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."

In Israel's ongoing effort to track down all those involved in the brutal terrorist attack that left more than 1,400 Israelis murdered, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Service) has established a new unit named Nili, an acronym in Hebrew for "The Eternity of Israel Will Not Lie."

The unit is dedicated to hunting down and eliminating every individual who played a role in the massacre in the western Negev settlements two weeks ago.

This force was specifically set up to target members of a special commando unit within Hamas's military wing called Nukhba ("elite") who infiltrated Israel, executed mass killings in various villages and IDF outposts, and then returned to the Gaza Strip.

The members of this new organization function independently from other Command and Control units that are focused on neutralizing strike cells and high-ranking terrorists. This particular mission is distinct, with the organization encompassing both field operatives and intelligence personnel.

Hamas terrorists who took part in the October 7 massacre of southern Israeli towns received precise instructions to make deadly chemical weapons to use on civilians, President Isaac Herzog confirmed in a Sunday night interview with Sky News.

Herzog said that the IDF found a USB key on the body of one Hamas terrorists containing a PDF of al-Qaeda material which included instructions to behead babies and guides on how to take hostages and create improvised "cyanide dispersion devices."

התקן USB שנמצא על מחבלי חמאס מוכיח שארגון הטרור הרצחני תכנן להשתמש בציאניד כנגד אוכלוסיה אזרחית, בדיוק כפי שפועל ארגון הטרור אל-קאעידה.

צפו בקטע מתוך ראיון שקיימתי הערב לרשת Sky News: pic.twitter.com/qSmfON8gvQ

— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) October 22, 2023

The Israeli president told Sky that the al-Qaeda material found is evidence of "murderous patterns that testify to Hamas's attempts to emulate ISIS."

"This is official al-Qaeda material. We are dealing with al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas," Herzog said.

The al Qaeda document found on a USB on a Hamas terrorists on October 22, 2023 (credit: PRESIDENT'S RESIDENCE)

The IDF attacked a terrorist cell within Lebanese territory on Sunday night and destroyed the anti-tank launcher that the cell had used. Forces suspect that the terrorists had planned to fire an anti-tank missile into a peaceful area.

When Hamas invaded southern Israel and massacred 1,400 people on October 7, the proposition among the IDF to enter Gaza arose almost immediately, and a ground incursion was expected to be launched within a few days.

The reasons to invade at the time, however, are quickly becoming obsolete. And as the invasion delays further, a variety of reasons are being brought forth as to why this is so – more than two weeks into this war.

The first reason, and the most obvious, is that in the first week of the war, not all of the 360,000 IDF reservists were in the right places with the right gear, and they were not all fully updated and trained for their disparate missions. So, they were not prepared to enter.

This is no longer true. Troops can always improve their readiness, but waiting and training for too long without acting creates skittishness and uneasiness, and it negatively impacts morale.

The United States increased its military forces in the Middle East as it braced for increased Iranian proxy attacks against American targets as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked to avoid a two-front war with Tehran-backed terror groups.

“We are concerned at the possibility of Iranian proxies escalating their attacks against our own personnel, our own people,” Blinken told CBS on Sunday. “We’re taking every measure to make sure that we can defend them and, if necessary, respond decisively. 

US Senator Lindsey Graham warned Iran “that if this war grows, it's coming to your backyard,” during a Tel Aviv press conference.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said late Saturday that Washington would send more military assets to the Middle East both in support of Israel and to strengthen the US defense posture in the region.

About 20,000 people rallied in London's Trafalgar Square on Sunday to demand the release of more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas during their Oct. 7 incursion from Gaza into Israel in which 1,400 Israelis were killed.

Waving the blue and white Israeli flag adorned with the Star of David, several participants wept as the names of hostages were read out to the crowd.

Ayelet Svtizky described how Hamas had entered her mother's home as she was speaking on the phone to her.

"A few minutes later, Hamas sent me two pictures of my mum and my brother sitting in my mum's living room," she said. "The third picture they uploaded to my mum's Facebook story with a Hamas gunman in the background. And that's the last I heard of them.

"My message is these atrocities should never be forgotten," she said. "The hostages should be brought home now."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday that he had spoken to Israeli President Isaac Herzog about Palestinian terrorist group Hamas' attacks.

"We spoke about the hostages held by Hamas, and the need for their immediate release," Trudeau said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Trudeau also reaffirmed Canada supports Israel's right to defend itself in accordance with international law, the post said.

Some 21 children from 13 families were left without both of their parents either because they were murdered or kidnapped in the October 7 massacre conducted by Hamas in southern Israel, the Welfare Ministry announced on Sunday.

Of the 21 children, most of their parents were murdered. One of the children, a four-year-old girl, was orphaned and kidnapped by Hamas and is still being held hostage in Gaza. Another girl lost her mother and her father was kidnapped and is being held hostage in Gaza.

Social workers from the welfare service have contacted all the families who are hosting the 20 children and are providing them with support and assistance.

El Al is operating cargo flights between the United States and Israel, carrying medical and military equipment to assist with the war effort.

One flight is expected to take off Monday, financed by the Phoenix Group and the NGO 'Amudim,' in partnership with El Al. 

The cargo on board, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, includes essential medical equipment such as first aid kits, tourniquets, bandages, and stretchers.