Israel-Hamas war: What happened on day 182?

The IDF struck sites near Nabi Chit in the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon early Sunday morning, just hours after an IDF drone was downed by a surface-to-air missile in Lebanon, according to Lebanese reports.

الطيران الإسرائيلي ينفذ عدة غارات على منطقة بعلبك وضواحيها شرقي #لبنان pic.twitter.com/yDbZHAgeZc

— حسين مرتضى Hussein Mortada (@HoseinMortada) April 6, 2024

On Saturday night, the IDF said a drone was downed by a surface-to-air missile and fell in Lebanon. Hezbollah took responsibility for the incident, saying it shot down the drone.

The United States warned that Israel would be judged on the results of the security cabinet’s decision late Thursday night to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, including opening the Erez crossing and allowing goods to move through the Ashdod Port.

“These are positive developments,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday, “but the real test is results, and that’s what we’re looking to see in the coming days and the coming weeks.”

He laid a series of litmus tests by which the Biden administration would judge the effectiveness of the security cabinet’s decisions.

“Is the aid effectively reaching people who need it throughout Gaza? Are the bottlenecks and other delays at crossings being resolved? Do we have a much better system for deconfliction and coordination so that the humanitarian workers, the folks who are delivering the aid, can do it safely and securely?” he stated as he spoke to reporters in Belgium.

The war cabinet is set to convene on Sunday before the Israeli delegation to the Cairo hostage talks departs, Kan news reported on Saturday.

Egypt plans to host a new round of hostage talks this week that will include CIA Director William Burns, amid pessimism in Israel as to the possibility of a deal as Qatar’s Ambassador to the UN in New York told relives of hostages  that a deal was still possible.

The talks which could begin as early as Sunday would include Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and an Israeli delegation, Egypt’s Al Qahera news reported on Saturday.

Hamas said it would send a delegation headed by its Gaza deputy chief Khalil Al-Hayya. Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and Mossad Chief David Barnea could also participate, according to media reports, although Israel has yet to make a final decision on whether to attend.

Two IDF soldiers from the 46th Battalion of the 401st Brigade were critically wounded on Saturday in central Gaza, the IDF announced.

The soldiers were evacuated for medical treatment and their families have been notified.

The IDF destroyed three terror tunnels in the area of the Khan Yunis Brigade, the IDF reported Saturday. 

While Gaza’s underground tunnel infrastructure has been a challenge for the IDF since the "Swords of Iron War" began, IDF soldiers, led by the 98th Division and the Yahalom Unit, have been operating to locate, map, and destroy Hamas’s Khan Yunis Brigade’s tunnels, the military stated.

The tunnels that were destroyed had been under IDF intelligence and technological surveillance in the last few years. Following preliminary ground activity, the tunnels were mapped and destroyed. In addition to the 98th Division and the Yahalom Unit, the Southern Command's Engineering Array and the Gaza Division carried out the operation.

The European Union's naval mission in the southern Red Sea said on Saturday it had intercepted a Houthi missile to protect merchant ships.

The EU's mission, known as Aspides, said in a press release that the German frigate "Hessen" had intercepted a missile attack from Houthi controlled territories.

"The action performed by Hessen was effective, avoiding any damage to seafarers and merchant shipping," it added.

Aspides was launched in February to help protect the key maritime trade route from drone and missile attacks by Yemen's Houthi militia, who say they are retaliating against Israel's war on Gaza.

Hadash MH Ofer Cassif attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday after the confirmation of the hostage Elad Katzir’s death in Hamas captivity.

In response to Katzir's sister’s confirmation of her brother's death, Cassif posted on the social media platform X, “Netanyahu is slowly killing the hostages, consciously!”

In December, Cassif signed a petition in support of South Africa's petition to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague that Israel was committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

A subsequent vote in the Knesset failed to impeach the MK.

British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Saturday that it had received information that a vessel was targeted approximately 61 nautical miles southwest of Hodeidah in Yemen.

Iran-aligned Houthis have staged attacks on shipping in the Red Sea region for months in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war.

Catherine Russel, the chairperson of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF,) said that the war in Gaza had killed more than 13 thousand children and wounded others, Maariv reported on Saturday, citing the Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya.