Israel at war day 551: What's going on in Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen?

The United States issued new Iran-related sanctions on Thursday on one individual and several entities based in India and the United Arab Emirates, the Treasury Department website showed.

US President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that the US is "close to getting hostages in Gaza back," while Israeli officials told The Jerusalem Post that there has been "some movement" from Hamas's side concerning the negotiations, and there is a higher chance of reaching a deal before.

In recent days, talks have been held between Israel, Egypt, and the US on bringing the Egyptian proposal closer to the Israeli proposal. These talks were without the involvement of Hamas.

Hamas has not yet seen the proposal, and there is currently no indication whether it will agree to it, an official with knowledge told the Post.

There is a real danger that US President Donald Trump could agree to a mediocre nuclear deal with Iran, multiple top Israeli sources have told The Jerusalem Post.

If Trump does agree to such a deal, some of the sources are deeply concerned that the president may circumscribe the IDF’s current unique opportunity to strike the Islamic Republic.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said on Thursday that the Iran-aligned group is ready to enter talks with the Lebanese government on a national defense strategy, with the focus on ensuring the removal of Israeli troops from Lebanon's territory.

US-backed President Joseph Aoun, who pledged to establish a state monopoly on the control of arms when he took office in January, is set to start talks with Hezbollah about its weapons arsenal, three Lebanese political sources told Reuters.

The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) killed Haitham Razek abd al-Karim Sheikh Khalil, a commander in Hamas's Shejaiya battalion, in Gaza City on Wednesday, the military confirmed on Thursday.

The commander had participated in the invasion of Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 and executed multiple attacks against the IDF in combat zones since the beginning of the war, the IDF said.

Part of those attacks saw boobytraps and explosives planted where the IDF operated.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the security cabinet on Wednesday that negotiations are underway with two large countries to absorb large numbers of Gazans who will emigrate voluntarily. 

Netanyahu continued that Israel knew in advance about the US talks with Iran regarding its nuclear program, and the US wanted to know what a good agreement was from Israel's perspective. 

An Israeli air force jet crashed in Lebanon due to a technical malfunction, the IDF announced on Wednesday.

There is no concern over security issues nor over an information leak. 

The incident is being investigated.

Israel and Turkey have recently discussed creating a coordination mechanism in Syria in efforts to prevent friction, a source familiar with details told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

According to the source, the two countries are looking to “establish a mechanism similar to the one that had existed with Russia” during the rule of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The source noted that the mechanism “successfully prevented unnecessary friction” between Moscow and Jerusalem in the past.

Although the IDF is making consistent progress against Hamas on many fronts, the army sources acknowledged to The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that it could easily take a full year or even years to fully root out the terror group.

The starting point of the conversation was the recent success of the IDF killing 300 Hamas terrorists and the success prior to the January 19 ceasefire of having killed 18,000-20,000, but then combining that picture with the fact that Hamas may have another 25,000 or more fighters and that currently, the IDF is focusing lots of energy on eliminating the terror group’s remaining fighters in Rafah.