Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 177?

While Rep. Ritchie Torres thinks that the US’s recent abstention in the UN Security Council which led to the passage of a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, was wrong, he also wants Israel to know that “ the Israel-US relationship remains fundamentally intact.”

“What we are witnessing is not a change in American policy, but a clash of personalities,” the New York Democratic congressman explained to The Jerusalem Post, adding that this “is natural in every relationship.” The crisis between the US and Israel is “more perception than reality,” according to Torres.

Torres thought that the US abstention was a mistake because it did not tie the demands for a ceasefire to the release of the hostages. “The de-linking of those two demands gives enhanced leverage to Hamas in the war and the hostage negotiations. I thought it was a colossal misjudgment on the part of the US,” he explained.

Torres visits Israel to show that the Jewish state is not alone

Torres brought a delegation made up of local leadership and clergy from his district to Israel on Sunday with UJA-Federation New York, to send the message that Israel is not alone. This may seem like a surprising stance from the progressive congressman, but Torres says the connection is natural.

“There is no greater expression of progressive values in the Middle East than the state of Israel,” he said, adding that no country is more protective of the rights of minorities.

Ritchie Torres at a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip and site of the Nova massacre. April 1, 2024. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

Mohammed Reza Zahedi, the top commander in the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for Lebanon and Syria was assassinated in an air strike on Monday.

Zahedi is the highest ranking Iranian killed since the current war started, even higher than Sayyed Reza Mousavi, who was killed in December, the Jerusalem Post has learned.

Besides his wide ranging responsibilities for terro on Israel's borders, he was the highest level interlocutor for Tehran with Hezbollah.

This means that although Israel has not taken credit, Iran and Hezbollah are already accusing Jerusalem of involvement, since removing Zahedi could be seen as a blow to the management of the Lebanese terror groups' rocket attacks on Israel. 

Iranian press reported that Zahedi was meeting with leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad at the time of the strike, but these reports could not be independently verified.

Smoke rises after what the Iranian media said was an Israeli strike on a buidling close to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria April 1, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/FIRAS MAKDESI)

Zahedi also commanded the Quds Force's Unit 18000, responsible, among other things, for smuggling ammunition and precision weapons into Lebanon. He had also commanded the IRGC's Air Force and Imam Hussein Division in the past. 

Iranian FM, embassy in Lebanon respond: "breach of all international conventions"

Initial reports indicate that at least six people were killed in the strike, which targeted a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy. 

The Iranian Embassy in Lebanon responded with fury to the alleged strike, saying: "This barbaric Israeli aggression is a flagrant violation of international laws, diplomatic norms, and the requirements of the Vienna Convention."

In a call with the Syrian foreign minister on Monday, Iran's foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that Tehran holds Israel responsible for the consequences of the attack, Iran's state media reported on Monday.

The strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus is "a breach of all international conventions," Amirabdollahian added.

The strikes come less than a day after the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center in Jamraya, near Damascus, was hit in alleged Israeli airstrikes.

Maariv Online contributed to this developing story.

An unnamed Hamas leader told Al Jazeera that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to buy time and take in the anger of the families of the hostages held in Gaza, but he is creating obstacles to the agreement, Al Jazeera reported Monday.

The Hamas leader added that the Israeli delegation does not have the authority to reach an agreement. He stressed Hamas's position on the necessity to stop Israeli "aggression," withdraw "the occupation forces," referring to Israel, return the displaced in Gaza, and intensify reconstruction and providing aid. 

An unconfirmed number of Palestinian Authority's General Intelligence Service members were apprehended in Gaza by Hamas after being accused of sneaking into the Gaza Strip in collaboration with Israel, according to Arab media reports on Monday, citing an interview on Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV.

According to the reports, the General Intelligence Service members entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt during a mission to secure and facilitate the humanitarian aid truck convoys. At some point after entrance, they were apprehended by Hamas terrorists.

An unnamed Hamas official told Al-Aqsa TV that the PA General Intelligence Service leader, Majed Faraj, was using this mission as a guise with the aim of creating a "state of confusion and chaos among the ranks of the home front, and with security from the Israeli Shin Bet service and the enemy army.”

The Hamas Official claimed that ten service members were arrested and that the issue had been "dealt with."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Monday with Coalition Whip Ofir Katz to ensure the closure of Qatari state-funded news outlet, Al Jazeera, in Israel as soon as the Knesset passed the law enabling such an action, the Likud stated.

The law, which would enable the prime minister to shut down Al Jazeera's broadcasts in Israel, is set to undergo its second and third reading in the Knesset on Monday evening.

Netanyahu reportedly said he would do so as soon as he was able.

A hostile aircraft infiltrated into Israeli territory from Jordan on Sunday night and fell in the area of Eilat, the military said.

The aircraft caused minor damage to a building, and no casualties were reported, the IDF added.

Later, the IDF clarified that the aircraft landed in the area of an IDF base.

IDF fighter jets simultaneously struck approximately 10 Hezbollah terror targets in the area of Rachaya Al Foukhar in southern Lebanon, the IDF announced on Monday.

The targets included a weapons storage facility, launch posts, and terrorist infrastructure,

IDF, Shin Bet, and Border Police operated in the West Bank overnight, during which they raided the home of the terrorist who stabbed three people in Gan Yavne on Sunday night, the IDF stated on Monday.

Over the course of the operations in the West Bank, the Israeli forces arrested nine wanted individuals.

Since October 7, 3,600 wanted persons have been arrested throughout the West Bank, the IDF added. Around 1,600 of this number are associated with Hamas.

About 200,000 people were evacuated from the border areas shared with the Gaza Strip and Lebanon because of terrorist attacks against Israel; of these, about 32,000 of them are still being put up in hotels across the country. 

Maccabi Healthcare Services, the second largest health fund, surveyed its members in February to find out how being away from home or having lost their homes completely has affected their well-being.

It found that a third of the evacuees reported a change in their health condition for the worse, and there was a 35% increase in the use of medications to treat depression or anxiety.  About two-thirds of the evacuees testified that their sleep was disturbed, and a third of the parents said that there was a change for the worse in the children’s eating habits. 

About a third of the evacuees reported a change for the worse in their health condition, with 59% perceiving it as moderate or bad today, compared to only 42% before the outbreak of the war. The survey also shows that 76% of the evacuees who had an appointment postponed or gave up on a doctor's appointment or pre-arranged medical examination, and about half testified that they gave up screening tests.

The protest for the release of the hostages picked up speed over the weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, stormy demonstrations were held in dozens of locations, including the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv and in front of the Knesset in Jerusalem. 

Danny Elgarat, the brother of Itzhak Elgarat, who was taken hostage in the Gaza Strip, sharply criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday morning, saying that he is "waiting for the end of the term to return the hostages - as an achievement for the elections."

"This is not a protest, it is a struggle. We are fighting to get them back and will not remain silent. If it does not suit Netanyahu that these are his people, he should get a new country, a new people. What is he waiting for? That we come to Sara and say ‘thank you?’ It's shameful that this is what we deal with."

Later, Elgarat said that Netanyahu "is like the captain of the Titanic, lost at sea and telling us that in a moment he will defeat Hamas." 

He added, "[Netanyahu] wants to release the hostages towards the end of his term, which he will have as an achievement to present in the elections. Everything with him is calculated."