Israel-Hamas War: What happened on Day 146?

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday said the killing of over 100 people seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza was a situation that would require an effective independent investigation.

Speaking in St. Vincent and the Grenadines ahead of a regional summit, Guterres said he was "shocked" by the latest episode in the war with Israel, in which Palestinian authorities say over 30,000 civilians have been killed since Oct. 7.

A senior Hamas member responsible for the security of Hamas leaders was arrested by Israeli forces several months ago, KAN news reported on Thursday.

The Hamas official was tasked with organizing the security of the heads of Hamas' political bureau, including the head of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.

The arrested official gave Israeli forces valuable intelligence about Hamas leaders in Gaza, as well as information about the days leading to the October 7th massacre and the first days of the war.

Sinwar believed to still be under Khan Yunis

On Monday, The Washington Post reported that Israeli, US, and Western intelligence and security officials believe that Sinwar is still hiding in tunnels under Khan Yunis and has not moved to Rafah or escaped to Egypt.

IDF soldiers operating in the tunnel used by Yahya Sinwar's brother in the Gaza Strip (credit: BENJAMIN WEINTHAL)

According to the report, the central challenge in capturing or killing Sinwar will be trying to do so without killing or injuring nearby hostages.

“It’s not about locating him, it’s about doing something” without putting the hostages at risk, a senior Israeli official told the Washington Post.

Sinwar was born in Khan Yunis in 1962. He became infamous for murdering suspected Palestinian collaborators, gaining the nickname "the Butcher of Khan Yunis" and eventually landing in an Israeli prison until he was released in 2011 as part of the deal to release IDF soldier Gilad Schalit from Hamas captivity.

Earlier in the war, Israeli media reported that the defense establishment believed that Sinwar and the commander of Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammad Deif, were hiding under Khan Yunis, although, in recent weeks, some reports alleged that the two had fled to Rafah or even into Egypt.

The Hamas leader intended to conduct fighting from an underground fortified base called "Room 6," which was equipped for extended stays with military personnel and communications lines, according to IDF intel.

"Sinwar plans and acts accordingly to each situation and doesn't necessarily trust those around him," a military source told Maariv. "He will make mistakes, and we need to be there or in proximity to recognize it."

Now, he moves from place to place and plans his actions accordingly. "The distance between us and him will be shortened by one mistake too many of his."

Amir Bohbot contributed to this report.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Friday and said the situation in Gaza is "terrible".

"Deep indignation at the images coming from Gaza where civilians have been targeted by Israeli soldiers. I express my strongest condemnation of these shootings and call for truth, justice, and respect for international law," Macron said in a post on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing Thursday with nine Jewish students from colleges and universities across the country who spoke about their experiences with antisemitism. 

Committee Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) has spearheaded efforts to investigate universities for failing to address documented student complaints of antisemitism on campus. 

The students asked to participate in the hearing were Shabbos Kestenbaum, Harvard University; Noah Rubin, University of Pennsylvania; Talia Khan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Eden Yadegar, Columbia University; Hannah Beth Schlacter, University of California, Berkeley; Joe J. Gindi, Rutgers University; Kevin Feigelis, Stanford University; Yasmeen Ohebsion, Tulane University and Jacob Khalili, Cooper Union. 

Also in attendance were leaders of Jewish organizations including Hillel International, Jewish Federations of North America, The NFL union, the Brandeis Center, The Tikvah Fund, and the Endowment for the Middle East. 

The schools represented at Thursday's hearing made international headlines for threats against Jewish students in the wake of the attacks on October 7. Harvard and Columbia are included in the Committee's investigations. 

Protesters calling for a cease fire in Gaza and an end to the Israel-Hamas conflict occupy the rotunda of the Cannon House office building with a civil disobedience action on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, October 18, 2023. (credit: JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS)

All nine of the students spoke about feeling unsafe and unheard on their campuses. They criticized their university's administrators for failing to take meaningful if any, action to their documented complaints. They spoke of their universities holding double standards for enforcing policies. Their universities are not calling out hate. 

"Harvard University purports to be training the next generation of American leaders of policymakers. I can assure you if the people in my classroom are America's future policymakers, we are in deep, deep trouble," Kestenbaum said. "Jewish students are fearing for their lives. They're not comfortable expressing how they truly feel."

Title VI lawsuit

Kestenbaum is one of the plaintiffs in a Title VI lawsuit against Harvard. Kestenbaum is a second-year graduate student at the Harvard Divinity School studying religion and politics and is also the president and founder of the school's Jewish Student Association.

