Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 137?

Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is suffering from a complicated case of pneumonia N12 reported on Tuesday, citing an anonymous Arab country. 

The country in question said it had heard the report from senior Hamas officials. 

According to the N12 report, the country had been in contact with the terror group, asking Hamas to advance toward a ceasefire. Hamas subsequently responded that its situation was grave; it lacked ammunition, and its military structures were deteriorating. 

Yahya Sinwar highlighted in a video published by the IDF on February 13, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Sinwar's whereabouts unknown 

On Tuesday, it was reported that Hamas’s leadership in Qatar and Gaza was unsure of Sinwar’s whereabouts, with the Saudi newspaper Elaph claiming the chief terrorist may have fled from the Gaza Strip to Egypt.

However, later on Tuesday, Kan News said that Sinwar had resumed communications with the Hamas leadership abroad.

Speculations on Sinwar's fate come amid Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's statement that Hamas is in search of a replacement for Sinwar. 

Last week, the IDF released a video dated October 10 of Sinwar walking in the Gaza tunnels, seen as proof that the Hamas head was in good health then. 

Sam Halpern and Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this article. 

US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk plans to visit Egypt and Israel to help push forward a hostage deal and ensure plans for Palestinian civilian safety in any IDF military operation in Gaza’s Rafah.

“We are again, in very sensitive negotiations that we hope will bear fruit soon, to be able to get these hostages out and get an extended pause [to the Gaza war] in place,” White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.

McGurk’s “heading to the region. He’ll be in Egypt tomorrow, then in Israel the next day,” Kirby said, explaining that the “principal focus of his efforts is to try to get that hostage deal in place.”

He spoke following an announcement by Hamas that a delegation headed by its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was in Cairo for hostage talks along with the Deputy Chairman of Hamas in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya. 

Qatar: Medicine sent to Gaza given to hostages

In a step toward Israel, Hamas updated Doha that the medicine sent to Gaza for the hostages last month had been given to the captives, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry reported, but no proof was provided.

US envoy Brett McGurk in Bayan, Kuwait February 13, 2018 (credit: REUTERS/STEPHANIE MCGEHEE)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, said that Israel would not pay any price for a deal, as the war cabinet met in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night.

“We very much want to achieve another release, and we are prepared to go far, but we are not prepared to pay any price, certainly not the delusional prices that Hamas is demanding of us, the meaning of which is the defeat of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

He stressed that there was “considerable pressure on Israel at home and abroad to stop the war before we achieve all of its goals, including a deal at any price to free the hostages.”

“We are committed to continuing the war until we achieve all of its goals: eliminating Hamas, releasing all of the hostages, and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel. 

“There is no pressure, none, that can change this,” Netanyahu said.

"We strongly call on Israel to thoroughly and transparently investigate all allegations of abuse and violations of the law, and this will continue to be our position," US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller was quoted by Ynet as saying on Tuesday.

The comment was made in response to the allegations made by the UN that IDF soldiers raped and sexually abused female civilians in Gaza. 

Hamas has confirmed receipt of a shipment of medicines under a deal brokered by Qatar and has begun delivering the supplies to hostages held in Gaza, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.

Qatar and France brokered a deal with Israel and Hamas last month on the delivery of urgent medication to hostages held by the terror group in Gaza in return for humanitarian and medical aid for the most vulnerable civilians in the enclave.

"Qatar received these confirmations as the mediator in the agreement, which includes the entry of the medicines and shipment of humanitarian aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip, especially in the most affected and damaged areas, in exchange for delivering the medicines needed by hostages in the sector," Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman, Majed Al-Ansari, said in a statement.

Official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs @majedalansari : Qatar received confirmation from Hamas medicines were received and delivery commenced to hostages in Gaza.#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/IikgdZc7oy

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) February 20, 2024

Medication for Gaza hostages found in Gaza's Nasser Hospital, February 18, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

IDF found medicine bound for hostage in Gaza hospital

Recently, the IDF discovered multiple shipments of medicine with hostages' names written on them, implying that the shipments never reached their intended target.

The medicines found by the IDF soldiers at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis were closed and had not been used. Some of them were still enclosed in sealed brown boxes. On every medication box was the name of the hostage for whom it was intended. 

The IDF said that the source of the drugs and their use was under investigation.

Later on Tuesday, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement saying, "Qatar's statement is a direct result of Prime Minister Netanyahu's insistence on receiving proof of the arrival of the drugs for the hostages.

"Israel will examine the credibility of the report and will continue to work for the welfare of the hostages," it concluded. 

Hamas has confirmed receipt of a shipment of medicines under a deal brokered by Qatar and has begun delivering the supplies to hostages held in Gaza, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.

