Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 160?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved a military operation for Rafah in Southern Gaza, that will also include the evacuation of civilians, his office said on Friday after the war cabinet met in the early afternoon.

The Rafah operation has been one of the levers Israel has used to pressure Hamas to make a deal for the return of the remaining 134 captives held in the enclave.

The international community has opposed the move fearing for the fate of the over 1.3 million Palestinians in the area of Rafah, many of whom fled there to escape bombing in northern Gaza.

The US has insisted that Israel must present a credible and realistic plan to protect civilians in Rafah, with US National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby saying on Thursday that the Biden administration has yet to see such a plan.

Hostage talks in Qatar

At the same time as the war cabinet appeared to advance the possibility of a Rafah operation the Prime Minister’s Office said that an Israeli delegation is also expected to leave for Doha for hostage talks after the security cabinet discusses the government’s position on the issue.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian meets with Palestinian group Hamas' top leader, Ismail Haniyeh in Doha, Qatar December 20, 2023. (credit: Iran's Foreign Ministry/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS)

It underscored that Hamas’s stance about the talks is still far-fetched.

Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, all of whom had hoped to broker a deal by last Sunday or Monday continued to push forward with their efforts, as they appeared to have past a hurdle on Friday as noon prayers on the Temple Mount passed relatively smoothly.

An outbreak of violence on the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram, al-Sharif could have impacted the possibility of a deal. 

Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi said he hoped there could be a deal within a few days as visited a police academy on Friday.

"We wish within a few days at most to reach a ceasefire and not to have a negative development that could affect the situation," Sisi said in comments recorded during his visit.

"We are talking about reaching a ceasefire in Gaza, meaning a truce,” Sisi said, adding that the deal would allow for an increased distribution of humanitarian assistance and enable Palestinians who sought shelter in the south to return home.

The US has persistently said that the deal on the table involved a six-week pause to the war and the release of 40 hostages, primarily the female, informed, and elderly captives. Israel would also be asked to release Palestinian security prisons and terrorists it has held in jail.

With ally Hamas under attack in Gaza, the head of Iran's Quds Force visited Beirut in February to discuss the risk posed if Israel next aims at Lebanon's Hezbollah, an offensive that could severely hurt Tehran's main regional partner, seven sources said.

In Beirut, Quds chief Esmail Qaani met Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the sources said, for at least the third time since Hamas' deadly October 7 attacks on southern Israel and Israel's devastating retaliatory assault on Gaza.

The conversation turned to the possibility of a full Israeli offensive to its north, in Lebanon, the sources said. As well as damaging the Shi'ite Islamist group, such an escalation could pressure Iran to react more forcefully than it has so far since October 7, three of the sources, Iranians within the inner circle of power, said.

Over the past five months, Hezbollah, a sworn enemy of Israel, has shown support for Hamas in the form of limited volleys of rockets fired across Israel's northern border.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed and injured while waiting for humanitarian aid at Gaza's Kuwaiti roundabout on Thursday.

Although the enclave's Hamas-run health ministry claimed that Israeli forces targeted the group of people waiting for humanitarian aid in a statement on Thursday, the IDF has denied the accusations and proceeded to investigate the incident further.

According to the IDF, the passage of humanitarian aid was allowed into the area, and about an hour before the aid arrived, Palestinian gunmen were spotted shooting in the vicinity. 

Palestinian gunmen fire at those waiting for aid

As the trucks carrying the aid entered, the gunmen continued firing while they looted the trucks. In addition to the shooting, civilians were also found to be run over by the trucks. 

A report released by Regavim earlier this week identified dozens of examples of armed personnel from the Palestinian Authority involved in terror.

The report, titled “Officers by Day, Terrorists by Night,” sheds light on the involvement of Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF) in both perpetrated and attempted acts of terrorism, as well as planning, providing help, and inciting them, all in addition to their glorification by the Palestine Authority itself.

According to the report, 46 PASF members were killed while perpetrating terrorist acts targeting or attempting to target the lives of dozens of innocent Israelis, in addition to 25 who were arrested and at least who were seven wounded, indicating systemic wrongdoing within the PA's ranks.