At Columbia, Yadegar said Zionist has become a sanitized code word for Jews. Yadeger said there have been two instances of physical assault against Jews on campus; one Jewish student was assaulted at a protest and another was assaulted in the library while hanging up posters of the hostages. 

Foxx concluded the hearing by saying Congress will do everything it can to make sure students are safe on campus.  

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir expressed outrage after some Palestinian detainees being held in administrative detention were released on Thursday night, rejecting assessments by the Shin Bet and IDF that the move was necessary to make room in prisons and accusing the Shin Bet of giving Palestinians a "gesture for Ramadan."

On Thursday evening, the IDF and Shin Bet announced that - in light of a situation assessment by all the security agencies in Israel which found that prisons are running out of room - administrative detainees who only have a month left to their detention would be released to make room for detainees who pose a greater threat.

In response to the announcements, Ben-Gvir claimed that there was not an issue of space in Israeli prisons, saying that the order to release the detainees was made "under the direct guidance of the head of the Shin Bet as a 'gesture' for Ramadan."

"The prison service has no discretion in the matter," added Ben-Gvir.

Hamas terrorists who were caught during the October 7 massacre and during the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip, seen at a courtyard in a prison in southern Israel, February 14, 2024 (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

"It is alarming that on the day when two Jews were murdered, the head of the Shin Bet chooses to pay tribute to the murderers, and this is a day after a request by the Shin Bet extended the administrative detention of a Jewish settler for the second time."

Tenuous relationship between Shin Bet, Ben-Gvir

Ben-Gvir has had a tenuous relationship with the Shin Bet throughout his candidacy.

On Thursday, Haaretz reported that the Shin Bet had stopped sending representatives to situation assessments conducted by Ben-Gvir due to the minister's degrading treatment of the agency. The agency has also expressed concerns that the classified content of such meetings would be leaked by Ben-Gvir or his staff who are not required to leave their phones outside, according to the report.

Last year, Ben-Gvir and the Shin Bet clashed over whether or not the security agency should be involved in combatting Arab-sector crime within Israel.

France said on Thursday the shooting of more than 100 Palestinians as they waited for an aid delivery was "unjustifiable" and all light had to be shed on the incident.

"In any event, it is Israel's responsibility to comply with the rules of international law and to protect the distribution of humanitarian aid to civilian populations," Foreign Ministry Deputy spokesperson Christophe Lemoine said in a statement.

Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee called for UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini to testify publicly before the committee regarding allegations against agency members participating in the attacks on October 7, Committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R-TX) announced in a statement on Thursday. 

McCaul sent a letter to Lazzarini on Wednesday along with Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL), Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). 

McCaul previously issued this request in January, to which Lazzarini said UN privileges and immunities forbore him from being compelled to testify in an open session. 

UNRWA COMMISSIONER-GENERAL Philippe Lazzarini speaks during an interview in Amman, last November. (credit: Alaa Al Sukhni/Reuters)

UNRWA employee involvement on October 7 

"With regards to your letter, we must first point out that UN privileges and immunities do not forbear voluntary testimony. Second, many members of this Committee are gravely concerned, but sadly, unsurprised, by allegations that employees of UNRWA participated in the horrendous October 7th attack and that thousands of employees have familial or direct ties to Hamas and other terrorist organizations," McCaul wrote in the letter. 

"Furthermore, we are outraged by recent reporting that a Hamas military installation and server room is located directly beneath UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters. To make matters worse, Hamas operated this installation by siphoning electricity from UNRWA," the letter said. 

McCaul said Lazzarini must indicate his willingness to voluntarily appear for a public hearing no later than March 14. 

The “tragic” Palestinian deaths during violent eruptions around the delivery of Gaza aid could complicate talks for a hostage deal, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday as he downplayed initial optimism about the possibility of an agreement by early next week.

He discussed what the White House called an “alarming incident” in Gaza on Thursday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken separately spoke with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani.

Both countries have been mediating a deal for the remaining 134 hostages, which would include a pause to the Gaza war and the release of Palestinian security prisoners and terrorists jailed by Israel.

An Israeli delegation was in Qatar this week for talks following a high-level meeting over the weekend in Paris.

Saudi Arabia Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman is received by Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on the sidelines of the World Cup in Doha, Qatar, November 20, 2022 (credit: VIA REUTERS)

Biden had originally optimistically predicted that a deal could be in place as early as Monday. Before boarding Marine One on Thursday, he told reporters it “probably” would not happen by then, adding, “But I am hopeful.”

