emphasized that Hamas is the sole responsible party for the Bibas family.

The family was told that the video was found in a tunnel or in a hiding place, N12 reported.

Family responds on the video 

Following Hagari's press briefing, the family said in a statement, "These videos tear our hearts out. Witnessing Shiri, Yarden, Ariel and Kfir, ripped away from their home in Nir Oz into this hellscape, feels unbearable and inhumane.

"Kidnapping children is a crime against humanity and a war crime.

"Ariel and Kfir are victims of monstrous evil.

"Our whole family has become hostages along with all the hostages.

"We desperately call on all decision makers in Israel and worldwide involved in negotiations: Bring them home immediately. Make it clear to Hamas that taking children is beyond the pale. Prioritize the return of these children first and foremost in any agreement.

"We want to thank the public in Israel and worldwide who support us, and ask you to continue the struggle for their return home."

Image taken from security camera footage showing the kidnapping of the Bibas family. February 19, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Jimmy Miller, a family member, told Ynet, "This video has not changed anything and does not indicate anything new. A total of photographs from the first days - it does not give an indication of anything. We are hoping that they will return to us as soon as possible and that the government will do everything possible."

"These two children and their parents were supposed to be released during the first stage of the November ceasefire, and while this did not happen, the minimum would have been for them to be released in a humanitarian gesture. We are already expecting everything, the best and the worst," he said.

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

A conference titled “Freedom for Palestine” was hosted last month in Istanbul, hosted by the Al-Quds International Institute (QII), a designated organization fundraising for Hamas; the International Union of Muslim Scholars described as “the supreme authority of the Muslim Brotherhood,” and reportedly also the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue.

This, in addition to other religious organizations and political parties, including the South African branch of QII. One of the conference's stated goals was to work to re-incriminate Zionism as a racist ideology similar to the 1975 UN resolution 3379 rebuked in 1991.

Speakers at the event included Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh (through a video call), Mousa Abu Marzouk and Basem Naim; Mohammad Al-Hindi, no.2 at the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group; Mandla Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela; Sheikh Tareq Al-Suweidan, a notorious Kuwaiti cleric and author of a blatantly antisemitic book titled “The Jews: The Illustrated Encyclopedia;” Turkish and Brazilian parliament members; and others.

The conference also saw screenings of videos distributed by the Hamas militia, the Al-Qassam Brigades, showing the targeting of Israeli soldiers in Gaza by militants, as well as interactive exhibitions supposedly depicting life in Gaza.

A key speaker at the event was Sheikh Hamid Al-Ahmar, an affluent Yemeni businessman who heads the organizing party, the Al-Quds International Institute, an organization sanctioned by the US Department of Treasury in 2012 for being founded by Hamas members as a proxy to raise funds for the terror group under a charity guise, and outlawed by Israel in 2009 for similar reasons.

A pro-Palestinian demonstrator holds a sign, as they take part in a protest against US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Turkey, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Istanbul, November 4, 2023. (credit: MURAD SEZER/REUTERS)

In his speech, Al-Ahmar praised the “Flood of Al-Aqsa,” the name Hamas chose for the massacre of October 7, and called to “support the resistance in all forms” and reject any attempts to demonize it as terrorism. He also warned of the dangers posed by Israel on “the Arab and Islamic nations and all of the freemen of the world,” lauding South Africa for its role at the ICJ and calling on the Al-Sisi regime to open the border crossings with Gaza.

Who is Sheikh Hamid Al-Ahmar?

Aside from heading the aforementioned designated Al-Quds International Foundation, Al-Ahmar is also one of the wealthiest businessmen of Yemeni origin, though, since the Houthi occupation of Sana’a, he moved to exile and now resides in Turkey. His gargantuan conglomerate, the Al-Ahmar Group, holds a plethora of companies and marks in his homeland, with financial relations stretching far outside the Arabian Peninsula, including past collaborations with Motorola, Siemens, General Electric, Lufthansa, KLM, Philips, and more, according to a pamphlet distributed by the group around the mid-2000s. 

Al-Ahmar was also a member of parliament in Yemen, representing the Muslim Brotherhood’s Al-Islah party. His personal website mentions that he also served as owner of the Saba’ Islamic Bank and Yemeni telecommunications group Sabafon and that he is a member of the Oil and Development Committee at the Yemeni Parliament and even Finland’s Honorary Consul General in Yemen.