The Palestinian Authority, the report shows, not only fails to condemn terrorism perpetrated by its security forces but also actively glorifies such acts, financially supporting terrorists and their families. The report also criticizes the Israeli political and security establishments for allegedly concealing the extent of PASF members' involvement in terrorism, thus implicating a significant intelligence and policy failure.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich demanded a place in Israel's war cabinet to "create more balanced decision-making," the minister told told Makor Rishon on Friday.

"If the decision-making system regarding the tactical management of the war is being reorganized, I want to be there. I think it [the war cabinet] includes too many people who hold the concepts that, among other things, brought us to October 7," he added.

"There will also be people like me in the room, who in the months leading up to the war, challenged the discourse against those who claimed that we did not understand anything," he concluded. 

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signed a letter of commitment to the American government on Thursday regarding the use of American weapons in accordance with international law during the fighting in Gaza.

Gallant also agreed that Israel would allow humanitarian aid supported by the US to enter the Strip without interference - this is what senior Israeli and American officials said on Friday night.

The commitment letter was a requirement of the Biden administration under a new national security memorandum that the president signed in early February.

Although the national security memorandum does not specifically refer to Israel, the new policy was established after pressure from Democratic senators who expressed concern about Israel's use of American weapons in Gaza.

The Biden administration asked Israel to provide the commitment letter by mid-March.

US PRESIDENT Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken visit Israel in October (credit: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/REUTERS)

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is supposed to inform Congress by March 25 whether the commitments provided by Israel are reliable. If Blinken does not approve this, the supply of weapons to Israel may be delayed.

The War Cabinet authorized the Defense  Minister to sign the letter of commitment already on Sunday, but Gallant signed it only last night. After the signing, the letter was delivered to the US ambassador to Israel, Jack Lowe.

National security memorandum

The new national security memorandum that President Biden signed on February 8 states that before supplying American weapons to any country, that country must provide a written and reliable commitment that it will use these weapons only in accordance with international law.

According to the new policy, that country must also commit in writing that it will allow and not interfere with the delivery of American humanitarian aid or that which receives American support.

Senior Israeli and American officials said that Israel asked the Biden administration to add to Israel's written commitment a letter from the American side in which the commitment of the United States to Israel's security is emphasized that Israel has the right to defend itself and the continuation of American security assistance to Israel.

Senior officials in the Biden administration told their counterparts in Israel that in order to implement this request, a long process of consultations and negotiations is necessary, as a result of which Israel will not meet the deadline for signing the letter of commitments.

Senior American officials said that they indicated to the Israelis that they prefer to keep this process as contentious as possible and not turn it into a process of political negotiations that may also require Israel to provide the US with additional commitments of its own.

The cabinet will convene Friday at noon and discuss the response of Hamas, which this evening officially submitted its response to the mediating countries, according to Israeli media.

According to the announcement published by Hamas, the deal was intended to allow the return of the residents of Gaza to their homes and the withdrawal of the IDF from the Strip.

Qatar sent Israel an official letter via Hamas detailing the Gaza terror group's demands as part of the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, KAN News reported on Thursday night.

Hamas said on Thursday it presented to mediators a comprehensive vision of a truce deal that is based on stopping the Israeli "aggression" against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, providing relief and aid, the return of displaced Gazans to their houses, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Palestinian fighters from the armed wing of Hamas take part in a military parade to mark the anniversary of the 2014 war with Israel, near the border in the central Gaza Strip, July 19, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA)

The vision also included the group's stance on the prisoners-hostages exchange deal, Hamas added in a statement, but did not elaborate.

Israeli media indicates progress

Positive developments have been made regarding the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, Israeli media reported on Thursday evening, citing senior Israeli sources.

Channel 13 reported that Hamas had shown "slight flexibility" in its position regarding the release of its terrorists jailed in Israeli prison.

KAN News, citing more Israeli sources, reported that Israel maintains "cautious optimism" over a deal being agreed to.

This is a developing story.

“The ship and its crew are in the hands of the brothers in the Hamas resistance movement and the Al-Qassam Brigades,” Houthi spokesman Nasr Al-Din Amer said, CNN reported. 

The Galaxy Leader cargo ship was hijacked by a Houthi-owned helicopter on November 19 in the Red Sea, 116 days ago, as the terrorists laid siege to the ship and took hostage the ship’s crew of 17 Filipinos, two Bulgarians, three Ukrainians, two Mexicans and a Romanian.