Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 197?

The US House of Representatives on Saturday with broad bipartisan support passed a $95 billion legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, over bitter objections from Republican hardliners.

The legislation now proceeds to the Democratic-majority Senate, which passed a similar measure more than two months ago. US leaders from Democratic President Joe Biden to top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell have been urging embattled Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring it up for a vote.

The Senate is expected to pass the measure next week, sending it to Biden to sign into law.

A dozen or so Democratic lawmakers waved small Ukrainian flags as it became clear that element of the package was headed to passage. Johnson told lawmakers that was a "violation of decorum."

Earlier Thursday, the  US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning Iran's drone and missile attack on Israel and supporting Israel's right to respond to Iranian aggression through military means. 

The 13 most progressive members of the Democratic party and one Republican voted against the legislatively symbolic resolution. 

While Progressive Caucus member Rep. Mark Pocan (D-MI) voted in favor of Thursday's resolution, he's been heavily critical of Israel's conduct during the war and quickly condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for retaliating against Iran. 

This is why the US "can't continue to supply Netanyahu with offensive weapons," Pocan said. 

The Bloomberg television network revealed overnight into Saturday that in the attack attributed to Israel at the Iranian consulate in Syria, the entire command hierarchy responsible for the activities of the Revolutionary Guards in Syria and Lebanon was killed. According to the report, "the senior officers were pivotal for Hezbollah's activities in the region."

According to the reports, General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and his deputy, Mohammad Hadi Rahimi, along with other officers who were killed, were certain that the consulate building next to the embassy was "the safest" in Damascus and that Israel would not dare to attack the site. 

The world needs to understand the only thing standing between the Gazan people and a ceasefire is Hamas, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday morning from the G7 summit in Capri, Italy. 

Hamas rejected generous proposals from Israel and seems more interested in a regional conflict than a ceasefire that would immediately improve the lives of the Palestinian people, Blinken said. 

A missile fired from Lebanon hit an empty house in Metula on Saturday evening, Israeli media reported. No casualties have yet been reported.

An Israeli weapon launched in the strike against Iran on Friday damaged a defense mechanism responsible for detecting and destroying aerial threats near Natanz without detection, The New York Times (NYT) reported on Saturday, citing two Western and two Iranian officials.

The weapon struck an S-300 antiaircraft system at a military base in Isfahan province. Natanz is a central city in Iran and a base for Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

The account from the Western and Iranian officials is supported by satellite images viewed and analyzed by the NYT. The footage showed damage to the radar of an S-300 system at the Eighth Shekari Air Base in Isfahan, although it is unclear what type of weapon was used to strike. 

There has been a slight improvement in the condition of the 7-year-old girl who was seriously wounded in the Iranian missile attack last Saturday, Israeli media stated Saturday, citing Soroka Medical Center reports.

According to the medical center, she is now breathing on her own. Her condition, however, reportedly continues to be challenging as a result of her severe head injury, and she is hospitalized in the pediatric intensive care unit at the Saban Children's Hospital at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

The girl is from a Bedouin village near Arad, and she was the only casualty of the attack. 

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid there with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during a meeting in Istanbul, state broadcaster TRT said on Saturday.

It was the first meeting between Erdogan and a Hamas delegation headed by Haniyeh since Israel began its military offensive in the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh's visit to Turkey took place three days after he met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Doha.

The visit took place amid escalating regional tensions following Israel's reported attack on Iran this week.

Palestinian Authority is re-evaluating its ties with the United States after the Biden administration blocked its bid late Thursday night to be recognized as a full-fledged member of the United Nations.

“The Palestinian leadership will reconsider bilateral relations with the United States to ensure the protection of our people's interests, our cause, and our rights,” PA President Mahmoud Abbas told WAFA, the Palestine News & Information Agency.

A new strategy will be developed to “protect Palestinian national decisions independently and follow a Palestinian agenda rather than an American vision or regional agendas,” Abbas said.

He spoke after the US cast the only no vote on a Security Council resolution to grant membership to the Palestinians. The United Kingdom and Switzerland abstained.

Three people were killed in an attack attributed to Israel in the town of Al Jabin in southern Lebanon, Israeli media stated Saturday afternoon, citing Arab media. The IDF has not yet confirmed these reports.

The report was released shortly after six rockets were fired from Lebanon towards Even Menahem in the western Galilee. No casualties were reported from this incident.

Earlier, the Israeli military stated that IDF soldiers detected a terrorist entering a Hezbollah military facility in the Ayta ash Shab area. In response, IAF aircraft targeted the compound and eliminated the terrorist inside.