Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 137?

The number of antisemitic incidents on college campuses in the United States since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7 passed 1000 on Monday, Adam Lehman, President and Ceo of Hillel International, revealed during a joint session of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations and the Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs on Tuesday morning.

According to Lehman, the number of antisemitic incidents marked a 700% rise since the parallel period a year earlier. Some 44 of these incidents were physical attacks – more than the past 10 years combined; and 56% of Jewish students they feel unwelcome on college campuses, he added.

A security official claimed that Israel has information indicating that the Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar and his brother, recently managed to escape through tunnels between Rafah and Egyptian territory, with the main concern being that they fled with captives, the Saudi newspaper Elaph reported on Tuesday.

The same security source mentioned that Israel has been watching in recent years around ten large tunnels that can hold cars and small trucks in the area. It was also reported that in Israel, they believe that Hamas smuggled Iranian weapons, including missiles and technological devices, through these tunnels, in addition to smuggling terrorists through Sinai for training in Iran and Lebanon. The newspaper sought a response from an IDF spokesperson, who dismissed the allegations.

A Hamas delegation headed by Ismail Haniyeh, along with the Deputy Chairman of Hamas in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, are set to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday, Israeli media reported.

Al-Hayya led the Hamas delegation in the Cairo ceasefire talks earlier this month.

The IDF will issue its first interim report on probing the October 7 failure to prevent Hamas's invasion of southern Israel in early summer 2024, possibly as early as June.

Already for some months the IDF has been discussing how to carry out the probe and the investigative activities are due to kick into full gear now and by the start of March.

The IDF, continuing its activities against Hamas across the Gaza Strip, successfully eliminated dozens of terrorists and struck a terror cell that was attempting to stage an attack on Israeli troops, the IDF stated.

Soldiers of the 7th Division’s combat team, operating in western Khan Yunis, killed tens of terrorists since Monday morning, the military added.

The troops reportedly directed combat aircraft to target and kill several of the terrorists. 

Additional terrorists were eliminated through tank and sniper fire, the IDF said.

An initiative by the US administration to end Israel's conflict with Hamas by forming a Palestinian state provides a "tailwind for terrorists," Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu of the far-right Otmza Yehudit party said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

Rather than "award" the Palestinians a state, Hamas must come "crawling and begging" for a hostage deal after being completely defeated, Eliyahu said. Palestinians from the West Bank will then be afraid that they will be destroyed like Hamas if they attack Israel – and will not dare. "This is what the US did to al-Qaeda and ISIS … and despite the voices by those people who brought onto us the curse of Oslo and the idea to recognize a Nazi state alongside the state of Israel … we will break them," he added.

The IDF announced the death of Staff-Sergeant Maoz Morell early Tuesday morning. 

Morell, 22 years old, was from the settlement of Talmon. He was wounded in combat in the southern part of the Gaza Strip last week and succumbed to his wounds on Monday. 

A billboard displayed in Times Square called on the mother of the Emir of Qatar, Moza bint Nasser, to partake in the release of hostages being held in Hamas captivity this week, The New York Post reported on Saturday.

The image on the billboard was of 1-year-old Israeli hostage Kfir Bibas, alongside a picture of bint Nasser with large text reading, "It's in your hands. Release the hostages."

Sheikha Moza bint Nasser of Qatar is the mother of the Emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and is also considered to be an influential figure in the realm of global philanthropy, the Post noted. 

The IDF presented on Monday a security video showing Shiri Bibas and her children Ariel (4) and Kfir (1) alive in captivity in Gaza back in October.

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. At some later point, the Bibas family became the responsibility of Hamas, who had overall responsibility for the invasion from the start.