Israel-Hamas War: What happened on Day 147?

Hamas's armed wing, the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, announced on their Telegram channel on Friday that seven hostages had been killed during Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Hamas named three of the allegedly killed hostages as Chaim Gershon Peri, 79, Yoram Itak Metzger, 80 and Amiram Israel Cooper, 85. The terrorist group said a later announcement would contain the names of the remaining four.

All three men were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.

The information provided by Hamas is unconfirmed, and Hamas has previously shared false information on the well-being of hostages as part of its use of psychological warfare.

Hamas's latest statement on the seven hostages

“We have previously announced that our contact has been cut off with our mujahideen who are guarding a number of enemy prisoners in our honest sector,” Hamas announced on their Telegram, “and that we believe that a number of the prisoners have been killed as a result of the Zionist bombing.

“After examination and scrutiny during recent weeks, we have confirmed the martyrdom of a number of our mujahideen and the killing of seven enemy prisoners in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Zionist bombing.”

Hamas released a video of three elderly male Israeli hostages pleading for their release. December 18, 2023. (credit: Screenshot/Hamas Telegram)

"We confirm that the number of enemy prisoners who were killed as a result of the military operations of the enemy army in the Gaza Strip may exceed seventy prisoners," the statement claimed. "We have been keen all along to preserve the lives of the prisoners, but it has become clear that the enemy leadership is deliberately killing its prisoners to get rid of this file.

"At the same time, we affirm that the price we will take in exchange for five or ten living prisoners is the same price we would have taken in exchange for all the prisoners if the enemy’s bombing operations had not killed them."

The last component of the statement is a reference to the current proposed ceasefire deal, which would begin on the Islamic holiday of Ramadan and see 10 security prisoners released per Israeli hostage.

Videos on the hostages

The three hostages announced dead by Hamas on Friday had all appeared in a video in December, where they pled for their release from captivity.

With his hair fashioned into an Islamic-style, Peri had said “You have to release us from here – it does not matter the cost."

“We don’t want to be casualties as a direct result of the IDF military airstrikes,” he said.

Hamas had released a video teasing their announcement about the fate of a few of their hostages held in Gaza earlier in the day.

The video, which opened with a question mark, showed the images of three hostages whos identities have not yet been confirmed by the Jerusalem Post. Underneath the images read the test, "What do you think?"

Members of the Al-Qassam Brigades take part in a military festival organized by Hamas to honor the dead Palestinians who were killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in Gaza City, on October 4, 2021 (credit: ATIA MOHAMMED/FLASH90)

It then proposed three scenarios regarding the fates of the hostages. In the first, all had been killed, in the second some had been killed and others wounded, and in the third, all were still alive.

"Tonight we will inform you of their fate," the video concluded.

In January, Hamas released a nearly identical video announcing the fates of Yossi Sharabi, Itai Svirsky, and Noa Argamani. The IDF later confirmed the deaths of Sharabi and Svirsky.

In the coming weeks, the US will provide humanitarian aid to Gaza via airdrops and eventually a maritime corridor, the White House announced on Friday. 

The White House's announcement comes a day after the disaster in northern Gaza, where 100 Palestinians were killed while attempting to receive humanitarian assistance from aid trucks. 

National Security Spokesman John Kirby called Thursday's event tragic and alarming. The US asked Israel to investigate the situation, which Kirby said Israel is taking seriously. Kirby said the White House doesn't have enough information yet to verify the IDF claims that they only fired warning shots. 

"This event underscores the importance we believe of expanding and sustaining the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza since so much of it is in need," Kirby said, "and by no means should what happened yesterday preclude or prevent additional humanitarian assistance from getting in."

The air drops will be carried out in coordination with international partners, particularly Jordan, Kirby said. 

US national security spokesperson John Kirby speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, US, March 1, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/ELIZABETH FRANTZ)

Kirby said there's few military operations that are more complicated than humanitarian assistance airdrops because so many parameters have to be exactly right. The airdrops will be part of a sustained effort Kirby said and will improve over time. 

Gaza's population density makes airdrops complicated

It's extremely difficult to do an airdrop in such a crowded environment as Gaza that's so densely populated, Kirby said. 

The first airdrops will likely be food. The biggest risk is making sure no one gets hurt on the ground and will be safe for people so they don't become victims of the drop, Kirby said. 

The drop also needs to be in a location that is accessible to aid organizations to help with the collection and distribution of the food, according to Kirby. 

The idea for air drops has been worked on for a while, Kirby said, but the need has become more acute in recent weeks. 

"[Thursday's] event certainly underscored for the president the need to continue to find alternative routes and alternative means of getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza," Kirby said. 

The White House is trying to get ground relief into Gaza, which is why Kirby said the hostage deal needs to be reached. The air drops will be a supplement, not a replacement, for moving in aid on the ground. 

Kirby said the White House's announcement will not come as a surprise to the Israelis. 

"This isn't about pulling levers and trying to hold something over Prime Minister Netanyahu. The war cabinet, they have been willing to work with us on getting aid and assistance into Gaza," Kirby said. "I want to be, as I said earlier, clear that it's not enough." 

Kirby was pressed if the US will still militarily support Israel after the events in Northern Gaza on Thursday. 

Kirby also said there has been no change to the suspension of UNRWA funding. 

The Hamas delegation met with the Special Envoy of the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, at the headquarters of the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday, the terror organization stated on its Telegram channel.

President Joe Biden is expected to announce on Friday his intention to order a military air drop of humanitarian aid into Gaza, four US officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The officials declined to discuss exact timing of the expected US air drop of aid into Gaza, although two officials said it could happen in the coming days.

