Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 135?

"Hostile elements" attempted to take over the communication network of an El Al plane flying from Phuket to Ben-Gurion Airport on Saturday night and divert it from its destination, KAN Reshet Bet reported on Sunday. The plane reached its destination safely.

This is the second time such an incident has occurred in the past week, according to the report.

The incident took place over an area where the Iran-backed Houthis are active, although sources in Somalia told KAN that a group in the de-facto state Somaliland, which recently signed an agreement with Ethiopia, is responsible for the attempted attack.

Crew noticed the attack and thwarted it

During the incident, instructions were given to the crew that were different from their set route, raising concerns that someone was trying to damage the plane or lead it to dangerous areas, maybe even to conduct a kidnapping.

The crew disobeyed the instructions and quickly switched to alternative means of communication while also checking the data against other air traffic controllers and realizing that they were being misled.

Moscow plans to host unity talks between all Palestinian factions, including Hamas, on February 26, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said Sunday as he called for unilateral statehood recognition as a prerequisite to peace talks.

“Russia has invited all Palestinian factions who will be meeting on the 26th of this month in Moscow,” Shtayyeh told the Munich Security Conference during a public interview.

He explained that the Palestine Liberation Organization’s invitation for Hamas to join it was a conditional one and would only come into play if the group accepted certain prerequisites. 

“One should not continue focusing on October 7,” Shtayyeh said as he denounced Hamas’s actions on that day.
“No way [do] we accept any killing of any innocent civilian people,” he said, but added that, “we need a situation in which Palestinians are united, but again on our political agenda.”

He clarified that this would include a Hamas acceptance of “two states on the border of ’67, through peaceful means,” he said.

The Israeli government formally rejected any attempts by Western countries to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood as it issued a formal statement Sunday against such a move.

“Israel outright rejects international dictates regarding a final status agreement with the Palestinians. The agreement, in so far as it will be reached, will be solely through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions,” the government said in a statement on the issue after its Sunday meeting. 

“Israel will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Such recognition in the wake of the October 7th massacre would give a huge reward to unprecedented terrorism and prevent any future peace agreement,” the statement emphasized.

It stopped short of renouncing any Palestinian statehood attempts. It focused instead on this newest drive in the wake of the Hamas-led October 7 attack against Israel, in which over 1,200 people were killed and another 253 seized as hostages.

Netanyahu has been voicing this message in recent days

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued some three statements over the last few days echoing this same sentiment.

Israeli PM benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem on February 17, 2024. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Minister Benny Gantz (National Unity) said after the meeting that the “pathway to peace is not through one-sided recognition of a Palestinian state.

This will happen “through facilitating a long-term process that will consolidate a regional architecture facing Iranian axis of terror and by advancing international arrangements that will improve the life of people through the region and promote stability and peace,” Gantz said.

Three residents of the Silwan neighborhood in east Jerusalem, supporters of Hamas, were arrested in recent weeks, the Police said on Sunday.

The activities they are suspected of include, among other things, shooting fireworks, throwing Molotov cocktails and stones at security forces, and throwing explosives and stones at vehicles.

At the end of the investigation, a prosecutor's statement was submitted in preparation for filing an indictment against them, the police added.

Netanyahu reiterated his rejection of international calls pushing for the creation of a Palestinian State at the opening of the government meeting on Sunday. 

In a declarative statement brought forward to the government for approval, he said: "Israel outrightly rejects international dictations regarding the permanent settlement with the Palestinians. Such an arrangement will be reached only through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions. Israel will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Such a recognition, following the massacre of October 7, will give a huge reward to terrorism, a reward like no other, and will prevent any future peace settlement."

The Prime Minister's Office later said the government had approved the declaration unanimously.

Egyptian mediators contacted Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz with the aim of arriving at a deal between Israel and Hamas, N12 reported on Sunday, citing the Qatari newspaper al-Araby al-Jadeed.

According to the report, this angered Netanyahu, who felt Gantz was being given center stage.

Russia has invited Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow on Feb. 26, the Palestinian Authority prime minister said on Sunday, adding that the PA was ready to engage with Hamas.

"Russia has invited all Palestinian factions who will be meeting on the 26 of this month in Moscow. We will see if Hamas is ready to come to the ground with us," Mohammad Shtayyeh told the Munich Security Conference.

"We are ready to engage. If Hamas is not, then that's a different story. We need Palestinian unity," he said, adding that to be part of that unity, Hamas needed to meet certain prerequisites.

Mohammed Shtayyeh, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, said at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday that the Palestinian Authority has no partner in peace in Israel, N12 quoted him as saying. 

He further noted that there is a consensus in the world regarding a two-state solution, to which even Hamas agrees.

Regarding the integration of Hamas into the ranks of the PLO, he said the terror group has to accept the PLO's political stance, adding that Hamas is part of the Palestinian political arena.

Shtayyeh also stated Egypt will not enable Palestinian refugees to cross the Philadelphi corridor, despite recent reports. While Israel plans to force Palestinians out of Gaza, the PA is pushing to bring them back, end the war, and return the hostages, he said, according to the report. 

The Gaza Strip's second-largest hospital has been put "completely out of service," a spokesperson for the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Sunday.

"There are only four medical staffers currently caring for patients" inside the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, the spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra told Reuters.

The police seized a shoulder-fired missile and ammunition, suspected for intended terror use, the Israel Police said on Sunday.

During an operation against arms dealers in the Galilee area, near the Karmiel intersection, the police stopped a vehicle in which it found and subsequently seized a Matador-type shoulder missile, nine grenades, and ammunition.

The driver of the vehicle, a 24-year-old resident of East Jerusalem, was arrested.

Weapons seized by the Police. February 18, 2024. (credit: POLICE SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)