Israel-Hamas war day 184: What's happening in Gaza, Lebanon?

Unrecognized aircrafts infiltrated Israel's south on Monday night.

Alerts were triggered in Eilat, Hevel and Eilot.

Following reports of an unauthorized entry of unidentified aircraft into the city of Eilat and the Eilat region, the Israeli Navy identified a suspicious aerial target that crossed into Israeli territory and successfully intercepted it using the "Water Dome" system, IDF spokesperson reported. The target was monitored by IDF forces. There are no casualties and no damage caused.

American and Israeli negotiators are waiting for a response from Hamas to the latest proposal on the table for a hostage deal, US National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters in Washington on Monday.

“Where we are now is that a proposal has been presented to Hamas and we're waiting on Hamas’s response,” Kirby told reporters.

“A response from Hamas to any particular proposal one way or another can often take a matter of days just because of the nature of communications with them and with [Hamas Gaza leader Yehya] Sinwar,” Kirby stated.

He spoke as Cairo hosted indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, which included CIA Director William Burns, as well as delegations from the two mediating countries Egypt and Qatar.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is scheduled to meet with families of the hostages late Monday, Kirby added.

Israel's military operates in the Gaza Strip during a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, on November 27, 2023 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

The Cairo talks were serious, he stressed, and could hopefully lead to a six-week pause in the war.

“We're taking this very, very seriously. And we want to do come to closure on a hostage deal as soon as possible because again, with that hostage comes a ceasefire of hopefully around six weeks,” Kirby stated.

Sources told the state-run Al-Qahera News said that delegations left Cairo and consultations were expected to continue within 48 hours. The security cabinet is expected to meet on Tuesday night to discuss the hostages.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a short Hebrew language video in which he said, “I received a detailed report on the talks in Cairo.

“We are working all the time to achieve our goals, primarily the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas,” he stated.

The Shin Bet and IDf Unit 504 revealed on Monday that Islamic Jihad Spokesman Tarik Salame Uda Abu confessed to Gazan terrorists taking over all of the hospitals in Gaza.

"Gaza terror groups use all of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip...the organization lied and deceived regarding the story of an Israeli rocket hitting a hospital at the start of the war," he told his interrogators.

The Islamic Jihad spokesman was arrested recently during the second takeover of Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, along with 500 other Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, plus another 200 who the IDF killed when they refused to surrender.

The terror spokesman said that his role was to fool the global media and foreign countries to turn them against Israel.

On October 18, IDF Spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari laid out the IDF’s full comprehensive intelligence case to prove that a failed rocket launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza was the cause behind the damage and the death Tuesday night at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital.

This was the incident that Uda Abu was referring to on Monday.

An explosion takes place in what Israel military said was a tunnel at AI Shifa Hospital complex before a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect, in Gaza, in this still image obtained from a handout video obtained by Reuters on November 24, 2023. (credit: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS)

Previously revealed recordings of Hamas members blaming PIJ

At the time, Hagari presented audio recordings in which Hamas members can be heard saying to each other that PIJ was responsible for the explosion.

A former Hamas hostage was harassed and shamed by a Dutch security guard on Friday at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, Ynet reported on Sunday.

The Israeli embassy in Netherlands has not immediately responded to confirm the report, but Dutch politicians and Jewish organizations are already demanding action after the Israeli ex-hostage and another Duth-Israeli woman that accompanied her on an advocacy trip were stopped repeatedly by the same guard.

According to Ynet, the Israelis were sent to an expedited security checkpoint by the local El Al station crew during check-in, but the security guard looked through the hostage's passport and insisted they were not eligible.

The Israelis moved to the regular line, but the guard moved them back, but warned them they could be fined if they were indeed not eligible to use the track. At another point, the same guard of Pakistani extraction pulled them out of line during hand luggage screening, and allegedly humiliated them by loudly accusing them of fraud and said that they were being detained. Ynet said they were repeatedly and vocally identified as Israelis.

The Israelis were only released and sent on their way after they called the Israeli embassy, Ynet reported.

GETTING READY for departure from Ben-Gurion Airport. (credit: MOSHE SHAI/FLASH90)

Similar incident alleged at Manchester Airport in UK

Freedom Party Chairman Geert Wilders and Israeli-Dutch fellow party member Gideon Markuszower demanded that Prime Minister Mark Rutte address the incident and fire the guard.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the IDF must enter Rafah to achieve complete victory and return the hostages while also claiming that Israel has decided on a date for entry in a video published on Monday.

