Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 154?

 British foreign minister David Cameron said on Friday the US-led plan to build a temporary harbor in Gaza to bring aid into the enclave would take time, reiterating his call for Israel to open the port of Ashdod in the meantime.

"It's going to take time to build," Cameron told UK broadcasters of the harbor.

"So the crucial thing is today the Israelis must confirm that they'll open the port at Ashdod."

Terrorists in the West Bank carried out an attack on a military outpost near the settlement of Homesh on Friday, wounding at least three, according to the Samaria Regional Council.

The terrorists attempted to flee and were pursued by the IDF.

At least three Israelis were wounded by an explosive device during the pursuit and were evacuated to a nearby hospital, according to Israeli media.

One was in serious condition, and two were in a light condition and are being treated in the field, although there are conflicting reports on the number of injured.

Preliminary investigations showed a shooting near the yeshiva area in Homesh.

JEWISH MEN work in Homesh, May 29. (credit: FLASH90)

The terrorists fled in the direction of the nearby village of Silat e-Dhahr and, during the pursuit, set off an explosive device, according to an IDF statement.

Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, told broadcaster N12 that "The Palestinian Authority is trying to heat the sector in northern Samaria. The attack symbolizes a step up, and it is a test of the government and the senior members of the security establishment. The citizens of Israel need to have security in northern Samaria and in the entire State of Israel." 

Reapproved construction

Last year, construction at Homesh was approved by the government after it had been abandoned in 2005 as part of the general disengagement.

Homesh was largely constructed on privately owned Palestinian land belonging to the residents of Burka.

The residents's rights to their property were reaffirmed in 2013 when the High Court of Justice ruled that they had the right to farm the land.

The High Court approved the construction of a yeshiva at Homesh in 2023 without any guarantees to Palestinians they would be able to access their land.

Israeli officials have discussed arming some civilians in Gaza to provide security protection for aid convoys into the besieged enclave, as part of wider planning for humanitarian supplies after fighting ends, the Israel Hayom daily said on Friday.

With civil order increasingly strained in Hamas-run Gaza and municipal police refusing to provide security to convoys because of the risk of being targeted by Israeli forces, the issue of secure distribution of supplies has become a major problem.

The civilians would not be linked to terrorist groups including Hamas but it remained unclear who they might be, the newspaper said. It said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had postponed a decision on the issue.

The Prime Minister's office declined to comment on the report, which came a week after dozens of Palestinians were killed in an incident in which crowds surrounded a convoy of aid trucks entering northern Gaza and troops opened fire.

Thousands of Palestinians converge on aid trucks in the Gaza Strip, February 29, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Aid stampede incident 

The incident underlined the chaotic conditions in which aid has been delivered into Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of the growing threat of famine after more than five months of war.

"We were not carrying weapons or anything, we are civilians. We wanted to get food because we are starving here in Gaza," said Mustafa Lolo, who said he was shot in the legs trying to get aid.

On Friday, the IDF released the results of a review of the circumstances behind the Feb. 29 truck convoy incident and repeated that troops had only fired at individuals they felt posed a threat.

"The command review found that IDF troops did not fire at the humanitarian convoy, but did fire at a number of suspects who approached the nearby forces and posed a threat to them," it said in a statement.

The United Nations Security Council will debate as early as Monday a report which found that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed acts of sexual violence during its October 7 invasion of Israel, according to the Foreign Ministry.

On Friday morning, it reported that three permanent members of the UNSC—the US, France, and the UK—had requested an emergency session on the matter. Israel is not a member of the UNSC and can not request a debate on its own.

It had hoped that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres would use a rare mechanism to push the Security Council to focus on the issue.

Terrorists in the West Bank carried out an attack on a military outpost near the settlement of Homesh on Friday, wounding two, according to Israeli media.

The terrorists attempted to flee and were pursued by the IDF. Two people were wounded by a reported explosive device during the pursuit and were evacuated to a nearby hospital, according to Israeli media.

This is a developing story.

At least five people in Gaza have been reported dead on Friday afternoon after being hit by aid packages airdropped by the US, according to Israeli media citing Gaza reports.

According to the reports, the parachutes on the humanitarian aid packages did not open.

