Israel at war: What happened on day 17?

Two captives out of the 222 hostages Hamas abducted on October 7 were released from Gaza to Egypt on Monday night, Israel confirmed.

Nurit Cooper, 80, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, both from Kibbutz Nir Oz, were released to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which took them to the Rafah crossing where they were met by Israeli officials. 

Their husbands, also in their 80s, remain in captivity.

The women had been freed after 20 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza, and amid reports that Qatar separately had secured the release of some 50 hostages with foreign passports. These two women were both Israeli and were not part of that deal.

“We decided to release them for compelling humanitarian and health reasons,” Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida said.

Hamas did this “despite the occupation committing more than eight violations of the procedures that were agreed upon with the mediating brothers for the occupation to adhere to during this day to complete the handover process,” Ubaida said.

The Hamas announcement came shortly after i24News reported Monday evening that representatives of the ICRC were on their way to Gaza to redeem the hostages and against the backdrop of a report by The New York Times on Monday that said Hamas was exploring the possibility of releasing hostages who hold foreign passports.

The Times cited an Israeli military official who mentioned that Qatar is actively engaged in mediating negotiations for the release of these hostages, separate from those who are exclusively Israeli citizens. The Israeli official cited in the Times reportedly made this claim based on discussions between the United States and Qatar.

The Wall Street Journal later said that negotiations for the release of a group of 50 captives in Gaza failed because Hamas conditioned their release on the supply of fuel to the Gaza Strip, which Israel has refused to allow because it said Hamas uses the fuel to launch rockets at Israel. 

Efforts on multiple fronts

According to KAN News, conversations are occurring on multiple fronts, including via several intermediaries, from former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen to Ronen Levi, who served for almost 30 years in the intelligence and defense communities and has connections in Qatar and other Gulf countries. 

Several media new sites speculated that Israel has held off from embarking on a military ground campaign in Gaza to allow for further negotiations for the release of the hostages.

In Washington, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said US President Joe Biden and his administration were committed to ensuring that all the hostages would be freed.

“We’re going to [work] with our partners to do everything we can to get hostages out,” he told reporters at the Foreign Press Center. “They should be released immediately; there’s no reason for them to be held in the first place.”

John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, answers questions during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, US, February 17, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN)

In a briefing at the White House, Kirby dismissed questions about the possibility of a ceasefire in exchange for the hostages. Hamas could at any moment simply release all of them, he said.

“Here’s an idea: They [Hamas] can release them all now,” Kirby said. “They can let them go now, because they can release them all now. Just let them go now, because these people did not do anything wrong. They are just innocent civilians caught up in this conflict. Let them go now.

“Now, I recognize that is not going to happen, which is why we are going to keep working with our partners in the region to do what we can to get them released.”

At the Foreign Press Center briefing, Kirby also appeared to dismiss reports linking the absence of an Israeli ground campaign with the hostages, noting that he "won’t speak for the Israelis and what they will or won’t do on the ground.  All I can tell you is that we have been working – and I don’t mean – and this is not an exaggeration – we’ve been working by the hour since the moment we found out that Americans were being held hostage to get them released."

IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari gives a statement to the media in Tel Aviv on October 16, 2023. (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)

During an evening briefing, IDF Spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari said that the IDF's delay in entering Gaza was due to "strategic considerations" and that Israel was "looking at the situation in the entire Middle East."

Kirby reiterated the Biden administration’s strong support for Israel’s campaign against Hamas in light of the October 7 attack, in which more than 1,400 civilians and soldiers were killed. An estimated 5,000 Palestinians have been killed in IAF airstrikes on Gaza and failed Palestinian rocket launches.

First hostages released last week

Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie Shoshana Raanan, US citizens who were taken as hostages by Palestinian Hamas militants, walk while holding hands with Brig.-Gen. (Ret.) Gal Hirsch, Israel's Coordinator for the Captives and Missing, after they were released by the militants. (credit: Government of Israel/Handout via REUTERS)

Last Friday, Hamas released two American-Israeli hostages, Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter Natalie, 17.

The terror organization said they were released on humanitarian grounds. The mother and daughter were transferred from Hamas to the Red Cross, then to the Israeli border and into Israeli hands. They were met by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, the country's coordinator for hostages and missing persons and a team of security officials.

Until now, the Red Cross has not been allowed to meet with the hostages nor deliver the medications earmarked for them, the organization said. However, on Monday, the Red Cross confirmed it had assisted in the release of the captives.

"Our role as a neutral intermediary between the parties to the conflict makes our work possible," the organization said. "We are prepared to visit the remaining captives in captivity and assist in any future releases. We are pleased that those who have been released will soon be reunited with their families and loved ones."

Terrorists in Lebanon fired toward an IDF position in the Misgav Am area, the IDF spokesperson said on Monday.

The rocket fire activated an alert in the Kiryat Shmona area.

In response, the IDF targeted the sources of the rocket fire in Lebanese territory.

Subsequently, the police said that they are currently addressing a site in the Kiryat Shmona area where rocket debris has fallen.

Citing medical reports, the police said that two people had been lightly injured from the falling debris.

The police also reported property damage from the incident.

Police, along with bomb disposal experts, are working to cordon off the debris site and to search for further remnants.

Hamas may release an additional 50 hostages with dual citizenship, apart from any broader deal, the New York Times (NYT) reported on Monday, citing an Israeli military source.

The Israeli official reportedly made this claim based on discussions between the United States and Qatar.

Also, the Times wrote that US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed on the continuation of the supply of critical assistance to the Gaza Strip, citing a White House summary of a call between the two leaders.

Furthermore, Biden and Netanyahu reportedly spoke about the efforts to secure the release of all the other hostages kidnapped by Hamas as well as the provision of safe passage for civilians who want to leave the Gaza Strip.

Doctors at a Gaza neonatal intensive care unit are scrambling to find fuel and basic medicines for their tiny patients who could die within minutes if their incubators lose power.

"We call on everyone to send the necessary medical supplies for this critical department or else we face a huge catastrophe," said Doctor Nasser Bulbul at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

The IDF's air and ground forces have increased their joint training of varying scenarios for the upcoming invasion of Gaza.

Despite an extended delay of the invasion into the third week of the war, all signals from top IDF officials on Monday are that the invasion is still not a question of if, but of when.

Sirens sounded in the Gaza border town of Nir Oz over a suspected infiltration of a hostile aircraft from the Strip on Monday.

Subsequently, Hamas released a statement on their Arabic-language Telegram channel regarding the incident.

Omer Balva was on vacation in Maryland, where he was born and lived until graduating from high school, when Hamas attacked Israel October 7.

The child of Israeli parents who lived in the United States for decades, Balva, 22, recently finished a stint in the Israel Defense Forces and was among the 360,000 reservists called up as Israel mobilized to respond. Like an untold number of Israelis in the United States, he quickly booked a flight, packed safety gear and headed home.

Israel's faith in its government is at its lowest in at least 20 years, according to a poll released by the Israel Democracy Institute on Monday.

Only 20% of Israelis still have faith in the government compared to 28% in June with the majority of the dip coming from the Right where 12% of voters no longer have faith in the government. On the Left, the faith was low before and remains low now.

In the third week of Israel's war against the Palestinian terror organization, Hamas, the State Attorney's Office has filed five indictments against Israeli citizens who have shown public support for or incitement to terrorism, according to a Monday report.

The prosecution has requested that those who have been accused be arrested until the legal proceedings are concluded.

These indictments come in addition to another twelve similar indictments that have been filed since the start of the war.

Sirens sounded in the Gaza border town of Nir Oz over a suspected infiltration of a hostile aircraft from the Strip on Monday.