Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 106?

An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Saturday killed two members of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas as they were traveling in a car, three security sources in Lebanon told Reuters.

Israel has been carrying out air strikes in southern Lebanon against Palestinian terror groups based there as well, namely Hezbollah, a powerful armed group which has fired rockets across the border at Israel.

The families of the hostages taken into Gaza by Hamas on October 7 demonstrated outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home in Caesarea on Friday night.

The demonstrators intend to stay outside the Prime Minister's house overnight and throughout Shabbat, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. Many of them arrived with tents that were erected on the public sidewalk nearby.

Dozens of families made the journey to the Netanyahu family home in Caesarea to make clear to the Prime Minister that his highest calling is to return the hostages alive, with slogans such as "For 105 days we begged you and now we demand: stop the executions of the hostages!" 

Calling on him to come out and face them, they said "Prove your leadership and lead a courageous move that will advance the outline that is known to be on the table, it's not just about freeing hostages, it's about saving lives.

"The days of grace in which you dragged your feet are over!" The families called at the Prime Minister's house in hopes that he would provide them with answers.

The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum demonstrating outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home in Caesarea, January 19, 2024. (credit: The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum )

The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum announced that at the end of Shabbat, there will be a huge support rally for the abductees and their families in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, "Their time has passed - we must make a deal now! In order to save the lives of those who have survived so far and to return the murdered to burial in the land of Israel."

"It's a matter of life and death!"

Several family members made personal pleas to the Israeli public.

Ofir Weinberg, Itai Sabirsky's cousin, said: "Itai was executed! That's what we said would happen and that's what happened. Returning the hostages is the most important task right now. I call on all citizens of Israel to join me and the families of those kidnapped in Caesarea."

Ella Ben Ami, daughter of Ohad Ben Ami, held captive by Hamas: "It turned from begging for their return to begging to save their lives. It's a matter of life and death."

She added: "We demand an international conference now of Qatar, Egypt, the United States, and Israel. Let them sit in one corridor and come to an understanding of how to get the kidnapped people home. We call on the Prime Minister of Israel to take a brave step and return those who remained alive, alive, and the bodies [of those who are not] to be buried in the Israeli grave as they deserve. I call on everyone to stop wringing your hands, sober up, and do something now!"

US Central Command forces on Friday conducted strikes against three Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the Southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch, the US military said on X, formerly called Twitter.

"US forces identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the US Navy ships in the region. US forces subsequently struck and destroyed the missiles in self-defense," the US Central Command said in the post on X.

The incident, the latest amid growing tensions in the Red Sea that have disrupted global trade and raised fears of supply bottlenecks, took place around 6:45 p.m. Yemen time (1545 GMT), the US Central Command added.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said Friday's strikes were the fourth in the past week by the US military against Houthi missile launchers that were prepared to launch attacks.

US President Joe Biden on Friday said he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about possible solutions for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, suggesting one path could involve a non-militarized government.

Biden's call with Netanyahu was the first in nearly a month, the White House said, noting the discussions focused on Israel's ongoing strikes in Gaza.

White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that Biden had been trying to schedule the call "for quite a bit of time" and denied it came in response to Netanyahu's comment on Thursday saying he objected to Palestinian statehood that did not guarantee Israel's security.

Asked if a two-state solution was impossible while Netanyahu was still in office, Biden said, "No, it's not."

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with US mayors, Biden said Netanyahu was not opposed to all two-state solutions, and there were several types possible, noting that some United Nations members do not have military forces.

A boy holds a Palestinian flag at a demonstration in support of Palestinians in Gaza, during a temporary truce between Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Israel, in Frankfurt, Germany, November 25, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/KAI PFAFFENBACH)

Biden was asked if he would reconsider conditions on Israel aid given Netanyahu's comments rejecting a two-state solution.

"I think we'll be able to work something out ... I think there are ways in which this could work," he said.

Biden and Netanyahu also discussed efforts to secure the remaining hostages held by Hamas, and Israel's shift to more "targeted" operations in Gaza to allow more humanitarian assistance to come through, the White House said.

Biden has been pressuring Israel to reduce Palestinian deaths even as he has maintained his strong support of Israel in its war against Hamas.

Not seeing eye-to-eye

But the two men do not see eye-to-eye on Palestinians having a state, a solution Biden has advocated to achieve long-term peace.

"The president also discussed his vision for a more durable peace and security for Israel fully integrated within the region and a two-state solution with Israel's security guaranteed," the White House said in a statement about their call.

Netanyahu had said in a press conference that he told Washington he objected to any Palestinian statehood that did not guarantee Israel's security. "Israel must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River. That's a necessary condition," he said.

Biden's call came as Red Crescent officials accused Israel of firing on a hospital in Khan Yunis, the main city in the southern part of Gaza.