One reporter asked him if he thought the Gaza aid incident would complicate the talks. “I know it will,” Biden responded.

Leaders feel that the Gaza tragedy calls for a ceasefire

The two back-to-back aid delivery incidents that led to possibly over 100 Palestinian deaths in a situation that involved both Israeli fire and a stampede, highlighted for global leaders the urgent need to pause, if not end the war.

The White House said that the emir, Sisi, and Biden “grieved the loss of civilian lives and agreed that this incident underscored the urgency of bringing negotiations to a close as soon as possible and expanding the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”

Biden in his separate calls with the two leaders also discussed the terms of a deal, which the White House said would last for at least six weeks and could “be built into something more enduring.”

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that the reason for the calls between the US, Egypt, and Qatar was that Biden wanted to “try and push past this situation to put in place a temporary cease-fire, Miller said.

The aid incident in Gaza may well “complicate” the deal, but our hope is that it will not and we are going to push very hard to try to get a deal over the line,” he said.

In Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he was doing everything possible to achieve the “sacred goal” of freeing all the hostages. He had demanded in advance, he said, the names of all the hostages that would be part of the deal.

His words appeared to acknowledge speculation that not all the hostages would be freed in the arrangement which is expected to involve only 40 or so of the captives. It’s speculated that one captive would be freed on every day of the pause in the war, in exchange for 10 jailed Palestinians.

Netanyahu said he had not yet received an answer to his request. It is “too early to tell” if there will be an arrangement for a deal in the coming days, Netanyahu said.

He pledged, however, not to cave to essential 

In light of the sanctions imposed by the US, Britain, and France on settlers in Judea and Samaria, MK Sukkot interviewed the BBC and aggressively attacked the steps made by the UK against settlers. In the interview, Sukkot attacks the sanctions by saying that they are a "violation of basic human rights" and the principles of democracy.

Zvi then proceeded to claim that this is an expression of distrust in "functioning [Israeli] legal and enforcement systems" and that "we will not agree that our allies express a lack of trust in the Israeli enforcement system without the Israelis having a way to respond."

Who is Zvi Sukkot

Zvi Sukkot is a member of the Israeli Knesset and is part of the Religious Zionist party. Sukkot, who is associated with far-right political views and lives in the Beitar Ilit settlement 8 km southwest of Jerusalem, has been suspected of Jewish terror attacks on Palestinian people. In 2023, he was appointed as chairman of the Foreign and Security Committee's Judea and Samaria Sub-Committee.

Zvi Sukkot attends a Religious Zionist Party meeting at the Knesset, Jerusalem ,January 23, 2023. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Sukkot was exempt from military service as he was deemed unfit due to his radical political views and "distrust in the military" as a result of Israel's decision to leave the Gaza Strip unilaterally. In 2021, Sukkot wrote a Facebook post expressing his thoughts on violence and demonstrated regret over some of his past actions.

'How would you feel if Manchester United players were sanctioned?'

Later in the interview, MK Sukkot addressed the viewers of the British news outlet and asked "How would you feel if the accounts of players in Manchester United were impounded by people in the rival team, does that make sense to anyone?"

In the end, MK Sukkot called on the leaders of the states to act immediately to cancel the sanctions: "I suggest you come and get to know the settlers closely about whom you have only heard the plots of extreme leftist organizations, you will find that they are very different from the image of the demon you have painted for yourself."

According to a UN spokesperson,  the United Nations investigators expect to receive materials from Israel related to its accusations that staff with the UN Palestinian refugee agency took part in the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas militants.

The allegations became public five weeks ago when the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced it had fired some staff after Israel verbally provided the agency with information. Israel had accused 12 staffers, of which nine were fired, the UN later said.

The independent, internal UN investigation by the Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) was immediately launched as the United States - the largest donor to UNRWA - and other countries paused funding following the allegations.

Guterres Briefed on UNRWA Investigation

OIOS briefed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday on its work over the past month, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Thursday. Dujarric did not say when the investigation might be complete.

"The investigation remains ongoing. OIOS will continue to seek and to corroborate additional information and to compare the information obtained with materials held by Israeli authorities, which OIOS expects to receive shortly," he said.

"OIOS staff are planning to visit Israel soon to obtain information from Israeli authorities that may be relevant to the investigation. Cooperation with the OIOS investigation by Member States has thus far been adequate," Dujarric added.

Guterres has described UNRWA as "the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza" and pledged to act immediately on any new information from Israel related to "infiltration of Hamas" in the world body.