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

The Israeli defense establishment intends to allow an external, independent investigation into the accidental killings of the seven World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid workers last week, KAN Reshet B reported on Monday morning.

The International Court of Justice at The Hague is set to discuss Nicaragua's demand that Germany cease arms shipments to Israel, KAN reported on Monday.
 

The IDF will hold a large drill along the coast and in Western Galilee in northern Israel on Monday morning to prepare for fighting on various fronts.

The drill will include active traffic of naval vessels, aircraft, and security forces throughout the area.

The Ma'alot-Tarshiha Municipality informed residents about the exercise, noting that the drill is "part of the improvement of emergency preparedness."

Progress has been made in discussions in Cairo on a truce in the Gaza conflict and there is agreement on the basic points between all parties involved, Egypt's Al-Qahera News state-affiliated TV channel said early on Monday, citing a senior Egyptian source.

On Sunday, both Israel and Hamas sent teams to Egypt for fresh talks on a potential ceasefire in the six-month conflict. 

There was no immediate comment from Hamas and none of the parties to the Cairo talks has confirmed the Al-Qahera news report.

Finalizing the agreement 

According to Al-Qahera, Hamas and Qatar's delegations left Cairo and will return within two days to agree on the terms of the final agreement, while the Israeli and the US delegations will leave the Egyptian capital within a few hours. It added that consultations were ongoing during the next 48 hours.

The Tourism Ministry shared on Sunday, exactly six months after October 7, a total of NIS 3.2 billion was paid to hotels housing evacuees from Israel’s north and south. 

There are currently 27,000 evacuees being housed in hotels, 21,000 of whom are from the north.

After Hamas invaded on October 7, the government ordered the mass evacuation of 125,000 residents from the south and north out of concern for their safety.

While the Tourism Ministry had not initially been involved in the government meeting to handle the large population of unhoused families and individuals, Tourism Minister Haim Katz initiated the establishment of a civilian situation room, in cooperation with the Israel Hotel Association and quickly created a database of approximately 50,000 hotel rooms to host evacuees. 

Iran informed the US that it would refrain from responding to the airstrike in which senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders were killed in Damascus if a ceasefire in Gaza is reached, Jadeh Iran reported on Sunday.

The news outlet cited an anonymous Arab diplomatic source, saying the source spoke to the news outlet two days ago. The source added that "If America succeeds in containing the situation, it will be a great success for the Biden administration and we can build on that."

The report comes as negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal resume between Israel and Hamas in Cairo and as Israel continues preparations for a possible response to the Damascus airstrike that Syria and Iran blamed on Israel.

A Hamas delegation has arrived in Cairo to meet with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, a statement from Hamas said on Sunday.

Hamas reiterated demands the group issued in a March 14 proposal prior to a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that was passed on March 25.

The demands include a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a return of the displaced, and an exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, the statement said.

The statement also demanded relief for the Palestinian people and to begin reconstruction of the besieged Strip.

Stunning: the only word appropriate for Israel’s decision to withdraw from Khan Yunis in southern Gaza on Sunday.

Some political and defense officials tried to offer apologetics for how it was hinted to, or consistent with Israel’s strategy to date – but it simply was not.

For months, Israel’s consistent strategy was that the only way the IDF could convince Hamas to return more hostages would be to pressure it in its hometown of Khan Yunis.

Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and military chief Muhammad Deif are both from Khan Yunis; it would be personal for them.

There is growing American frustration over IDF actions in Gaza, even as it continues to support Israel’s right to defend itself, US National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said on Sunday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took steps to soothe tensions between Jerusalem and Washington.

There has been a “growing degree of frustration that we've had with the way these operations are being [executed] and the way that the Israelis are acting on the ground in terms of civilian casualties,” Kirby told ABC’s Meet the Press. 

Kirby said that “frustration” was at the core of US President Joe Biden's message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their phone call this week, as he recalled the terse half-hour conversation between the two leaders on Thursday.

Israel has “got to do more,” it’s “got to make changes.,” Kirby said. He acknowledged that Netanyahu had pledged to take steps to improve the situation, which he welcomed, but more needed to be done.

The IDF attacked a Hezbollah rocket launcher and operational infrastructure in southern Lebanon on Sunday, the IDF reported. 

In recent hours, Air Force fighter jets struck Hezbollah infrastructure in Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon in response to rocket launches from Lebanese territory to the area of Safed. 

Earlier on Sunday, several additional launches were detected that crossed from Lebanese territory towards the Mount Dov area, and there were no reported casualties.  

This is a developing story.