"Today, I received a detailed report on the talks in Cairo; we are constantly working to achieve our goals, first and foremost, the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas," Netanyahu stated in the video.

"This victory requires entry into Rafah and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there. It will happen - there is a date," he added.

Netanyahu allies warn lack of Rafah op. will threaten government

The Shin Bet and IDf Unit 504 revealed on Monday that Islamic Jihad Spokesman Tarik Salame Uda Abu confessed to Gazan terrorists taking over all of the hospitals in Gaza.

"Gaza terror groups use all of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip...the organization lied and deceived regarding the story of an Israeli rocket hitting a hospital at the start of the war," he told his interrogators.

The Islamic Jihad spokesman was arrested recently during the second takeover of Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, along with 500 other Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, plus another 200 who the IDF killed when they refused to surrender.

The terror spokesman said that his role was to fool the global media and foreign countries to turn them against Israel.

On October 18, IDF Spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari laid out the IDF’s full comprehensive intelligence case to prove that a failed rocket launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza was the cause behind the damage and the death Tuesday night at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital.

This was the incident that Uda Abu was referring to on Monday.

An explosion takes place in what Israel military said was a tunnel at AI Shifa Hospital complex before a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect, in Gaza, in this still image obtained from a handout video obtained by Reuters on November 24, 2023. (credit: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS)

Previously revealed recordings of Hamas members blaming PIJ

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah reiterated threats that Iran would respond to the alleged Israeli airstrike that targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus last week, saying, "The Americans and Israelis recognize that the Iranian response to the attack on the Iranian consulate is coming."

Nasrallah noted that the airstrike was the "highest-profile Israeli attack in Syria in years," warning that Israel had "miscalculated" in deciding to carry out the strike.

The Hezbollah leader noted that there were "two new things" in the alleged Israeli strike on the consulate: the first being that it targeted "Iranian territory" as it hit a diplomatic mission and the second being that it targeted a high-level official, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who Nasrallah referred to as "the chief Iranian advisor in Lebanon and Syria."

Nasrallah insisted that the IRGC commanders killed in the Israeli strike were only "advisors" meant to provide guidance and logistical support and weren't military forces.

The Hezbollah leader said that Zahedi was focused on helping Gaza immediately after October 7, adding that Zahedi wanted to be near the front and wanted to "die as a martyr." Nasrallah added that Zahedi had been in Lebanon since 2020.

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

Nasrallah's comments concerning Zahedi's support for terrorist groups in Gaza reflected comments made by the Coordination Council of Islamic Revolution Forces, a conservative umbrella group in Iran, last week which noted that Zahedi was involved in "designing and implementing" the October 7th massacre. The comments by the council contradicted claims by Iranian leaders that Iran was not directly involved in the massacre.

At least 33,207 Palestinians have been killed and 75,933 others wounded in Israel's military offensive in Gaza following the outbreak of war on October 7, Gaza's Hamas-governed health ministry reported on Monday.

The numbers cannot be independently verified, and they do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

A man from central Israel was arrested by the Shin Bet and the cyber unit of Israel Police's Lahav 433 on suspicion of publishing content on Telegram inciting terrorism and calling for the assassination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Shin Bet and police said on Monday.

The suspect was arrested on Sunday after an undercover investigation conducted by the Shin Bet and police.

The suspect has been released to house arrest and the evidence in his case has been transferred to the prosecutor's office to examine charges against him.

A "moderate disruption" was recorded in internet connectivity in Iran on Monday, according to the NetBlocks internet watchdog.

The head of Iran's Communications Regulatory Authority, Amir Lajevardi, stated that one of the internet providers in Iran was experiencing difficulties on Monday and needed to inform and compensate users.

ℹ️ Confirmed: Metrics show a moderate disruption to internet connectivity in #Iran affecting multiple networks from early this morning; analysis of the incident is ongoing 📉 pic.twitter.com/zyLF3D4a12

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) April 8, 2024

Lajevardi added, "Despite the increased level of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in the last week, the country's communication network is stable."

The incident comes as tensions rise in the region, with Iran threatening to respond after several senior IRGC commanders were killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike in Damascus last week.

A smartphone with a displayed Iranian flag with the word ''Cyberattack'' and binary codes over it is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken February 23, 2023. (credit: DADO RUVIC/REUTERS)

Past Iranian internet outages