Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 148?

On Saturday, the US military carried out its first airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza, two US officials said.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the airdrop was carried out using three C-130 planes.

"We are conducting planning for potential follow-on airborne aid delivery missions," the statement said.

A US official told Reuters the airdrops took place over southwestern Gaza and the town of Mawasi.

One of the officials said more than more than 38,000 meals on 66 pallets were airdropped into the Strip, where the United Nations says one quarter of the population is one step from famine. Palestinians posted videos on social media showing boxes of aid being dropped.

The White House has said the airdrops will be a sustained effort and that Israel was supportive of the operation.

Under pressure at home and abroad, the Biden administration is also considering shipping aid by sea from Cyprus, some 210 nautical miles off Gaza's Mediterranean coast, according to a US official.

Humanitarian aid is seen airdropped to residents of southern Gaza by a joint-coordinated effort, February 28, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)

Some experts said its being forced to resort to costly, inefficient airdrops was the latest demonstration of Washington's limited influence over Israel as it pursues its war with Hamas. Washington is arming Israel and considers it one of its closest allies in the region.

Critics of airdrops say they have only a limited impact on the suffering and that it is impossible to ensure supplies do not end up in the hands of terrorists.

Other countries including France, Egypt, and Jordan have carried out airdrops of aid into Gaza.

The decision to drop aid was made on Friday, a day after the deaths of Palestinians surrounding a truck of humanitarian aid threw a spotlight on the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. 

Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza said 115 people were killed in Thursday's incident, attributing the deaths to Israeli fire and calling it a massacre.

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

Israel says it is committed to improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and accuses Hamas terrorists of endangering Palestinian civilians by using them as human shields.

The IDF also published aerial footage of the event.

Trucks entering Gaza

Before the conflict, Gaza relied on 500 trucks with supplies entering daily.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said on Friday that during February, an average of nearly 97 trucks were able to enter Gaza each day, compared with about 150 a day in January.

Deliveries through the Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza have been almost halted. While trucks have sometimes passed through Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing, they have been disrupted by Israeli protesters seeking to block deliveries. UNRWA says the crossing was closed from Feb. 8-10 and Feb. 15-17.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

Troops belonging to the Egoz Unit, an elite unit in the IDF Commando Brigade, raided a western Khan Yunis compound associated with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the IDF stated on Saturday.

Over the course of the operations in western Khan Yunis, Commando Brigade troops engaged and eliminated dozens of terrorists.

Inside the Sinwar-affiliated compound, the Israeli soldiers reportedly found an AK-47 assault rifle. In another structure in the area, the troops uncovered large amounts of terrorist military equipment. Among the ordnance retrieved by the IDF were uniforms, vests, submachine guns, and ammunition.

The IDF noted that the operational activities of the Egoz Unit on the terrorist structures in the area were conducted following precise intelligence.

The military added that over the previous weeks, Commando Brigade troops, as well as other brigades operating in the Khan Yunis area, were joined in combat by the commanders and soldiers of the Commando Brigade’s Training School.

IDF Egoz Unit troops operate in western Khan Yunis. March 2, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

During their activities in the area, the IDF reported, Israeli troops eliminated dozens of jihadist operatives and raided numerous terror infrastructures. 

Large quantities of weapons confiscated

The IDF troops located large quantities of weaponry, including mortars, weapons, grenades, and other combat equipment.

The Egoz Unit in particular has been engaged in heavy fighting in the are in recent weeks. Late last month, the IDF reported on an operation in which Egoz Unit troops assaulted a building in which terrorists had established a fortified position.

The Commando Brigade soldiers employed a "pressure cooker" procedure to eliminate the entrenched combatants before raiding the structure and locating a significant quantity of weaponry.

These efforts have been part of a recent Israeli push in western Khan Yunis to continue rooting out the terror elements in the area.

On Friday, the IDF reported that the military had been pursuing Hamas resources being housed in civilian structures and conducting raids on homes belonging to senior Hamas operatives. These raids had taken the IDF to areas in which it had not previously operated.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Saturday that it received a report an attack 15 nautical miles west of Yemen's port of Mokha, where the Houthis that control much of Yemen have been attacking shipping lanes.

"The crew took the vessel to anchor and were evacuated by military authorities," UKMTO added in an advisory note.

The Cargo ship Rubymar, which was abandoned in the southern Red Sea after being targeted by Yemen's Houthis on Feb. 18, has sunk, a statement by the internationally recognized Yemeni government said on Saturday.

The Palestinian Authority hopes a ceasefire can be agreed in the Gaza war in time for Ramadan, its foreign minister, Riyad al-Maliki, said on Saturday.

Israel and Hamas have been negotiating through mediators over a possible ceasefire in Gaza, with the aim of halting fighting in time for Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, due to begin this year on March 10.

"We hope that we will be able to achieve a ceasefire before Ramadan, we hope to be able to achieve one today, yesterday, but we have failed," he said at a news conference at a diplomatic forum in Antalya, Turkey.

