Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 161?

One in three children under age 2 in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished and famine is looming, the main UN agency operating in the Palestinian enclave said on Saturday.

"Children's malnutrition is spreading fast and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza," the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said in a social media post.

More than five months into Israel's air and ground campaign in Gaza, triggered by Hamas' attack on Oct. 7, much of the enclave is in ruins with most of its 2.3 million population displaced and facing a major humanitarian crisis.

Hospitals in Gaza have reported some children dying of malnutrition and dehydration.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza

The international food insecurity watchdog, the IPC, is expected to report soon on the extent of the hunger crisis in Gaza after saying in December there was a risk of famine in the projection period through May.

Displaced Palestinian children, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, sit at a tent camp, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, March 6, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM/FILE PHOTO)

For the IPC to declare famine, at least 20% of the population must be suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or malnutrition and disease.

Western countries have called on Israel to do more to allow in aid, with the UN saying it faced "overwhelming obstacles" including crossing closures, onerous vetting, restrictions on movement and unrest inside Gaza.

Air and sea relief deliveries into Gaza have started, but aid agencies say these are no substitute for bringing in supplies by land.

Israel has accused UNRWA of complicity with Hamas, saying some staff members took part in the Oct. 7 attack and calling for the agency to be dismantled. Several major donors have paused funding over the allegations.

In the last two weeks, the Nahal Brigade of the military has carried out a continued operation in the center of the Gaza Strip, leading to the death of over 250 terrorists and the destruction of weapons infrastructure crucial to Hamas's attacks on Israel, the IDF revealed Saturday morning.

Over the last two weeks, the IDF and Israel Air Force (IAF) have killed hundreds of terrorists in battle, aerial attacks, and tank fire.

The Nahal Brigade carried out an operation in the Netzer Corridor in the center of the Gaza Strip, working in conjunction with the 601st Engineering Battalion to locate and destroy several parts of critical Hamas infrastructure.

In their collaboration, the teams destroyed rockets, ammunition depots, launchers, and many operating systems used by Hamas in their terrorist operations, the IDF reported.

Nahal Brigade in combat in the Gaza Strip, March 15, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)

Destroying critical Hamas terrorist infrastructure

In the last few days, the 601st Engineering Battalion destroyed a weaponry depot located between rocket launch sites.

The site was identified as a launch point for rockets fired from Gaza into the State of Israel.

Sirens sounded in Kiriyat Shmona on Saturday afternoon. No casualties were reported.

Juma Ibrahim Abu Ganima, a security detainee from the city of Beersheba, died early Saturday morning in the hospital after being found unconscious in his cell, according to Israeli media.

Abu Ganima was a security detainee in the Eshel prison until the end of court proceedings, following accusations of aiding the enemy in the war and membership in a terrorist organization.

He was arrested in December 2023 by the security forces, and last Monday, he was transferred to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead tonight.

In December 2023, Abu Ganima, an Israeli citizen resident of the Negev, was arrested by IDF forces while trying to enter Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Upon his arrest, he was transferred to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) for investigation.

Hamas appears to be sensing that its rule may be in jeopardy in Gaza. As such it is now returning to its roots as a thuggish, mafia-like organization, and has been cracking down on Gazans who speak out or oppose its rule.  This is part of a larger, more brutal process, that is playing out in Gaza as gunmen have massacred people seeking humanitarian aid.

It's important to understand the context here. Hamas began as a relatively small organization. Although its ideological roots are in the Muslim Brotherhood and political Islam, its actual early members such as Yahya Sinwar, were brutal murderers who emerged in a mafia-like world in places like Khan Younis.

In those days, in the 1980s, Israel controlled cities in Gaza. Family rivalries used to result in feuds and killings. Later, in the 1990s, there was still a great deal of violence in Gaza between clans. Hamas replaced these groups with its own brand of brutality.

Downing dissent in the Gaza Strip

After 2007, when Hamas came to power in Gaza through a coup against the Palestinian Authority, it was quick to put down any dissent. Hamas also benefited from a partnership with international organizations and providing “security” for most internationals and the UN in Gaza. What this meant is that Hamas police were seen as “law and order” by international groups that tended to prefer Hamas.

Former hostage Judith Raanan said in an interview with the US-based network NewsNation on Wednesday that hospital staff cheered as Hamas brought them in.

Judith and her daughter Natalie were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 from Kibbutz Nahal Oz. They live in the United States but had come to Israel to celebrate Judith's mother, Tamar's, 85th birthday.

Judith Raanan says nurses at a Gaza hospital celebrated her arrival after Hamas had taken her hostage Oct. 7. "They were all so happy that they came back with prey — with Israeli, Jewish prey."

More: https://t.co/l2GTGWMoYA #VargasReports @EVargasTV pic.twitter.com/H7loizIr4q

— NewsNation (@NewsNation) March 13, 2024

In her first interview since her release, she described to the host the immediate moments after capture.

In the months before October 7, Israel was convinced that Hamas was deterred in Gaza and that the terrorist group was apparently focused on its own internal issues. This narrative had been told to Israel several times before. It will take a long time to fully understand how Israel was lured into a false belief that Hamas was not only deterred but that it posed so little threat that a few hundred soldiers could be left on the border on October 7 to face thousands of armed terrorists.

While Israel will need to investigate its own failures, it’s plausible that the attack on October 7 was not only an intelligence failure of Israel. Hamas is hosted by Qatar, a major non-NATO ally of the US. Doha is also close to many other western countries.

Turkey, a member of NATO backs Hamas. As such, two of the West’s closest allies in the Middle East are both closely connected to Hamas. How did Hamas plan the worst terrorist attack in history and the greatest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust while also being hosted by western allies? How is it possible that western allies hosted and backed Hamas while western governments knew nothing about the plans for October 7?

The Israeli Air Force, in cooperation with IDF ground forces, killed about 25 terrorists over the past day in Khan Yunis and Nuseirat, according to Israeli media reports.

Givati ​​combat units identified two terrorists entering and leaving a terrorist base, and an aircraft attacked and destroyed both of them in a precise attack in Khan Yunis.

The 215th combat brigade killed about 15 terrorists in the Nusirat area as well. The Nahal Brigade continues to operate in the center of the Gaza Strip and has killed about ten terrorists over the past day.

Fighter jets struck Hezbollah military structures in the area of Tayr Harfa overnight, as well as terrorist infrastructure in the area of Labbouneh in Lebanon, according to the IDF.

Hamas appears to be sensing that its rule may be in jeopardy in Gaza. As such it is now returning to its roots as a thuggish, mafia-like organization, and has been cracking down on Gazans who speak out or oppose its rule.  This is part of a larger, more brutal process, that is playing out in Gaza as gunmen have massacred people seeking humanitarian aid.

It's important to understand the context here. Hamas began as a relatively small organization. Although its ideological roots are in the Muslim Brotherhood and political Islam, its actual early members such as Yahya Sinwar, were brutal murderers who emerged in a mafia-like world in places like Khan Younis.

In those days, in the 1980s, Israel controlled cities in Gaza. Family rivalries used to result in feuds and killings. Later, in the 1990s, there was still a great deal of violence in Gaza between clans. Hamas replaced these groups with its own brand of brutality.