Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 166?

Mossad Chief David Barnea is set to meet CIA Director William Burns in Qatar on Friday, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the gaps between Hamas and Israel have narrowed in the hostage talks.

“I think the gaps are narrowing. And I think an agreement is very much possible,” Blinken told Al Arabiya English in a video interview during his visit to Egypt on Thursday.

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Thani and Egyptian Intelligence Minister Abbas Kamal will also participate in the talks, which Blinken hoped would lead to a pause in the war.

At issue is the execution of a deal that could see the release of some 40 of the remaining 134 hostages, he said. 
“The Israeli team that is present has authority to reach an agreement,” Blinken said amid reports that constraints had been put on the delegation. The war cabinet is expected to meet on Friday to discuss the talks.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will host Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for a bilateral meeting at the Pentagon next Tuesday, Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said Thursday. 

Austin and Gallant will discuss securing hostage releases, the need for more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, and Israel's plans to invade Rafah. 

Austin and Gallant's meeting will be separate from the meeting in which a team of senior interagency Israeli officials will meet with the White House.

In one corner of a cavernous warehouse being built in the foothills of Jerusalem, a buzz saw gnaws against metal pipes. Far on the other side of the dim hall, two workers grapple with a pit of unfinished flooring. The rest is empty space.

Just 25 workers now toil on the three-story building, where six months earlier, they numbered 125.

The missing workers are among some 200,000 Palestinians who used to commute daily from the West Bank, as well as 18,500 from Gaza, all now locked out of Israel since the start of the Gaza war over security concerns, leaving an economic hole on both sides of the border.

They include around 80,000 Palestinians specializing in ironwork, flooring, formwork, and plastering, who normally do the hard initial labor at most Israeli construction sites.

For Palestinians, it means families have been abruptly deprived of income from laborers who can earn several times the wages in Israel that they would receive at home.

More of a "whole government approach and international effort" is needed to prevent Iran from providing weapons to its proxy groups, US Central Command Commander Army Gen. Michael Kurilla said Thursday while testifying before the House Committee on the Middle East and Africa. 

Kurilla said a UN vessel inspection mechanism should be used to counter weapons smuggling. 

"They say it's about Gaza, but the Houthis have not provided one loaf of bread to Gaza," Kurilla said. What they've actually done is delay it and make it go all the way around the Cape of Good Hope, increasing the cost. So I find their righteous indignation a little bit laughable."

Kurilla said the government needs to impose costs on Iran as they're the ones providing the weapons. 

Former IDF deputy chief Maj. Gen. and Commanders for Israel’s Security chief) Matan Vilnai on Thursday slammed the government for its own attacks on the IDF during wartime as an act of “treason.”

“This is the first time the IDF chief has faced a ‘front’ in Jerusalem [from the government during a war], and this is unprecedented,” said Vilnai at a press conference where he presented CIS’s new national security strategy for handling Gaza.

Vilnai was likely referred to constant attacks on the IDF on a variety of issues by Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and even some more camouflaged attacks related to the October 7 failures by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

CIS, which includes around 530 top former defense and intelligence officials, proposed to the government and the public on Thursday that, given that Hamas has not been eliminated completely, Israel will need to learn how to cope with a morphed but still existing Hamas in Gaza.

Former IDF deputy chief Maj. Gen. and CIS chief (the group includes over 500 top former defense and intelligence officials ) Matan Vilnai said that, unfortunately, even as the IDF had taken apart most Hamas battalions, significant pieces of Hamas and its leadership remain, whether in tunnels or faded into the civilian population.

Even according to optimistic IDF estimates, probably 30-40% of Hamas is still operating in Gaza at different levels.

Sara Netanyahu is reported to have complained about the lack of thanks she or her husband had received for releasing the hostages, according to a Thursday evening report by N12.

According to the report, A female Member of the Knesset from the opposition met with Sara Netanyahu last week to try and promote the release of the hostages, asking her to try and use her position as the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do so.

Although the prime minister's wife has no formal position in government, unlike presidential systems in the US or France, Sara is known to have a significant influence on the Prime Minister's choices.

Following the release of Gilad Schalit in 2011, Sara claimed she was responsible for freeing him, and due to that, many still pin their hope on her to influence the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved an Israeli delegation led by Mossad chief David Barnea to go to Qatar on Friday, according to the Prime Minsiter's Office.

They will be meeting with the head of the CIA, William Burns, the Prime Minister of Qatar, Muhammad bin Abdel Thani, and the Egyptian Intelligence Minister, Abbas Kamal in order to promote the release of the hostages.

As part of the operational response to recent attacks along the northern border, IDF announced earlier this week it had established a new regional division on the Syrian-Lebanese border. 

The "Mountain" division will operate under Division 210 and defend the Mount Hermon and Mount Dov areas. The new division will replace the Hermon 810 Division, with Liron Appleman being appointed commander of the brigade.

Following the joint preparation of the planning and force-building division, the IDF ground forces, and the Northern Command, the IDF's analysis of its operation needs has changed throughout the war. 

The "Mountain" Brigade will begin its activities in the coming weeks and specialize in combat in complex terrain routes and mountainous areas. 

With the constant bombardment of rockets and hostile aircraft entering Israeli territory from Syria and Lebanon, the creation of this division will likely thwart efficiently incoming Hezbollah attacks.

Israeli air defense fighters successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target, which is believed to have made its way to Israeli territory from the Red Sea, according to an IDF statement on Thursday.

The target did not cross into Israeli territory, and the incident has ended.

American officials have seemingly greenlighted and supported the Israeli assassination campaign in Gaza and abroad, according to a report on NBC on Thursday, citing unnamed American and Israeli officials.

The report cites claims from American Congressional figures that seizures of intelligence were behind the assassination of Hamas number 3, Marwan Issa, last week.

The unnamed officials, both former and current, claimed that the US had stepped up intelligence-gathering operations in Gaza. 

Before October 7, America did not prioritize Hamas as an intelligence target; however, following October 7, America began providing signals intelligence by eavesdropping on electronic communications.