Israel-Hamas War Day 248: What's happening in Gaza, Middle East?

According to Lebanese reports, IDF attacked in the city of Hermel in Lebanon, which is the deepest point in the country in which the IDF has attacked.

The United Nations Security Council approved a resolution backing US President Joe Biden’s three-phase hostage deal in a 14-0 vote, with Russia abstaining, as Hamas said it was ready to work with mediators to reach an agreement.

“Today we voted for peace,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the UNSC after the vote at UN headquarters in New York.

“Hamas can now see that the international community is united behind a deal that will save lives and help Palestinian civilians in Gaza start to rebuild and heal,” she said.

Watch: Israel Police publish footage of the Elite Yamam counterterrorism unit rescuing Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov, and Almog Meir Jan from Hamas captivity.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich pledged to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state, claiming he would have more leeway to do so following Gantz's resignation from Netanyahu's emergency government.

Eliran Mizrachi committed suicide after receiving a reservist's emergency call-up just two days before he was supposed to report for duty. Now, his family is fighting for the IDF to recognize him as a fallen soldier.

Orit Meir, the mother of Almog Meir Jan, spoke during a press conference, and revealed what her son went through during Hamas captivity.

Amid continued Gaza operations, IDF soldiers detected a Hamas terrorist emerging from a tunnel armed with an RPG. The IDF swiftly fired on the tunnel, destroying it and killing the terrorist.

The Biden administration has considered negotiating directly with Hamas on the release of the American hostages detained in Gaza captivity, according to an NBC report on Monday citing four US officials. 

Negotiations would be held via Qatar

According to the report, the negotiations would be held via Qatari mediators and would not include Israel. 

A woman takes part in a protest demanding a hostage deal, in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 1, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/SUSANA VERA)

The report also cited the officials as being unsure of what the US would give to Hamas in exchange. 

The report stated the White House believes five hostages with American citizenship are currently being held in Gaza. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar over the weekend. The meeting came as the Turkish official was attending a ministerial meeting focusing on Turkey’s ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council. Turkey’s current leadership are backers of Hamas, and they have hosted Hamas leaders numerous times, including after the Hamas massacre of October 7. Turkey is also a member of NATO. It is one of two western allies, along with Qatar, that support Hamas.

Fidan was proud of the meeting with the Hamas leader. He posted about it on the social media platform X. “Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan met with Ismail Haniyeh, Head of Hamas Political Bureau, on the margins of the Sixth Ministerial Meeting of Turkiye-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) High Level Strategic Dialogue, in Doha.”

Efforts to legitimize Hamas 

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meets with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, in Tehran, Iran September 3, 2023. (credit: Majid Asgaripour/WANA/via Reuters)

A photo posted by Fidan showed both men seated. There were no flags in the meeting. The men sat in front of a giant image of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Ankara has sought to position itself as the main backer of Hamas in this current conflict. It has also sought to legitimize Hamas through meetings such as this, to make Hamas appear to be the government of not just Gaza, but also of the Palestinians in general. This is designed to create an image for Hamas that makes it seem like Hamas could one day govern the West Bank as well. In May the International Criminal Court said it was seeking applications for warrants of arrest before its pre-trial chamber against Haniyeh. This has not changed Ankara’s decision to meet with a possible wanted war criminal. 

A senior Hamas official urged the United States on Monday to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza, ahead of the planned visit on Monday by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region to push forward ceasefire efforts.

Blinken is set to visit Egypt and Israel on Monday. He also aims to ensure the war does not expand into Lebanon.

"We call upon the US administration to put pressure on the occupation to stop the war on Gaza, and the Hamas movement is ready to deal positively with any initiative that secures an end to the war," senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said.

In his eighth visit to the region since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, triggering the bloodiest episode in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Blinken is also set to travel to Jordan and Qatar this week.

He is set to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo before traveling to Israel later on Monday, where he will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, according to a State Department schedule.

US SECRETARY of State Antony Blinken testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, this week. The US administration still, with messianic devotion, thinks that the establishment of a Palestinian state must be diligently pursued post haste via pressure on Israel, the writer charges. (credit: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS)

Israel goes deeper into Gaza 

On Monday, Palestinian residents said tanks had been trying to thrust deeper towards the north in the early hours of Monday, edging Shaboura, one of the most densely populated and terror stronghold neighborhoods at the heart of the city.

Israeli tank forces have since seized Gaza's entire border strip with Egypt running through Rafah to the Mediterranean coast and invaded many districts of the city of 280,000 residents, prompting around one million displaced people who had been sheltering in Rafah to evacuate.

Blinken's visit comes after US President Joe Biden on May 31 outlined a three-phase ceasefire proposal from Israel that envisions a permanent end to hostilities, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the reconstruction of Gaza.

The Hamas October 7 massacre killed 1,200 people and took some 250 others hostage, according to Israeli tallies. In response, Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, the Hamas-run health ministry said in its Sunday update.