Ceasefire discussions in Cairo

Egyptian security sources said on Saturday that ceasefire negotiations were due to resume in Cairo on Sunday.

Hamas, which precipitated the war in Gaza by attacking Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages, has said it will not free all its captives without a comprehensive deal to end the war.

IDF armored troops operating in Gaza, February 29, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)

Israel, which has assaulted the Gaza Strip, killing more than 30,000 people according to the Hamas-run Palestinian health authorities, has said it will agree only to temporary pauses in fighting to release hostages, and will not end the war until Hamas is eradicated.

Maliki called on the international community to make more efforts for a ceasefire.

When asked about the PA's role for the governance of Gaza after the war, Maliki said: "The only legitimate authority that will operate and continue to operate Gaza is the Palestinian Administration. This is how we see the situation in post-war Gaza."

The PA, which exercises limited self rule in parts of the West Bank, lost control of Gaza to the Hamas terrorist group in 2007.

Maliki also said the PA President Mahmoud Abbas will pay a visit to Ankara on Tuesday and meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

An Israeli delegation is expected to arrive in Cairo on Saturday as part of negotiations for a ceasefire-hostage release deal in the Gaza Strip, KAN reported citing Egyptian sources.

According to the report, the Israeli delegation will present the names of the Palestinian terrorists that Israel refuses to release and will demand to receive the list of hostages that will be included in the deal.

Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Sameh Shoukry, referring to the negotiations, noted: "We cannot say that we have reached an understanding in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas yet," Maariv quoted him as saying.

Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper Al-Akhbar reported that Israel received warnings, according to which any delay of the discussions, "wastes time and delays reaching a ceasefire agreement before the beginning of the month of Ramadan."

Egypt still insisting on deal agreed in Paris

Sources who spoke to the Lebanese newspaper stated that in recent days, US pressure exerted on Israel hasn't been successful, and that Egypt still insisted on sticking to the course of the deal agreed upon in Paris, which 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.

Gaza hostage families protest on Ayalon highway on January 18, 2024 (credit: LIOR SEGEV)

Al-Akhbar also reported that the Israeli delegation was accompanied by unannounced visits by American officials, who in turn held secret meetings that lasted long hours.

Under the proposed ceasefire, hospitals and bakeries in Gaza would be repaired, 500 aid trucks would enter into the Strip each day, and thousands of tents and caravans would be delivered to house the displaced.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Three were killed in a vehicle in southern Lebanon after it was attacked by a drone near the city of Naqoura, Maariv reported on Saturday morning citing Arab media.

The drone that attacked the vehicle was allegedly fire by Israel, Walla reported, citing reports from Lebanon.

This is a developing story.

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. 

Heavy gunfire and traffic disruptions were seen on Friday in some areas of Haiti's capital, the local US embassy said on Friday, a day after other violent events left four police officers dead.

Violence has sparked during Primer Minister Ariel Henry's visit to Kenya this week.

Earlier on Friday, the two countries signed a deal to secure a plan to send 1,000 police officers to lead a UN-approved mission aimed at tackling gang violence in the Caribbean nation.

Kenya announced plans in July last year to lead the mission to Haiti, where gangs control most of the capital and nearly 5,000 people were killed in the violence last year.

But Kenya's High Court ruled the deployment, initially expected by January, unconstitutional in the absence of a "reciprocal arrangement" with the host government.

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry speaks at a ceremony for the installation of Frantz Elbe as Chief of the Haitian National Police after the resignation of former Chief Leon Charles, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti October 21, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/RALPH TEDY EROL)

That has effectively placed the entire mission on hold, even as the United States and Canada have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to it, and some countries have committed armed personnel.

Wave of violence

A wave of panic swept through downtown Port-au-Prince on Thursday as violence and heavy gunfire broke out, in what a gang leader said was a demonstration against authorities.

The armed clashes involving gangs, police, and vigilantes took place on the same day Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry arrived in Kenya for talks on the deployment of a multinational security mission in the country backed by the United Nations.

By midday, most institutions and businesses in the city had closed and thousands of people were trying to flee the downtown area on foot or public transport, witnesses said.

Special police units were deployed throughout the city and national police trade union SYNAPOHA said four officers had been killed, including a chief inspector.

Hamas claimed on its Telegram channel on Friday that seven hostages had been killed during Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Hamas named three of the hostages that had been allegedly killed 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 has previously named a hostage as killed only to later release them, as was the case of Hannah Katzir. 

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,” 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 the Peri, Metzger, and Cooper. Underneath the images, read the text, "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.

About the hostages

Peri had been at his home on Kibbutz Nir Oz with his wife on October 7, when Hamas invaded and murdered over 1200 people.

He had prevented his wife's potential kidnapping or murder by giving himself up while she remained hidden, his son told Reuters.

Cooper and Metzger's wives had been kidnapped on October 7 but later released as part of a temporary ceasefire deal.

Tovah Lazaroff and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.