At least 576,000 people in the Gaza Strip - one quarter of the enclave's population - are one step away from famine, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Humanitarian conditions in Gaza

A humanitarian disaster is unfolding in the Gaza Strip, particularly the north, after nearly five months of an Israeli air and ground campaign that has ruined swathes of the crowded coastal strip and pushed it to the edge of famine.

Palestinians arrive in Rafah after they were evacuated from Nasser hospital in Khan Younis due to the Israeli ground operation, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 15, 2024. (credit: MOHAMMED SALEM/REUTERS)

With people eating animal feed and even cactuses to survive, and with medics saying children are dying in hospitals from malnutrition and dehydration, the UN has said it faces "overwhelming obstacles" getting in aid.

David Deptula, a retired US Air Force three-star general who once commanded the no-fly zone over northern Iraq, said air drops are something the US military can effectively execute.

"It is something that's right up their mission alley," Deptula told Reuters.

"There are a lot of detailed challenges. But there's nothing insurmountable."

Nicaragua has filed a case at the International Court of Justice against Germany for giving financial and military aid to Israel and for defunding the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), the UN's top court said on Friday.

Nicaragua asked the ICJ, also known as the World Court, to issue emergency measures requiring Berlin to stop its military aid to Israel. The court usually sets a date for a hearing on any requested emergency measures within weeks of a case being filed.

According to Nicaragua's claim Germany is violating the 1948 genocide convention and the 1949 Geneva convention on the laws of war in the 'occupied' Palestinian territories.

South Africa's case at the ICJ

It builds on the case South Africa brought against Israel for allegedly committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Last month the ICJ said South Africa's claims that Israel violated the genocide convention were not implausible and ordered emergency measures, including a call for Israel to halt any potential acts of genocide in Gaza.

Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip on February 29, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Under the genocide treaty countries not only agree not to commit genocide but also to the prevent and punish any possible genocide. It also makes complicity in genocide and attempting a genocide a violation of the treaty.

Germany is one of the largest arms exporters to Israel together with the United States.

Rocket sirens sound in Zikim.

IDF fighter jets successfully struck Hezbollah military infrastructure in the Lebanese territory of Ayta ash Shab, the IDF announced on Friday afternoon. 

Hezbollah terror and military infrastructure were also struck in the Jabal Blat region. 

A number of rockets launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah fell in northern Israel in the area of Margaliot on Friday afternoon, the IDF confirmed. No casualties were reported, and the rockets landed in open terrain.

South Africa said on Friday the killing of Palestinians awaiting aid in Gaza breached the World Court's provisional orders in a legal case in which Pretoria has accused Israel of committing genocide in the coastal enclave.

The Hamas-run Gaza health authorities said on Thursday that Israeli forces had killed over 100 Palestinians trying to reach a relief convoy.

Israel blamed most of the deaths on crowds that swarmed around aid trucks, saying most victims were trampled or run over though an Israeli official said Israeli troops had "in a limited response" later fired on crowds they felt posed a threat.

South Africa's statement on the event

"South Africa condemns the massacre of 112 Palestinians and the injury of hundreds more as they sought life-saving aid," South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement.

"This latest atrocity is another breach of international law and in breach of the binding provisional orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)."

In a case brought by South Africa, the ICJ in January ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its troops committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and to report back on what steps it was taking in a month's time.

Israel has denied allegations of genocide and said it has the right to defend itself.

The South African statement said Israel had submitted a report to the ICJ, which Pretoria was preparing a response to.

"An immediate and unconditional call for a ceasefire is now a moral and life-saving necessity," it said.

National Unity chair and Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz called on Friday for a unified country during the war.

"The entire nation of Israel is united, strong, and steadfast in the quest for military victory, the return of our abductees, and securing our future," he said. "We don't stop on our journey - until we bring them home."

The minister also addressed the issue of haredi conscription.

"Maintaining the people's army is an existential need to secure our future that cannot be compromised," he added. "Everyone deserves equal rights. Everyone deserves to keep their beliefs and way of life. And everyone should take part in the right to serve the country. It can be done. This must be done in the correct way, with broad agreement with both the ultra-Orthodox and the Arabs."

Egypt's foreign minister said on Friday Cairo was hopeful that talks initiated by Qatar could agree on a ceasefire in Gaza before the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Gaza truce talks have been taking place in Paris since last week in what appears to be the most serious push for weeks to halt the fighting in the Palestinian enclave between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists and to secure the release of Israeli and foreign hostages.

"I can say that we have reached a point of understanding, we will still exert every effort with our brothers in Qatar and the US and others close to the negotiations. We are hopeful that we can reach a cessation of hostilities and exchange of hostages," Minister Sameh Shoukry said at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey.

"Everyone recognizes that we have a time limit to be successful before the start of Ramadan," he said.

The proposed ceasefire deal

A proposed deal from the start of Ramadan on March 10 and 11 includes a 40-day pause in all military operations and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages at a ratio of 10 to one, a senior source close to the talks told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Bring Them Home Now poster featuring photographs of the hostages (credit: BRINGTHEMHOMENOW)

"We will continue to strive in collaboration with the United Nations, with our partners to relieve the suffering of the Gazan people and to increase the level (of aid). Practically, this cannot happen without the cessation of hostilities," Shoukry said.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki, speaking at the same panel with Shoukry, said Israel would not announce a ceasefire unless international pressure is imposed on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

"If we are not able to reach a ceasefire in the next two or three weeks, is clear we will see another round of attacks on Rafah and the continuation of a genocide," he said.