Sheikh Al-Ahmar also enjoys strong ties to the Hamas leadership: in 2013, Al-Ahmar hosted a delegation from Hamas led by a key actor in the Hamas politburo, Osama Hamdan, on the occasion of his children’s weddings. Additionally, in September 2021, Hamas leader Haniyeh delivered a eulogy for Al-Ahmar’s brother following his passing, and Haniyeh and Al-Ahmar can be seen in several joint pictures across the years.

In the same context, several Arabic-speaking outlets reported that lately, despite historical enmities, Al-Ahmar called on Houthis to assist Hamas in its war with Israel and reportedly even met with leading figures in Hezbollah and the Houthi movement in Lebanon over a year ago.

Finally, Al-Ahmar heads the “League of Parliamentarians for Al-Quds” (LP4Q), a Turkish-based organization that brings together parliamentarians from roughly 15 Muslim countries in addition to Argentina and Italy, whose aim is to create international collaborations at the parliamentary level and act against Israel.

However, despite playing key roles at QII for over a decade and enjoying close ties with Hamas leaders - successive US administrations did not see it fit to designate Al-Ahmar under the terror list on his own - as opposed to their policy regarding QII.

A former high-ranking Israeli security official referred to Al-Ahmar as “the man behind the war of awareness against Israel all around the world, and the coordinator of Hamas's central Da’wah infrastructure, which is centered in Lebanon, and its affiliates are scattered around from South Africa through Malaysia to Turkey.”

The source added that Al-Ahmar enjoys “a worldwide business infrastructure owning banks, telecommunications companies, energy investments, and real estate, all of which aid Hamas’s companies in circumventing Western sanctions. It is surprising that to this day, it has not been dealt with by the Western intelligence and law enforcement systems.”

The source also mentioned that Al-Ahmar has a close partner with what they described as the “senior manager of the business line of Hamas,” Amer Al-Shawa, who was designated last October as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the US treasury.

Al-Shawa is mentioned by the US State Department’s “Rewards for Justice” website, which also offers an incentive of up to $10 million for any information regarding his whereabouts, as forming part of the financial mechanisms of Hamas, adding that he has served as a board member on several Hamas investment portfolio companies and is the chief executive officer of the Turkey-based Trend GYO, a Hamas-linked real estate investment fund also sanctioned by the US.

The partnership between Al-Ahmar and Al-Shawa is multigenerational, as the source added that both figures’ sons are co-owners of a London-based Fintech firm.

“Al-Ahmar does business alongside Hamas members while managing a network of companies all located in the same building in Istanbul. He is also very close with Erdogan,” the source added. “It's mind-boggling that companies, organizations, and even people around him all received proper designation from US authorities, yet he seems to find a way to circumvent US law time and time again,” the source concluded.

A plan to hold a largely declaratory vote in Israel's parliament (the Knesset) against international unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state was canceled on Monday after the opposition party Yisrael Beytenu proposed a more hawkish declaration to oppose Palestinian statehood under any condition.

The cancellation was an indication of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's sensitivity to attacks from the Right, as the decision was an attempt to avoid having to vote against a more hawkish proposal.

The government chose instead to suffice with an announcement in the Knesset that echoed a decision made earlier on Sunday, which said that “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.”

Ministers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, as well as from the Religious Zionist Party (RZP) and Otzma Yehudit, criticized the language, as it did not rule out a Palestinian state in general. However, it was an opposition party – Yisrael Beytenu – that created a problem by demanding that the statement oppose any Palestinian state whatsoever.

Finance Minister and RZP chairman Bezalel Smotrich addressed the issue in a press conference ahead of his party's weekly meeting on Monday and said that while his party opposed Palestinian statehood no matter the circumstances – the threat of the US unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state was a "real diplomatic threat," and therefore the government needed to use language that would garner broad consensus in the Knesset. Smotrich said that 100 out of 120 MKs supporting the declaration would be "significant" and added that there would always be "opposition from the left and from the right."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem, on February 18, 2024 (credit: CHAIM GOLDBEG/FLASH90)

Liberman's, Lapid's comments

Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman charged in a post on X on Monday that the vote over Palestinian statehood was a "spin" since Netanyahu "opposed a unilateral decision, but in parallel, promised and pledged to the Saudis that within the framework of a deal, he would agree to the formation of a Palestinian state in one formulation or another."

