Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 95?

Nine IDF soldiers were killed in three incidents in Gaza on Monday, with eight soldiers wounded.

Six of the killed soldiers and most of the wounded came from an incident with explosive material near the partially underground and partially above-ground Hamas rocket manufacturing factory uncovered by the IDF at al-Bureij in central Gaza.

Israeli fire on a Gaza utility pole caused the blast inside a terror tunnel that led to the death of six IDF fighters on Tuesday, as per new details published on Tuesday evening by Israeli media.

A truck was bringing explosive material to soldiers operating near the partially underground and partially above-ground Hamas rocket manufacturing factory uncovered by the IDF at al-Bureij in central Gaza.

Israeli forces were going to use it to explode and destroy aspects of the Hamas manufacturing facility.

The incident, in which six soldiers were killed and a number wounded, occurred after an Israeli tank fired at what it identified as a suspicious terrorist target during operations across the Strip.

The tank fired two shells, one hitting its target and the other landing on the utility pole, causing an explosion around thirty minutes before planned and killing the soldiers.

There was another incident in Khan Yunis in which two soldiers died and a third incident elsewhere in which another soldier died.

The IDF and the Defense Ministry have begun distributing weapons and equipment containers to the local standby squads in northern communities, they said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

During the coming weeks, the IDF and the Defense Ministry will complete the placement of containers and the distribution of equipment to the standby squads in other localities as well.

Three senior members of Hezbollah were killed in an Israeli UAV attack on a vehicle in southern Lebanon, according to media reports on Tuesday morning.

Two sources who spoke to Reuters said that the attack, which took place in Ghandouriyeh, was a targeted drone strike on a vehicle. As per Israeli media, one of those killed in the drone strike is the terrorist responsible for the organization's drone operations.

Hassan Abeid al-Hussein Ismail, the head of Hezbollah's drone operations in southern Lebanon, was reportedly responsible for the assaults of hostile UAVs into northern Israeli towns since October 7.

The targeted killing took Hezbollah's total number of casualties up to 158, as per the terror organization.

Aviva Siegel, released from Hamas captivity as part of a prisoner exchange deal, testified on Tuesday at the first conference of th  Kidnapped Persons Caucus held in the Knesset. In her testimony, she said: "I met another kidnapped woman, and sorry for the language, but the son of a bitch [Hamas terrorist] touched her. They didn't let me embrace her; they wouldn't let me embrace her. There was another female soldier there. They tortured her beside me, and I am a witness to it, a witness to what happened there. It's unbearable."

"The entire purpose of this caucus stems from the strong desire to bring them home," said Knesset member Shelly Tal Meron (Yesh Atid) at the caucus conference.

"To hear their families, to hear the testimonies of those returning from captivity, and the need to bring this issue to the forefront. To shock the world, to show what is happening here, what an entire country is going through, and mainly the 136 families who cannot continue their lives for one more moment as they lived - and want their loved ones at home."

At the weekly rally in the Kidnapped Persons Square on Saturday night, the testimony of 17-year-old Agam Goldstein, who was also released from Hamas captivity, was screened. In her testimony, Goldstein recounted the abuse experienced by women in captivity: "A door opened, and six girls were waiting, and suddenly we realized that there were girls who had been alone. Many girls suffer severe sexual assaults; they have very severe and complex injuries that are not treated. They either bandaged themselves, or we helped them bandage." She added: "I can't even imagine their situation, what hope they are clinging to."

Investigation into October 7th sexual violence

Last week, the investigation of Unit 105 regarding the acts of rape, abuse, and sexual crimes committed by Hamas on October 7th was opened. Sex crimes investigator Chief Inspector Tzofit Tzioni-Levy, who is leading the investigation, said: "There are first-hand testimonies of sexual offenses from people who have seen it with their own eyes and heard with their own ears. ZAKA personnel and people on the ground found handcuffed corpses of men and women, dismembered and naked bodies, and mutilation of sexual organs," explained Tzioni-Levy. "We are here in Unit 105 for this reason, to respond to every hero and heroine who was harmed."

Released Israeli hostage Aviva Siegel attends the lobby for releasing the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, January 9, 2024. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Keith (64) and Aviva (62) Siegel live in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Keith was born in the United States and has lived in the kibbutz for over 40 years.

Aviva is originally from South Africa and shares Keith's deep connection to the kibbutz, which they both adore. According to their son, Elan, who wrote an op-ed for Fox News, Keith and Aviva are known for their unwavering belief in peaceful coexistence. Keith worked closely with many doctors, while Aviva dedicated her efforts to working with children, regardless of their background, be they Jewish or Arab.

On that fateful day of October 7, their peaceful existence was shattered when terrorists invaded their homes and forcibly took them to Gaza. Keith is still being held captive.

A stabbing attack against security forces was foiled near the city of Ramallah, in the West Bank, IDF confirmed on Tuesday.

The attack occurred against IDF soldiers during a routine inspection in the Binyamin region.

IDF soldiers were able to kill the terrorists responsible, and it has been confirmed that no IDF casualties have been suffered.

A suspected shooting in a shopping center in the northern Israeli moshav of Regba has been reported by Israeli media sources on Tuesday.

Initial reports indicate that the shooting in question was an accidental misfire of a weapon,

This is a developing story.

