Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 149?

The Israeli military on Saturday promised an exhaustive and truthful investigation into the deaths of Palestinians queuing for aid in Gaza this week, an incident that has drawn condemnations and calls for an international inquiry.

Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza said 118 people were killed in Thursday's incident, attributing the deaths to Israeli fire and calling it a massacre.

Israel disputed those figures and said most victims were trampled or run over as crowds swarmed aid trucks. An Israeli official also said troops had "in a limited response" later fired on crowds they felt had posed a threat.

The IDF also published aerial footage of the event.

Statements from Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari

"We are investigating this incident, we have all the documentation that we need in order to carry out an exhaustive, truthful investigation into the facts of this incident and we will present our findings," spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters in Tel Aviv.

IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari gives a statement to the media in Tel Aviv on October 16, 2023 (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)

"It was a humanitarian operation we were running and the claim that we deliberately attacked the convoy and deliberately harmed people is completely baseless," Hagari said. He added that it was the fourth such operation in that area.

Although the accounts of what happened differed sharply, the incident has underscored the collapse of orderly aid deliveries in Gaza, with no administration in place and the main UN agency UNRWA hamstrung by an inquiry into alleged links with Hamas.

With a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, many countries have urged a ceasefire, but US President Joe Biden said Thursday's incident will complicate talks at which a deal involving a truce and hostage release is being sought.

Minister Benny Gantz will meet Vice President Kamala Harris and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday, amid tensions between the Israeli government and the Biden administration.

Gantz will also meet with Republican and Democratic members of Congress as well as with senior members of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

On his way back to Israel, Gantz – a member of the war cabinet, a former IDF chief-of-staff and defense minister – will stop in the UK for a series of diplomatic meetings.

He informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday that he planned to depart on Saturday night so that he could coordinate the proper messages to convey during his meetings.

Gantz's rising popularity among Israelis 

Netanyahu has yet to visit Washington since taking office at the end of December 2022, although he did meet with US President Joe Biden in New York in September 2023. Biden also visited Israel the following month.

Polls show that Gantz’s National Unity party is the most popular in Israel at the moment and that it would win 41 Knesset seats compared to 18 for the Likud, if elections were held now.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief Gadi Eisenkot and former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. (credit: Mark Schiefelbein/Reuters)

The visit also sends a message that Gantz is among the Israeli politicians who can speak with Washington.

Among the issues on Gantz’s agenda are a hostage deal and a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia that would include a plan for the day after the Gaza war.

He will discuss a security arrangement to prevent Hezbollah attacks against Israel from Lebanon and a continued IDF military operation in Gaza.

Other topics will include strengthening the strategic alliance between Israel and the United States and support for the continuation of American military aid.

A US official said that “the vice president will express her concern over the safety of as many as 1.5 million people in Rafah.”

The Biden administration has been concerned about a pending IDF military operation in Rafah.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Mediators expected to reconvene in Cairo as soon as Sunday are searching for a formula acceptable to Israel and Hamas to unlock a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, four sources with knowledge of talks said, as pressure mounts ahead of Ramadan for a pause in fighting.

Israeli and Hamas delegations were expected to arrive in Cairo on Sunday, two Egyptian security sources said, though another source briefed on the talks said Israel would not send a delegation until it got a full list of hostages who are still alive.

Hopes for the first pause in fighting since November had risen this week after a previous round of talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt in Doha and indications from US President Joe Biden that agreement was close.

Hamas has not backed away from its position that a temporary truce must be the start of a process towards ending the war altogether, the Egyptian sources and a Hamas official said.

However, the Egyptian sources said assurances had been offered to Hamas that the terms of a permanent ceasefire would be worked out in second and third phases of the deal. The duration of the initial pause, a phase expected to last about six weeks, had been agreed upon, the sources said.

Head of Hamas delegation Saleh al-Arouri, with Gaza's Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar behind him, signs a reconciliation deal with Fatah leader Azzam Ahmad (not pictured), in Cairo, Egypt, October 12, 2017. (credit: REUTERS)

Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the assurances and whether they were sufficient to move forward with the six-week pause.

