Israel at War: What happened on day 40?

IDF Chief Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari on Wednesday night presented Hamas weapons, military equipment, and intelligence technology which IDF soldiers found in more than 18 hours of searching Shifa Hospital since the early morning.

However, at press time, the IDF's findings were not the same level "smoking gun" as the vast explosives, advanced weapons, and hostage holding room which it found at Rantisi Hospital just a few days earlier.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths on Wednesday implored Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel.

"Kerem Shalom, please Israel, give us that for our crossing point," Griffiths told reporters in Geneva.

Griffiths said that the Kerem Shalom crossing was used to carry more than 60% of the truckloads going into Gaza before this conflict.

The aid currently going into Gaza comes from the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border.

The first truck carrying fuel into Gaza since the start of Israel's war with Hamas crossed from Egypt on Wednesday to deliver diesel to the UN, though it will do little to alleviate shortages that have hampered relief efforts.

The delivery was made possible by Israel giving its approval for 24,000 liters (6,340 gallons) of diesel fuel to be allowed into Gaza for UN aid distribution trucks, though not for use at hospitals, according to a humanitarian source.

A Hezbollah member suspected of killing Irish UNIFIL soldier Sean Rooney in December 2022 was released on Wednesday by a military court, according to the Lebanese Nidaa al-Watan newspaper.

The suspect, Muhammad Ayyad, was released on bail, according to the report. Ayyad was indicted at the beginning of the year on charges of murder, along with four other suspects from Hezbollah who are still on the run.

A comprehensive database of thousands of Jewish and non-Jewish physicians and physician assistants who are eager to volunteer in hospitals and other medical organizations has been prepared by Nefesh B’Nefesh in response to Israel’s pressing healthcare challenges during wartime. 

The 11-year-old, non-profit organization that has brought some 60,000 immigrants to Israel from the US, Canada, and the UK has been collaborating on the project with the Health Ministry, the Immigration and Integration Ministry and the Jewish Agency.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved an amended budget for the end of 2023 that was presented to him on Tuesday night by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

The budget was approved during a meeting held between Netanyahu and Smotrich along with the Prime Minister's Office Director-General Yossi Shelly, Finance Ministry Director-General Shlomi Heizler, National Economic Council Chairman Avi Simchon, and other officials in the Finance Ministry.

Forty days of war in Gaza has been a major game-changer in the region. The war, which began with the Hamas surprise attack on Israel on October 7, has led to unprecedented levels of violence and also major potential strategic changes. 

First, it’s important to understand how Hamas sought to change two decades of Israel’s policies in Gaza. Hamas rose to power in the late 1980s and 1990s, offering a more extreme view of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It had its roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, like many other groups and parties in the region. It rode a wave of extremism in the 1990s in which these groups preyed on young people and sought to topple many nationalist and secular regimes.  

Over one desperate and blood-soaked Saturday, Hadar Bachar was transformed from an ordinary 13-year-old girl into the coordinator of her family's fight to survive a Hamas onslaught.

Like other residents of Israeli border villages overrun by the armed Palestinian infiltrators on Oct. 7, the Bachars barricaded themselves in a "safe room" built to weather rocket barrages from Gaza. Hamas worked to turn it into a death trap.

Among the victims of the Hamas rampage in southern Israel was a 22-year-old off-duty soldier who, in a doomed bid to save himself and others holed up in a bomb shelter, tossed back at least seven grenades lobbed by Palestinian terrorists. 

A newly released dashcam video shows the exterior of the roadside reinforced concrete structure where as many as 30 people fled from nearby Reim, the venue of an outdoor dance party that was a major target of the October 7 massacre. 

Qatari mediators were on Wednesday seeking to negotiate a deal between Hamas and Israel that includes the release of around 50 civilian hostages from Gaza in exchange for a three-day ceasefire, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.

The deal, under discussion, which has been coordinated with the US, would also see Israel release some Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails and increase the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza, the official said.

It would mark the biggest release in hostages held by Hamas since the Palestinian militant group burst over the Gaza border, attacked parts of Israel and took hostages into the enclave.

Hamas has agreed to the general outlines of this deal, but Israel has not and it is still negotiating the details, the official said.

It is not known how many Palestinian women and children Israel would release from its jails as part of the agreement under discussion.