Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 173?

One of the Gaza hostages, Luis Har, who was rescued by the IDF in mid-February, spoke to the Daily Mail in a report they released on Wednesday regarding his detainment by the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza.

The rescue occurred at 2 a.m. where the Mail report described it as a "huge explosion which threw the 71-year-old accountant from his mattress and ripped off the door from his tiny cell-like room."

The families of soldiers who are held hostage by Hamas in Gaza said in a speech on Thursday before meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "Our sons have been abandoned and are being held as corpses by Hamas."

The parents of the soldiers who are held hostage in Gaza are holding a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, 174 days after the October 7 massacre, after making numerous requests.

At the meeting, the parents are expected to demand an explanation of how the prime minister plans to return their children home.

Thursday morning, the soldiers' parents made a special statement from the Tel Hashomer recruiting office before the meeting with the PM.

Anat Angrest, the mother of hostage Matan Angrest, and Orna Neutra, the mother of captive Omer Neutra, read a speech on behalf of all the members of the families of the kidnapped soldiers.

Reuters reported Thursday that France will provide over 30 million euros ($32.41 million US dollars) to the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA this year to support its operations amid the devastating war in Gaza, said the foreign ministry in Paris.

"We will make our contributions while ensuring that the conditions are met for UNRWA to fulfill its missions in a spirit devoid of incitement to hatred and violence," Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine told journalists.

He did not say when the next payment to the agency would be made. According to the usual quarterly schedule, the next tranche is due in April.

Reuters reported on Thursday that the Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa formed a new cabinet where he will also serve as foreign minister, replacing Riyad al-Maliki according to a Palestinian news agency WAFA report.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas approved the cabinet, WAFA said.

A fire broke out in an open area in the Birya forest near Beit She'an due to fallen shrapnel, the Fire and Rescue Authority reported on Thursday.

Two firefighting teams from the Galilee-Golan station under the command of Reshef Dror Buchnik have worked with KKL in the last hour to contain the fire. 

This is a developing story. 

In response to the alarming surge of antisemitism and a near 800% spike in US college campuses, six survivors of the October 7 massacre at the Nova festival launched the "Survived to Tell" tour.

The "Survived to Tell" tour will commence on March 26 and run until April 19. It will span seven states and reach a dozen campuses.

The six survivors set to speak will recount their experiences from the October 7 attack, which they personally survived to educate, hold deep conversations on the rise of antisemitism, and create empathy.

The ISRAEL-is non-profit and Seed The Dream Foundation organizes the tour. ISRAEL-is is a non-governmental organization based in Israel that teaches young adults and youth how to advocate for Israel abroad.

ISRAEL-is also trains small groups of released IDF soldiers to talk about Israel and their military services in international delegations.

As Israel looks towards a future operation in Rafah, the battle will be overshadowed by lessons learned from other parts of the Gaza operation over the last five months. The ground maneuver in Gaza began on October 27, five months ago, so there is a lot of information that commanders can glean from what they have already seen in the battle against Hamas.

Essentially, three phases of the war in Gaza will provide a backdrop for the Rafah operation. Phase one was the ground maneuver from October 27 to November 24. This was the highest intensity phase of the war and came in the wake of the intense bombing of Gaza in the first weeks following the Hamas massacre of October 7.

This part of the war also received a lot of international attention, with accusations that it was too widespread, led to a lot of destruction, and also caused civilian casualties.

The battle for northern Gaza was led by two large IDF divisions, the 36th and the 162nd. When northern Gaza was mostly taken, some 12 Hamas battalions had been defeated. The battles in the north involved tanks and APCs churning up roads and urban fighting in places like Shujaiya, Shati, and Jabalya.

Most civilians had been asked to evacuate in October, so there weren’t many civilians in those areas when the tanks went in. The people returned, though, in January and February so that by March, some 300,000 people were in northern Gaza, and Hamas had returned with them.

The second phase occurred in December and January with the operations in Khan Younis. The Khan Younis battle was led by the 98th Division and its legendary commander, Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus.

A Palestinian suspect was arrested after refusing to be checked and driving through an IDF checkpoint in the Jordan Valley, near the village of Tayasir in the West Bank, the IDF announced on Thursday.

The IDF also announced that no one present at the time was injured, and the suspect was transferred to police for further questioning.

Israeli soldiers have been posting photos and videos of themselves toying with lingerie found in Palestinian homes, creating a dissonant visual record of the war in Gaza as a looming famine intensifies world scrutiny of Israel's offensive.

In one video, an Israeli soldier sits in an armchair in a room in Gaza grinning, with a gun in one hand and dangling white satin underwear from the other over the open mouth of a comrade lying on a sofa.

Elsewhere, another soldier sits atop a tank holding a female mannequin dressed in a black bra and helmet and says: "I found a beautiful wife, serious relationship in Gaza, great woman."

The two videos shot by Israeli soldiers are among dozens of posts in which troops in Gaza are shown displaying lingerie, mannequins, and in some cases both. The lingerie images have been viewed tens of thousands of times - nearly half a million in one case - after being reposted by Younis Tirawi, who describes himself as a Palestinian reporter.

There have been plans for months for where to evacuate the 1.4 million Palestinian civilians from Rafah whenever the IDF would invade.

To insider followers of the Israeli defense establishment, this was why the fight between Israel and the US over the evacuation always seemed somewhat artificial and potentially connected more to other issues.

But it turns out there is a real sticking point: food, tents, and medical field hospitals.

Israel and the IDF had detailed plans for evacuating the civilians to Al-Mawasi on the coast, to designated parts of Khan Yunis, which have already been cleared of Hamas, and to parts of central Gaza, which have already been cleared of Hamas. 

The plans include specific safe corridors, which have also been mapped out.