Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 137?

Even if the fighting in Gaza stopped now, about 8,000 more people could still die there over the next six months due to the public health crisis caused by the Israel-Hamas war, according to a report by independent researchers in the US and Britain.

Hospitals in Gaza have been devastated by the fighting and more than 85% of its 2.3 million inhabitants have been left homeless, with rising cases of diseases like diarrhea as well as malnutrition in overcrowded shelters.

The figures come from a report by academics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health in the United States and are part of wider projections of the excess deaths the conflict may cause in Gaza over the next six months. The report, published on Monday, says it does not include Israel because its public health system is intact.

If the fighting continues or escalates, traumatic injuries will make up the majority of excess deaths in Gaza, the researchers project. But deaths from malnutrition, infectious diseases like cholera and a lack of access to care for conditions like diabetes will also kill thousands.

Worst-case scenario

In a worst-case scenario, where the fighting escalates and there are significant disease outbreaks, roughly 85,570 people may die by early August, with 68,650 deaths related to traumatic injuries, the report says.

Hezbollah struggled to contain flames that erupted on Monday evening after Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah weapons storage facilities, as well as an oil production plant, near the city of the Lebanese city of Sidon, local media reported on Tuesday.

The strikes, carried out in response to drones launched toward Israel's Lower Galilee area, occurred in the region of Ghaziyeh, some 60 kilometers from Israel's northern border.

Al-Akhbar, citing a source in the Lebanese firefighting forces, reported that the forces faced difficulty gaining control of the fire at the production plants due to the massive quantities of oil.

كارثة بيئية وصحية تسبّب بها العدوان الإسرائيلي على مستودع الزيوت والمولدات في الغازية، بعد تصاعد سحب الدخان السام في أجواء المنطقة. ولفت مصدر في فرق الإطفاء إلى أنّ السيطرة على الحريق صعبة بسبب كميات الزيوت المخزنة. pic.twitter.com/P8C84VhkbO

— جريدة الأخبار - Al-Akhbar (@AlakhbarNews) February 20, 2024

Israeli fighter jets pummel Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

Earlier on Tuesday, IDF fighter jets hit a number of Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon on Tuesday morning, the IDF stated.

Smoke rises from a site hit by an airstrike near the town of Ghaziyeh, Lebanon February 19, 2024 (credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)

Hezbollah rocket launch posts in the areas of Yaroun and Marwahin were targeted by the strikes, as well as other terror infrastructure in the areas of Dhayra and Yaroun.

Two machine guns, ammunition, and a motorcycle used by Hamas terrorists on October 7 were found in the Eshkol region, the police announced on Tuesday.

The objects were transferred to the Ofakim Police Station in the Southern District for further investigation, the police added. 

On Monday, February 19, a drone carrying explosives struck a field near Arbel in northern Israel. This is around 30 kilometers from the Lebanon border, which meant the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had flown for some distance inside Israeli airspace.

Initial reports didn’t provide full details on where the drone had come from, and the IDF said initially that the circumstances of the incident were being investigated. Later in the day, there were airstrikes on Sidon in Lebanon.

There have been numerous drone attacks on Israel by Hezbollah since the Iranian-backed terrorist group began attacks on Israel on October 8. Hezbollah decided, with Iranian prodding, to join the Hamas attack that happened on October 7.

Hezbollah has a different type of arsenal than Hamas. First of all, it has more rockets. It also has a plethora of anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), and it has thousands of drones of different types. Hamas, by comparison, did not have nearly as many drones or ATGMs.

Hezbollah is also investing in more precision weapons. The Alma Center for Research and Education, which focuses on security threats in the north, described Hezbollah’s attempts at increased precision on February 18, saying: “The upgrade to precision capability also reached some of Hezbollah’s short-range rockets: the Grads with a diameter of 122 mm, the Fajr-Khaibar missiles, and the missile versions of the Fateh 110s in Hezbollah’s possession. It is highly likely that an increasing number of Hezbollah’s short-range Grad rockets and other rockets have become precise guided weapons.”

