Israel-Hamas War Day 165: What is going on in Gaza, Lebanon?

A team of Israeli researchers has found that during the Gaza war, the risk of Israeli hostages being killed in Israeli airstrikes was 10 to 28 times greater than the deaths of Gazans. The team concluded that terrorists probably murdered them.

The researchers examined whether the estimated death rate of Israeli hostages was similar to the estimated death rate of Gazans and the Hamas claim that many Israeli hostages held in underground tunnels were killed by indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes together with a large number of Gaza residents

Shaare Zedek Medical Center’s Prof. Francis Mimouni, Dr. Sefi Mendlovic, and Dr. Yuval Dadon of the Health Ministry in Jerusalem published the study in the March edition of the Israel Medical Association Journal (IMAJ) under the title “A statistical approach to the high mortality rate of Israeli citizens held hostage in Gaza.”

The team used two estimates of hostage death rates, one from Israeli intelligence sources and the other published by a Hamas spokesman. They found that by the end of December 2023, the rate of Israeli hostage deaths, according to Israeli sources, was 23 per 238 – and 60 per 238, according to Hamas. Both figures, they wrote, were “strikingly and significantly higher” than the death rate among Gazans, which was estimated to be 19,667 per 2.2 million. 

On October 9, two days after the deadly Hamas incursion of the south, its al-Qassam Brigades (the terrorist group’s military arm) officially threatened to execute the Israeli hostages if the Israeli government continued to bomb Gaza and demanded that over 5,000 Palestinians held then in Israeli prisons, mostly after conviction for security offenses, be released. Hamas, the authors wrote, didn’t publish such executions, and “to this date, it is not completely clear how many of them died after their abduction.” 

"Not plausible" that high death rate is result of Israeli airstrikes

They wrote their study to offer a “statistical approach to the probable cause of the death of Israeli hostages” and suggested that a random, high death rate from Israel Air Force airstrikes was “not plausible.” 

The IDF released a video of its fighter jets attacking a Hezbollah weapons depot in the Baalbek region of Lebanon on Wednesday.

In the video, there are multiple explosions after the initial strike, which the military noted indicate the presence of explosives hidden in the residential area.

The video shows "further proof of Hezbollah's modus operandi in which it stores explosives and dangerous chemical substances in civilian villages," the IDF said.

Over the past day, IDF troops, in cooperation with the Shin Bet, have eliminated dozens of terrorists and located weapons in the al-Shifa Hospital area while preventing harm to civilians, patients, medical teams, and medical equipment, the IDF announced on Wednesday.

According to the announcement, security forces have killed approximately 90 terrorists in the area, as well as questioned over 300 suspects near the compound, with the cooperation of Unit 504 from the Intelligence branch. Also, an additional 160 suspects have been transferred to Israeli territory for further questioning. 

The announcement also stated that a launch was identified from northern Gaza toward the city of Sderot, which fell in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. In response, an IAF aircraft struck a Hamas shaft in the area of the launch, the added. 

Walla reported on Wednesday that the Biden administration is expected to present several alternative options to an operation in Rafah to the Israeli delegation arriving in America next week.

At this time, the Israeli delegation to America will include Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The IDF will conduct an exercise near the area of the Dead Sea in order to maintain the readiness of forces in the area, the military announced Wednesday morning.

The exercise will take place around noon and is expected to last until nighttime.

The IDF also said that civilians in the area should expect to hear and feel military activity in the area and not be alarmed.

Walla reported on Wednesday that the Biden administration is expected to present several alternative options to an operation in Rafah to the Israeli delegation arriving in America next week.

At this time, the Israeli delegation to America will include Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Wednesday said it was vital for a pause in fighting between Israel and terrorist group Hamas to enable the release of hostages in Gaza, but a lot of conditions first needed to be met for a lasting ceasefire.

"Crucially what we must try to do is to turn that pause into a permanent sustainable ceasefire," Cameron told Reuters in an interview during a visit to Thailand.

"We will only do that if a whole lot of conditions are fulfilled... we've got to get Hamas leaders out of Gaza, we have to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure."

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will host Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant next week for a bilateral meeting at the US Defense Department, an American defense official.

The meeting comes after Austin recently invited Gallant for a visit and is separate from Monday's announcement that followed a call between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who agreed to send a team of senior officials to Washington to discuss developments regarding the war in Gaza, the official added.

Five commanders of Iranian-backed militias in Syria were killed in an airstrike on Tuesday, according to Saudi television station al-Hadath, cited by Israeli media that night.

A further report claimed that one of those killed was a Hezbollah commander. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitor, had reported three explosions and the presence of unidentified aircraft that day in the eastern city of Dier-ez-Zor.

Syria hosts several militias financed by Iran, which have attacked not only Israeli forces but American troops as well since war broke out between Israel and Hamas in October.

Muhammad Salah a-Darvey, the deputy chief justice of the Hamas government's high court in Gaza, was killed by the IDF, according to reports in Palestinian media that have not been independently verified. 

This is a developing story.