Israel launched a major new advance in Khan Yunis this week to capture the city, which it says is now the primary base of Hamas fighters who attacked Israeli towns on October 7, killing 1,200 and precipitating a war that has devastated the Gaza Strip.

The Gaza health ministry said 142 Palestinians had been killed and 278 injured in Gaza over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll from more than three months of war to 24,762.

Asked about a request by Mexico and Chile for the International Criminal Court to investigate potential crimes against civilians in Gaza, Kirby said the United States was still gathering more information about what that would entail.

"We don't have any indications that there's deliberate ... efforts to commit war crimes by the Israeli Defense Forces," Kirby said.

Kirby also expressed concern about reports from Palestinian health officials who said a 17-year-old Palestinian-American teenager was killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank on Friday.

"We're seriously concerned about these reports," Kirby said. "We're going to be in constant touch with counterparts in the region to get more information."

The United States and other top powers need to use their influence with Israel to end the ongoing "carnage" in Gaza, Jordan's Prime Minister, Bisher al Khasawaneh, said on Friday.

Jordan, which shares a border with the West Bank, has been highly critical of Israel's bombardments of Gaza with Khasawaneh saying on Friday that they "ticked all the boxes of war crimes against humanity."

Israel has denied allegations that it has committed war crimes.

Khasawaneh said heavyweight international diplomacy and influence were needed to secure a ceasefire.

"Leadership is needed from our American friends and our American partners, and from various capitals in the world, that can influence the decision-making process in Israel in genuine terms to bring this carnage to an end," the Jordanian prime minister said at an event at the London School of Economics.

He added that public opinion in the West was clear in its concerns about the violence and the pressure the international rules-based system was being put under around issues such as providing aid to the devastated parts of Gaza.

"The main powers are under not only a moral responsibility but also an obligation in the context of preserving the rules-based international system to come and tell the current Israeli government that this needs to stop," he said.

The hope was that then things could "move into a mode that fundamentally resolves this vicious cycle of violence and killing," said Khasawaneh, who had been met with loud protests as he arrived at the event from LSE students and the Arab diaspora.

Israel and its biggest backer the United States appear at odds now, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition government largely rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state even though Washington maintains that the two-state solution is the only feasible way to bring lasting peace to the region.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his fourth trip to the Middle East last week since the October 7 attack by Hamas, took a rough agreement to Israel that its predominately Muslim neighbors would help rehabilitate Gaza after the war and continue economic integration with Israel, but only if it committed to eventually allowing the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

The latest episode of hostilities in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict started when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages. Israel says more than 130 remain in captivity.

Israel responded to Hamas' assault with a siege, bombardment, and ground invasion of Gaza that has devastated the tiny coastal territory and killed more than 24,000 people, according to Gaza health officials.

US-brokered talks on a Palestinian state collapsed almost a decade ago.

US Democrats push Biden over civilian toll in Israel's Gaza campaign

Additionally, dozens of President Joe Biden's fellow Democrats signed a letter around the same time on Friday urging his administration to reaffirm that the United States strongly opposes "the forced and permanent displacement" of Palestinians from Gaza.

The letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, led by US Representatives Ayanna Pressley and Jamie Raskin, was signed by 60 Democratic House of Representatives members, reflecting concern, especially on the left, over the steep toll on Palestinian civilians of Israel's campaign against Hamas.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) speaks at the Lincoln Memorial during the 'Get Your Knee Off Our Necks' march in support of racial justice, in Washington, US, August 28, 2020. (credit: MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO/POOL VIA REUTERS)

"We urge you to continue to reiterate the United States’ firm commitment to this position and ask that you provide clarification regarding certain provisions of the administration's supplemental humanitarian and security funding request," the letter said.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The United States gives Israel $3.8 billion in annual military assistance. Biden has asked Congress to approve an additional $14 billion, part of a sweeping supplemental funding request stalled in Congress as Republicans and Democrats negotiate immigration policy changes.

Separately, a group of Democratic senators said on Friday that 18 Democrats in that chamber support an amendment requiring that any country receive funding in the supplemental use of the money by US law, international humanitarian law, and the law of armed conflict.

Also this week, Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, forced a vote on a resolution that would have frozen security aid to Israel unless the State Department produced a report within 30 days examining whether Israel committed human rights violations in its campaign against Hamas.

Seventy-two senators voted to set the resolution aside, versus 11 who backed it, easily clearing the simple majority needed to kill the resolution in the 100-member chamber.

The European Union has imposed sanctions today on six individuals who provide financial assistance to Hamas, Maariv reported on Friday.

The six are: Sudanese businessman Abdel-Bast Hamza, Lebanese businessmen Nabil Shoman and his son Khaled, the Lebanese businessman Rada Ali Hamis, member of Hamas's political bureau Musa Dodin, and Ayman Ahmed Al-Davik - a Jordanian businessman who lives in Algeria and helps manage Hamas's investment portfolio.

This is a developing story.