Hezbollah is advancing into the world of precision, as a kind of 'substitute for air force.'
It is highly likely that an increasing number of Hezbollah's short-range Grad rockets and other rockets have become precise guided weapons.
We estimate that Hezbollah has dozens of…

— Israel-Alma (@Israel_Alma_org) February 18, 2024

Along with the precision threat, the drone threat has also increased. Drones have been revealed as a central aspect of the future of warfare on battlefields from Iraq to Ukraine and in conflicts between countries such as Armenia and Azerbaijan. Drones are also increasingly used by more countries; for instance, Turkey uses a plethora of drones, and Iran has exported drones around the Middle East.

Iran’s drone export has become so extensive that the drones being sent to Iran’s proxies look a lot like the method once used by the Soviets to export their AK-47s as a symbol of their role on the global stage. What that means is that the drone is now the new tool of the Iranian proxies.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said in a letter dispatched to commanders on Tuesday, “We are not on a killing, revenge or a genocide spree. We have come to win and defeat a cruel enemy who deserves a bitter loss.”

In the letter entitled “Commanding challenges in a prolonged war,” the IDF chief explained that the military still has a “long way ahead” in combat, with many challenges to come in the northern, central, and southern fronts, and advised commanders on various modes of action that must be taken. 

The IDF chief further added, “We will not allow the enemy accomplishments in the international arena. A true warrior is the one whose values do not alter in the face of a challenging reality.”

IDF to begin investigating October 7

The letter also specified that the IDF would soon begin investigating Hamas's October 7 attack, emphasizing it is a “necessity” rather than a “privilege” in order to understand better what could have been done and learn lessons for the future. 

The letter also explained how the investigation would take place, with every unit examining the battles it participated in and ordering the commanders to formulate conclusions and lessons only after building a joint factual basis for the investigation.

The IDF’s 646th Reserve Brigade, during its operations over the past months, destroyed a “strategic” subterranean Hamas tunnel route that ran from northern to southern Gaza, the IDF stated on Tuesday. 

The IDF has been conducting extensive work in the tunnels beneath Gaza in recent weeks. On Monday, the IDF published footage recovered from a tunnel showing footage of the kidnapping of the Bibas family. The footage was dated to the early days of the war.

February 2023 should be remembered as the month of “Rafah” considering all the talk and focus on the southern Gaza city that has gone on so far this month. Rafah is the area along the Egyptian border that Hamas continues to control.

This area has been important to Hamas for decades. The terror group has used it for smuggling historically and has also used it to control the border so that humanitarian aid and international groups need to partner with Hamas when they enter Gaza.

IDF fighter jets hit a number of Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon on Tuesday morning, the IDF stated.

Hezbollah rocket launch posts in the areas of Yaroun and Marwahin were targeted by the strikes, as well as other terror infrastructure in the areas of Dhayra and Yaroun.

Two additional military structures were struck in the areas of Houla and Blida.

Hamas released a statement to their Telegram channel on Tuesday praising a Monday statement by UN experts calling for a probe into alleged violations by IDF troops against Palestinian women.

The UN statement reported that their experts had received information alleging that Palestinian women and girls had been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, frequently along with family members, including children.

“We are shocked by reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places where they sought refuge, or while fleeing,” the statement from UN experts read. “Some of them were reportedly holding white pieces of cloth when they were killed by the Israeli army or affiliated forces.”

The second day of public hearings commenced on Tuesday at The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague regarding the request for an advisory opinion on the legality of Israel's presence in the West Bank.

This is the second day of a six-day hearing on the dispute between Israel and Palestinians.

According to a release issued by the ICJ earlier this month, the hearing will continue throughout the day and feature the countries of South Africa, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, and Chile, in that order, who will address the court on the matter.