Qatar and France brokered a deal with Israel and Hamas last month on the delivery of urgent medication to hostages held by the militant group in Gaza in return for humanitarian and medical aid for the most vulnerable civilians in the enclave.

"Qatar received these confirmations as the mediator in the agreement, which includes the entry of the medicines and shipment of humanitarian aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip, especially in the most affected and damaged areas, in exchange for delivering the medicines needed by hostages in the sector," Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman, Majed Al-Ansari, said in a statement.

Official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs @majedalansari : Qatar received confirmation from Hamas medicines were received and delivery commenced to hostages in Gaza.#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/IikgdZc7oy

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) February 20, 2024

Recently, the IDF discovered multiple shipments of medicine with hostages' names written on them, implying that the shipments never reached their intended target.

The IDF is operating in Jenin, where fire was exchanged with terrorists, Israeli media reported on Tuesday. 

כוחות הביטחון פועלים למעצר מחבלים במחנה הפליטים ג'נין, עד כה מספר מחבלים חוסלו בחילופי אש וכמה נוספים נפצעו@Doron_Kadosh pic.twitter.com/voiHZr2hRs

— גלצ (@GLZRadio) February 20, 2024

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militia said on Tuesday they targeted an Israeli cargo ship, the "MSC Silver," in the Gulf of Aden adjacent to the Red Sea with a number of missiles.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea did not elaborate, but in a statement, said the group had also used drones to target a number of US warships in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea as well as sites in the southern Israeli resort town of Eilat.

The Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous regions, have attacked vessels with commercial ties to the United States, Britain, and Israel, shipping and insurance sources say.

Despite retaliatory Western strikes on Houthi military sites in Yemen, the Iran-aligned Houthis have vowed to continue targeting ships linked to Israel in solidarity with Palestinians until Israeli forces stop their war in Gaza.

"There is no danger to international or European navigation so long as there are no aggressive operations, and thus, there is no need to militarize the Red Sea," Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam said in a post on X on Tuesday.

"What the world is impatiently waiting for is not the militarisation of the Red Sea, but rather an urgent and comprehensive declaration of a ceasefire in Gaza, for humanitarian reasons that are clear to anyone."

IDF paratroopers unearthed a large quantity of weapons in the vicinity of a UN school in Khan Yunis last week, the military said on Tuesday. 

The school, which served as a humanitarian shelter for the residents of the Strip, was used by terrorists to reach the adjacent building and its weapons through an aperture in its wall.

The weapons the IDF found include grenades, AK-47s, warheads, RPGs, and ammunition, which were subsequently used to target IDF soldiers. 

Terrorists hide among civilians 

In addition, forces evacuated civilians from the combat zone to safer locations. During this operation, some 60 terrorists stealthily took advantage of the situation, hiding among the civilian population and attempting to escape. The IDF arrested them, and they were detained for further investigation by forces in Israel, the IDF said.

In another building in the area, troops found weapons, among others, ammunition and cartridges, along with vests and Hamas uniforms.

Furthermore, the house of the head of the Anti-Tank Array of the Khan Yunis Brigade was raided by soldiers, who found on-site intelligence material and numerous weapons.

In western Khan Yunis, the IDF noted that the Paratrooper Brigade combat team was continuing the combat, with troops attacking terror targets and killing terrorists in close-quarters combat with the help of sniper fire.

It is important to start with a simple and honest statement: no one actually knows where Gaza Chief Yahya Sinwar is.

What we do know is that the list of people who do not know where he is includes even Hamas’s leadership in Qatar and some Hamas officials in Gaza who have known where he was until now.

Into this vacuum has come Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s statement earlier this week that Hamas is seeking a new leader to replace Sinwar, and now the report from the Saudi Elaph media outlet claiming to know about classified Israeli intelligence that says that Sinwar likely managed to escape into Egypt.

To be clear, a top IDF official flatly denied, with none of the normal qualifications, that Sinwar has escaped into Egypt or that the IDF has any information suggesting that scenario. It seems, at least, that the IDF does not believe he has escaped into Egypt.

So where is Sinwar now? Or a better question - since even the Saudi report, if true, is not a home run but a guestimate – what are the chances of him being in one of a few different places?

Hamas gave confirmation to Qatar that it had received medicine intended for the Israeli hostages and would begin delivering the medicine to them, Qatari Foreign Minister Majed Al Ansari revealed Tuesday night in a post on X.

Official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs @majedalansari : Qatar received confirmation from Hamas medicines were received and delivery commenced to hostages in Gaza.#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/IikgdZc7oy

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) February 20, 2024

Recently, the IDF discovered multiple shipments of medicine with hostages' names written on them, implying that the shipments never reached their intended target.