Israel-Hamas war: What happened on day 167?

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is expected to meet with the war cabinet on Friday, amid tensions between the two countries over Israel’s pending military operation in Rafah.

The two men also spoke as an Israeli delegation led by Mossad Chief David Barnea was in Doha for talks on a deal for the release of the remaining 134 hostages. The talks have been mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with support from the US. CIA Director William Burns is also in Qatar for those negotiations.

The deal is expected to see the release of some 40 hostages in exchange for a six-week pause to the war, which the US hopes to expand into a permanent ceasefire that would bring everyone home.

Israel and the US have been united in their belief that Hamas must be ousted from Gaza and removed from its governmental control of the enclave in light of its October 7 attack against the Jewish state. 

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.

He noted that the declaration follows one made earlier this month that classified as state land 3,000 dunams in the area of the West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim.

A Palestinian terrorist shot at an Israeli minibus in the settlement of Dolev in the Binyamin region of the West Bank, and the terrorist is currently under pursuit, the IDF said on Friday morning. 

After an hours-long aerial search, the shooter was captured and identified as Abu Mazen.

Three people were evacuated to Beilinson Hospital. While the condition of one of the wounded was severe, the other two were moderately and lightly wounded, the hospital reported. 

הנאצים בעזה וביהודה ושומרון הם אותו הדבר. מי שמטפח תקוות שווא ברשות הפלסטינית יביא עלינו את הטבח של ה-7.10 בערים וביישובים במרכז הארץ. כפי שהתרענו בקבינט הביטחוני אבו מאזן הוא לא הפיתרון, הוא חלק מהבעיה. pic.twitter.com/RdhL4p5zIH

— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) March 22, 2024

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

A Palestinian terrorist shot at Jewish vehicles in the settlement of Dolev, in the Binyamin region of the West Bank, Israeli media reported Friday morning.

According to the reports, there were no casualties and security forces are scanning the area.

This is a developing story.

Mossad Chief David Barnea is set to meet CIA Director William Burns in Qatar on Friday, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken indicated that an agreement could be coalescing between Hamas and Israel for the release of hostages.

“The gaps are narrowing. And we’re continuing to push for an agreement in Doha,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Cairo during a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

He cautioned, however, that there is “still difficult work to get there. But I continue to believe it’s possible.

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Thani and Egyptian Intelligence Minister Abbas Kamal will also participate in the Friday talks, which Blinken hoped would lead to a pause in the war.
He said the execution of a deal that could release some 40 of the remaining 134 hostages is at issue.

“The Israeli team that is present [in Doha] has the authority to reach an agreement,” Blinken told Al Arabiya English in a video interview earlier in the day.

Fifteen IDF observers operating in the Nahal Oz observation post were murdered by Hamas terrorists, who also kidnapped seven soldiers during one of the most difficult moments of Hamas's massacre on October 7.

One of the hostages was killed in captivity, and IDF soldiers rescued one from within the Gaza Strip.

For months, claims of the observers warning of something unfolding within the Gaza Strip were ignored by high IDF officers. The observer's commanders claimed that "Hamas are just a bunch of punks; they won't do anything."

The chilling recording of the infiltration published by Channel 12 on Wednesday can be listened to below.

מזיהוי המחבלים ועד "פרש טורקי מלא": הקלטות הקשר הדרמטיות מחמ"ל התצפיתניות | מיוחדhttps://t.co/1lmeAi3y0o | @yaronavraham pic.twitter.com/5l90Exk12b

— החדשות - N12 (@N12News) March 20, 2024

The late Sergeant Roni Eshel of the Field Intelligence Corps was on duty at the time of Hamas's attack and saw all the events unfold in front of her eyes. She reported the impending infiltration and attacks to soldiers in the field.

Russia and Ukraine believe that their crisis will be solved through peace talks, even as both are adamant on their positions and have huge differences when it comes to peace talks, China's special envoy for Eurasian affairs said on Friday.

The special envoy Li Hui said Russia appreciates Chinese efforts in its latest round of shuttle diplomacy to Europe, while Ukraine viewed his recent visit as important.

The IDF announced on Thursday that in its four-day operation in Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, it has now killed around 140 terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as arrested around 650 additional terrorists.

This was a significant jump from the 90 killed and 160-350 arrested, which the IDF confirmed on Wednesday.

Curiously, the IDF said that all of the Islamic Jihad operatives in the area quickly surrendered, whereas Hamas’s forces were split into two groups, with one large group also surrendering en masse and one large group continuing to resist.

According to the IDF, this second group’s continued fighting could prolong the operation for several additional days.

IDF estimates are that there are an additional 50 Hamas fighters to subdue within the Shifa Complex, of which 20 may have significant roles

The US military on Thursday said it had destroyed two anti-ship ballistic missiles and an unmanned surface vessel launched by Houthis from Yemen.

"It was determined these weapons presented an imminent threat to coalition and merchant vessels in the region," US Central Command wrote on social media site X.