Israel-Hamas war: What happened on day 167?

After the cabinet members' discussions with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Mossad chief, David Barnea, is expected to fly to Qatar to meet Friday evening with the head of the CIA, William Burns, the head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamal, and the prime minister of Qatar, Mohammed al-Thani.

Israeli air force fighter jets attacked a Hezbollah military structure in southern Lebanon on Friday, the IDF reported.

France will work with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to convince Russia and China to back a resolution at the United Nations for a ceasefire in Gaza after the two big powers blocked a text by the US, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.

"Following the Russian and Chinese veto a few minutes ago, we are going to resume work on the basis of the French draft resolution in the Security Council and work with our American, European and Arab partners to reach an agreement," Macron said at end of a European Union leaders' summit in Brussels.

France's foreign ministry said on Thursday it had started drafting a resolution with diplomats, saying they would put a draft forward if the US resolution did not pass.

Spain has agreed with the leaders of Ireland, Malta, and Slovenia to take the first steps towards recognizing a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Friday following a meeting of the European Council in Brussels.

Speaking for Spain, Sanchez expected the recognition to happen during the current four-year legislature that began last year.

He told reporters the agreement was reached after meeting with his Irish, Maltese and Slovenian counterparts on the sidelines of the Council gathering on Friday morning.

Minister-without-portfolio and National Unity Chair Benny Gantz met with the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Tel Aviv on Friday, Gantz stated on X, formerly Twitter, that afternoon.

On Friday morning, a terrorist shot at an Israeli vehicle next to the Talmon-Dolev Junction in the West Bank, the IDF reported. IDF soldiers, along with a helicopter and a drone, pursued the terrorist and engaged fire. 

United States failure to support a major military operation in Rafah won’t prevent Israel from conducting one, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Blinken when the two men in Tel Aviv.

“There is no way for us to defeat Hamas without going into Rafah and eliminating the rest of the battalions there,” he said.

“I told him that I hope we will do it with the support of the USA, but if we have to - we will do it alone,” he added.

Netanyahu assured Blinken that he “greatly appreciates the fact that for more than five months we have been standing together in the war against Hamas. 

“I also told him that we recognize the need to evacuate the civilian population from the war zones and of course also take care of the humanitarian needs and we are working to that end,” he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived at Israel's Ben Gurion airport, the US Embassy in Jerusalem said Friday morning.

Finland will resume funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, the country's foreign trade and development minister said on Friday.

Israel expanded its footprint in the Jordan Valley as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel on Friday.

"This is another dramatic and important step for the settlement of the Jordan Valley and Judea and Samaria,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) said.

He spoke after the Civil Administration announced that it had classified an additional 8,000 dunams of land in the Jordan Valley, located over the Green Line, as state land.

The classification of the additional state land was authorized by Smotrich, through his role in the Defense Ministry with oversight of the Civil Administration.