"When it comes to ending the war and pulling out forces out of Gaza, gaps remain unbridged," a Palestinian official familiar with mediation efforts said. The official did not immediately confirm the Cairo talks.

A senior US administration official said on Saturday that the framework for a six-week pause was in place, with Israel's agreement, and now depended on Hamas agreeing to release hostages it has held in Gaza since its attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7.

For its part, Israel will not take part in more talks until Hamas clarifies the number of hostages slated to go free, and how many are still alive, the source briefed on the talks said.

Hamas said this week that in total around 70 captives had been killed due to Israel's military operations.

Israel also wants Hamas to agree to a ratio of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for each hostage, said the source, who declined to be identified further.

A draft proposal made in Paris in February and sent to Hamas this week indicated progress on a number of issues and proposed an overall ratio of 10 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel for each hostage.

"No delegation will be going to Cairo until Hamas provides answers," the source said.

Completion of a truce deal also required an agreement on the pullback of Israeli forces from northern Gaza and a return of residents displaced towards the south of the coastal enclave, the Egyptian sources said, although the source briefed on the talks said that for Israel the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza was not the main holdup.

The draft proposal also included a commitment to boost humanitarian aid to the enclave, suffering crippling shortages of food and medicine and where more than a million people have been displaced from their homes.

It was unclear if an incident on Thursday in which scores of Palestinians were killed as people waited for aid near Gaza City in the north could affect the timing of any deal.

Speaking to reporters about a ceasefire as he left the White House on Friday, Biden said: "We're not there yet."

Nevertheless, the security sources said Egyptian and US negotiators were still confident a partial or complete agreement will be reached by the middle of next week.

Israel, Hamas, Egypt, Qatar, and the US State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 Pressure on Hamas to reach deal

After five months of war, Hamas is also under pressure to reach a deal, the US official and one diplomat in the region said.

Israel's military campaign began in response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people and involved the seizure of 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

The war has caused an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, with donor nations turning to air drops of food after aid flows into Gaza dwindled in recent days, UN officials say.

This week, the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 passed 30,000, Hamas-controlled health authorities in the enclave said.

Some Palestinians have been calling on social media for Hamas to agree to a pause that could allow bakeries to reopen and displaced people to return to their homes in northern Gaza for Ramadan, when Muslims fast until dusk.

Biden's comments about an imminent deal were received with some hope by the people in Gaza, adding to the pressure on Hamas to accept a deal that could lead to a permanent ceasefire, the diplomat in the region said.

"At the end of the day Hamas wants a truce, but wants a permanent ceasefire more, they are not an army in the full military sense and they don't have access to foreign arms supplies and sooner or later they will start running out of the gun power," the diplomat said.

The United States had been pushing for the six-week truce in the hope that it would be hard for Israel to restart military operations after that, a US official said.

Israel has said it is ready to accept a temporary halt to fighting during a hostage-and-prisoner swap, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the military campaign should continue until it achieves "total victory" over Hamas, followed by open-ended Israeli security control over Gaza.

The Egyptian security sources said mediators had raised options for winning Israel over to a permanent ceasefire deal including approval of a security buffer zone between Israel and the Gaza Strip, and arrangements for Israel to jointly monitor Egypt's border with Gaza.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Friday Egypt was hopeful that a cessation of hostilities could be agreed before Ramadan, which is expected to begin on March 10 or March 11.

The framework for a hostage deal that would include a six-week pause to the Gaza war is in place, but it is contingent on a positive response from Hamas, a senior US administration official said on Saturday.

“Right now, the ball is in the court of Hamas and we are continuing to push this as hard as we possibly can,” a US official told reporters during a background briefing on a deal that the US hopes will be in place by the start of the holy month of Ramadan on March 10.

“The Israelis have accepted .. a six-week cease-fire” as part of a “phased deal” that would “enable a significant surge of the humanitarian work that has to be done,” a US official said.

The deal is structured such that it can be transformed into something more long-lasting, he said.

US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany February 16, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/KAI PFAFFENBACH)

The sticking point now, the US official said, is the hostages, especially those who are vulnerable, such as women, the sick, and the elderly who would be freed in the first phase.

His words echoed other statements that indicated that not all of the remaining 134 hostages would be freed during the six-week pause to the war. 