Aside from those killed, it has been reported that several others have been injured by the fall of the aid packages. 

This is a developing story.

Shin bet operatives killed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist who promoted terror acts against the security forces in Silat al-Harithiya, located in the West Bank, the IDF stated on Friday. 

The PIJ terrorist killed was Muhammad Adel Muhammad Shelvi. Shelvi was involved in promoting significant terrorist activity for the terror organization, including shooting attacks and explosive usage.

Additionally, nine wanted people from Judea and Samaria were arrested by the IDF throughout Thursday night. Those arrested were transferred for further investigation.

The United Nations Security Council could debate as early as Monday a report which found that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed acts of sexual violence during its October 7 invasion of Israel, according to the Foreign Ministry.

On Friday morning, it reported that three permanent members of the UNSC—the US, France, and the UK—had requested an emergency session on the matter. Israel is not a member of the UNSC and can not request a debate on its own.

It had hoped that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres would use a rare mechanism to push the Security Council to focus on the issue.

When he didn’t do so, Foreign Minister Israel Katz turned to UNSC members and asked that they advance the issue. Slovenia, one of ten non-permanent members, is also expected to join the call, and Malta is weighing the matter, the Foreign Ministry said.

The United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council have adopted a number of resolutions on Gaza but have yet to condemn Hamas for the brutality of its October 7 invasion of Israel, in which victims were raped, dismembered, and burned alive.

Algeria’s Ambassador to the United Nations Amar Bendjama votes in favor as US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield vetoes a vote on a UN Security Council resolution to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. New York, U.S., February 20, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR)

This week, Pramila Patten, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, issued a report that complied with Guterres’s request.

Conflict-related sexual violence

It concluded “that there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred in multiple locations during the 7 October attacks, including rape and gang-rape in at least three locations, namely: the Nova music festival site and its surroundings, Road 232, and Kibbutz Re’im.”

Israel has pushed for UN action based on that report. Her report is expected to be discussed in an upcoming UNSC meeting on Sexual Violence in Combat.

Katz has believed that Guterres, who has been highly critical of the high civilian cost of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas, has not been outspoken enough on Hamas’s atrocities.

The Foreign Minister said Friday, ”I congratulate all the countries that supported our request to convene an emergency discussion of the Security Council” and expect that others will join them.

The aim is for the UNSC to discuss the report’s “serious findings” and to issue an “explicit condemnation of Hamas for its sexual crimes” as well as “an unequivocal call for the immediate release of all the hostages in Gaza,

Such a move would be “a great victory for justice and morality and an important step on the way to returning the abductees home.”

He emphasized the specific importance of the immediate release of the remaining 134 hostages out of the 253 taken on October 7, particularly as the report found substantial credible evidence that some of them had been raped in captivity.

With every passing moment, the hostages are in mortal danger, Katz said.

He charged that the “UN Secretary-General continues to close his eyes and cover his ears as if nothing happened. Precisely on International Women's Day, his continued silence is a disgrace and casts a stain on his head that will not be erased.”

He has been issuing such statements since the release of the report.

Guterres’s spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, has responded in the past, stating that the “Secretary-General has fully supported the work of Pramila Patten in her visit to Israel to look into conflict-related acts of sexual violence linked to the 7 October terror attacks. The work was done thoroughly and expeditiously. His only instruction to her was “tell the truth.” In no way, shape, or form did the Secretary-General do anything to “bury” the report.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she expected a maritime aid corridor to start operating between Cyprus and Gaza over this weekend, taking desperately-needed aid to besieged Palestinians.

Von der Leyen said a pilot test run of food aid collected by a charity group and supported by the United Arab Emirates could be leaving Cyprus as early as Friday from the port of Larnaca in Cyprus.

The United Nations human rights office said on Friday that an Israeli offensive in Gaza's border town of Rafah could not be allowed to happen because it would cause massive loss of life.

"Should Israel launch its threatened military offensive into Rafah, where 1.5 million people have been displaced in deplorable, subhuman conditions, any ground assault on Rafah would incur massive loss of life and would heighten the risk of further atrocity crimes," said Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office spokesperson.

"This must not be allowed to happen."