Commando Brigade troops operated in the heart of Khan Yunis against terror infrastructure and underground complexes, strengthening the operational hold on the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF said on Tuesday.

During their operations, the forces exposed dozens of tunnel shafts.

While scanning a tunnel shaft in the area, a group of terrorists emerged from it and threw explosives toward the soldiers. The soldiers responded with fire and eliminated the terrorists.

Troops from the Maglan Unit operated against terror targets, locating weaponry, engaging in close-quarters combat with terrorists, and dismantling Hamas infrastructure.

Combat equipment in civilian residences

Additionally, a sniper team from the Duvdevan Unit identified a group of terrorists in their vicinity. With a precision shot, the troops eliminated the terrorists.

Duvdevan soldiers have engaged and killed scores of terrorist operatives in battles inside the Gaza Strip. The troops have also guided aircraft to strike at terror targets, as well as joint operations with the Commando Brigade's fire array and the precise "Steel Sting" armament.

An attempted stabbing attack was prevented near Atarot, north of Jerusalem on Tuesday afternoon.

The terrorist approached IDF soldiers and tried to stab them before being shot. No casualties to any soldiers were reported. 

World Health Organization officials voiced concern on Tuesday about the possible collapse of hospitals in southern Gaza as the conflict intensifies around the city of Khan Younis, with many medical staff and patients fleeing for their lives.

"So what we're seeing is really worrying around a lot of the hospitals and an intensification of hostilities, very close to the European Gaza hospital," Sean Casey, WHO Emergency Medical Teams coordinator in Gaza, told a Geneva press briefing by video link.

"We are seeing the health system collapse at a very rapid pace," he added, saying that an estimated 600 patients had fled one facility.

A nurse who was among scores of Israelis abducted to Gaza says she spent her captivity in an underground tunnel, treating elderly fellow hostages, some hard of sight or hearing, with meager medical supplies for which she had to haggle with Hamas.

Nili Margalit was repatriated in a November truce between Israel and Hamas. Interviewed by local TV, she said Palestinian civilians had seized her from her village and "sold" her to the Islamist gunmen who led the Oct 7 rampage that triggered a war.

Unaware that her father, along with some 1,200 other people, had been killed, Margalit, 41, was bundled barefoot into a stifling Hamas tunnel where, she says, hostages had been rounded up, bearing a variety of injuries from their rough handling.

"We were in a state of shock," she told Channel 12 TV.

But using basic Arabic learned in the emergency room of a southern Israeli hospital which has Bedouin patients, Margalit informed the Hamas captors that she was a nurse. They agreed to her offer to take charge of hostages' medical needs.

Pills medicine medication treatment 300 (R) (credit: Srdjan Zivulovic / Reuters)

Captive nurse had other hostages list their medications

"The elderly ones worried me," she said. "I asked them to list their important medications - for heart conditions, blood pressure, kidneys." Margalit wrote these down in English for Hamas. Days later, a black bag of pharmacy supplies arrived - but proved inadequate, with some prescriptions mismatched.

"There were sick people. They had chronic illnesses," she said. "There weren't enough pills. There wasn't enough food."

The privation offered stopgaps, however. Near-starvation meant untreated diabetes-sufferers were spared hyperglycemia. Given only one strip of antibiotics, Margalit decided to save it and instead dressed a wound with honey to counter inflammation.

Getting new supplies required regular negotiation with Hamas captors, including some she described as senior Palestinian officials who would inspect the hostages and converse in Hebrew.

"I bugged them, doing it with what you might call a bit of good grace," she said, recalling how she warned the captors that some of the hostages could succumb to their illnesses. "That frightened them. They did not want these people to die."

Several elderly female hostages were released along with Margalit, in a deal in which Israel freed scores of Palestinian prisoners. Elderly men remain among the 132 hostages still in Gaza - 25 of whom have died, according to Israeli officials. Hamas has said some of them were killed by shelling of Gaza and, early in the war, also threatened to execute hostages itself.

Margalit said she believed medical supplies have run out by now. "We know that we were in tunnels, and we know that the war is currently being fought above where we were held," she said.

Margalit was captive with Yarden Bibas, father of Kfir and Ariel

Among Margalit's fellow hostages was Yarden Bibas, who was seized separately from his wife Shiri and their two young boys, Ariel and Kfir. Such was his consternation about his family's fate that the Palestinian captors told him, falsely, that his wife and sons had been spotted back in Israel, Margalit said.

Then Hamas changed tack, telling Bibas that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir had been killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza - and recording his traumatized response in a video that was aired.

When the captors got annoyed, their punishment of hostages included limiting the number of hours of illumination in their underground cells or the use of ventilation fans, Margalit said.

After 40 days' captivity, she was allowed to watch some TV news, and would relay the information by shouting into the ears of elderly hostages who could not follow the reports themselves as they had been taken captive without glasses or hearing aids.

Hamas blamed the lack of food and medication on Israel's Gaza offensive, Margalit said: "We began to feel that Israel had forsaken us, again" after failing to prevent the October 7 attack.

The tranquilizers and sleeping pills that Hamas supplied, at her request, helped hostages racked by long nights of worry.

"I wanted to calm down. I wanted it for myself. I thought I would go crazy at any moment," she said.