In the background briefing, the US official said, that this deal is more complex than the one carried out in November, as he referred to the week-long pause that saw the release of 105 captives.

“The hostages have to be released,” the US official said, adding that “it’s now at the point where the main issue is whether “Hamas is committed to doing that, that is really the main issue now." 

“We would have a ceasefire if Hamas addresses that final issue," the official stated, cautioned that he did not want to raise false hopes about an agreement for which more work was needed.

Israeli, Hamas delegations to arrive in Cairo on Sunday

Israeli and Hamas delegations were expected to arrive in Cairo on Sunday, two Egyptian security sources said, though another source briefed on the talks said Israel would not send a delegation until it got a full list of hostages who are still alive. Egypt and Qatar have been the main mediators of a hostage deal with backup support from the United States.

For its part, Israel will not take part in more talks until Hamas clarifies the number of hostages slated to go free, and how many are still alive, a source briefed on the talks said.

"No [Israeli] delegation will be going to Cairo until Hamas provides answers," the source said.

Hamas said this week that in total around 70 captives had been killed due to Israel's military operations.

The terror group has not backed away from its position that a temporary truce must be the start of a process toward ending the war altogether, an Egyptian source and a Hamas official said.

Israel has insisted that it must be able to complete the IDF’s military campaign to destroy Hamas and that once the war is over its army must maintain security control of Gaza.

Egyptian sources said assurances had been offered to Hamas that the terms of a permanent ceasefire would be worked out in the second and third phases of the deal. The duration of the initial pause, a phase expected to last about six weeks, had been agreed upon, the sources said.

Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the assurances and whether they were sufficient to move forward with the six-week pause.

"When it comes to ending the war and pulling forces out of Gaza, gaps remain unbridged," a Palestinian official familiar with mediation efforts said. The official did not immediately confirm the Cairo talks.

Israel also wants Hamas to agree to a ratio of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for each hostage, said the source, who declined to be identified further.

A draft proposal drawn up in Paris in February and sent to Hamas this week indicated progress on a number of issues and proposed an overall ratio of one hostage in exchange for 10 Palestinian security prisoners and terrorists jailed in Israel.

Completion of a truce deal also required an agreement on the pullback of Israeli forces from northern Gaza and a return of Palestinian residents displaced towards the south of the coastal enclave, the Egyptian sources said, although the source briefed on the talks said that for Israel the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza was not the main holdup.

The Egyptian security sources said mediators had raised options for winning Israel over to a permanent ceasefire deal including approval of a security buffer zone between Israel and the Gaza Strip, and arrangements for Israel to jointly monitor Egypt's border with Gaza.

The draft proposal also included a commitment to boost humanitarian aid to the enclave, suffering crippling shortages of food and medicine and where more than a million people have been displaced from their homes.

It was unclear if an incident on Thursday in which scores of Palestinians were killed as people waited for aid near Gaza City in the north could affect the timing of any deal.

To help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the US military on Saturday carried out its first airdrop of aid into the enclave and the Biden administration is also considering opening a sea route for humanitarian assistance as it pressures Israel to open the Erez Crossing.

Speaking to reporters about a ceasefire as he left the White House on Friday, US President Joe Biden said: "We're not there yet.”

During a meeting with the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Biden also spoke about the deal.

“We’re trying to work out a deal between Israel and Hamas on the hostages being returned and — and immediate ceasefire in Gaza for at least the next six weeks and — and to allow the surge of aid through the entire Gaza Strip — not just the south but the entire Gaza Strip.”

Security sources said Egyptian and US negotiators were still confident a partial or complete agreement would be reached by the middle of next week.

Israel's military campaign began in response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people and involved the seizure of 253 hostages.

The war has caused an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, with donor nations turning to air drops of food after aid flows into Gaza dwindled in recent days, UN officials say.

This week, the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 passed 30,000, Hamas asserted. Israel has said that over 11,000 of those fatalities were combatants.

One diplomat in the region said, "At the end of the day Hamas wants a truce, but wants a permanent ceasefire more, they are not an army in the full military sense and they don't have access to foreign arms supplies and sooner or later they will start running out of the gun power.”