The vote was, therefore, actually to "form a Palestinian state within the framework of a deal with the Saudis," and "as always, Netanyahu is trying to cheat everyone," Liberman added.

Yesh Atid chairman MK Yair Lapid claimed on Sunday that Netanyahu was intentionally trying to bring the issue of Palestinian statehood to the center of public discourse in order to distract the public from his government's intention to push ahead with its plan to lengthen military service while maintaining a sweeping exemption for Haredi men.

In an attempt to bring back the spotlight to the issue of haredi service in the IDF, Lapid announced in a press conference ahead of his party's weekly meeting on Monday that he has proposed a bill that "whoever draft-dodges shall not receive money." Lapid also sent a letter to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in which he wrote, "We cannot continue to fill the streets with slogans about 'together we will win,' if there is no 'together we will enlist.'"

Spain will impose sanctions on violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank unilaterally if its European Union partners fail to reach an agreement on the issue, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Monday.

He said Spain, which has also been critical of Israel's military offensive in Gaza, will push for the approval of such sanctions during a meeting of EU's foreign ministers held in Brussels on Monday.

"If there's no agreement, Spain will proceed individually with these sanctions against the violent settlers," Albares told reporters before the meeting.

Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin said earlier on Monday he hoped the EU countries would unanimously approve these sanctions.

Last week, French authorities banned 28 Israeli settlers from entering the country, accusing them of attacking Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Jewish settlers look while Palestinians protest against the Jewish settlements in the Umm Safa village, in Ramallah, West Bank on July 7, 2023. (credit: FLASH90)

Increasing settler violence

UN figures show that daily settler attacks have more than doubled since Hamas' surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and the ensuing assault on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

While international attention has focused on that cross-border assault and Israel's subsequent war there, European officials have also expressed concern about rising violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

IAF jets targeted Hezbollah infrastructure in the Dharya region in southern Lebanon, the military said on Monday.

On Sunday, Israeli intelligence identified a terrorist entering a Hezbollah structure in the Ayta ash-Shab region. Following this, fighter jets were dispatched to attack the building where the terrorist was staying.

In the past day, the IDF targeted a Hezbollah launch site in the area of Aitaroun alongside a terrorist infrastructure in the al-Adisa area, in addition to firing artillery in other areas in Lebanese territory, the military added.

Furthermore, earlier on Monday, the military identified the remains of an aircraft in the Lower Galilee.

The incident is under investigation.  

The International Court of Justice on Monday released a statement by Israel from June 2023 which warned that an advisory opinion by the court on the Palestinian territories would be harmful to any negotiated resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Conflict mediator Qatar on Monday criticized comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which it said he asked the Gulf state to pressure Hamas into freeing Israeli hostages, describing them as a new attempt to prolong the Gaza war.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at the weekend that the pattern of negotiations for a framework ceasefire deal for the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza was "not very promising" in recent days.

"The Israeli Prime Minister's recent statements in which he calls on Qatar to pressure Hamas into releasing the (Israeli) hostages are nothing but a new attempt by him to delay and prolong the war for reasons that have become clear to everyone," Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari posted in a statement on social media platform X.

It was unclear what comments from Netanyahu the Qatari statement was referring to.

Sheik Mohammed, who is also foreign minister, said on Saturday he could not give details of talks but as with past deals there were two elements: humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the number of Palestinians to be released for Israeli hostages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that he had made a "balanced decision" to allow freedom of worship at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque during Ramadan, but that access would be limited according to security needs.

Asked about the possibility of blocking access for Israeli Muslims to Al Aqsa, a flashpoint prayer site in Jerusalem's Old City, Netanyahu's office said: "The prime minister made a balanced decision to allow freedom of worship within the security needs determined by professionals." It gave no details.

Israel often sets limits on which worshippers can reach the prayer site - for example based on age - in order to avoid violence from erupting at the site, which is part of a compound also holy in Judaism.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said over the weekend that Russia had invited Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow, according to Al-Ain media in the UAE. Russia’s state news TASS said it could take place from February 29 to March 2. The invitation is the latest Russian move to try to increase its influence in the wake of the October 7 attack on Israel. Moscow hosted a Hamas delegation in October and Hamas has sought to do outreach to Moscow.