Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 102?

The Qatari foreign ministry also announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday that an agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas to send medications and aid into Gaza. 

Qatari mediation succeeds in reaching an agreement, between Israel and Hamas to send medications and aid into Gaza#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/d99TcM7JT8

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) January 16, 2024

Israel and Qatar have included the transfer of life-saving medicine to the hostages in the Gaza Strip during the last round of talks, according to reports by Israeli media on Saturday.

The agreement reached between Israel and Hamas stipulated that "medicine along with other humanitarian aid is to be delivered to civilians in Gaza Strip, in the most affected and vulnerable areas, in exchange for delivering medication needed for Israeli captives in Gaza," Qatar said in a statement.

The medications will leave Doha on Wednesday and will then be transported to Egypt, where they will be prepared to be transported into Gaza.

Israelis gather in Tel Aviv for the release of Gaza hostages on November 25, 2023 (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)

US in negotiations to end Israel-Hamas War in exchange for hostages 

The US is involved in negotiations in Qatar that are reportedly aimed at bringing an end to the Israel-Hamas War in exchange for a return of the hostages held by Hamas, Israeli media, citing a report, publicized on Tuesday.

The US has worked with Qatar and Egypt to mediate a deal for the release of the 136 captives seized during the Hamas-led attack on October 7 and held since then in Gaza. 

Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this article.

Operating in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, IDF commando forces launched targeted raids on the offices of high-ranking Hamas officials, the IDF stated on Tuesday.

The IDF report comes following earlier IDF and Israeli media reports that an investigation revealed that Hamas had carried out an attack against IDF soldiers in Khan Yunis from Nasser Hospital in the northern end of the city.

The IDF noted that Hamas systematically exploits the Hospitals in Gaza to cover their military operations and uses civilians as human shields.

The IDF added that Hamas also takes advantage of hospital resources, including electricity and water.

Prior to the operation against the offices of Hamas leadership in Khan Yunis, the fire array of the IDF targeted a number of targets in the area, including the headquarters of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

IDF troops operate in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza. January 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

According to the IDF, during a raid of Hamas’s Southern Khan Yunis Battalion Commander's office, Israeli troops found weapons, ammunition, and grenades, along with some Hamas lookout cameras.

The cameras were subsequently destroyed.

This raid, the IDF added, was one of many successful raids throughout Khan Yunis.

Terrorists eliminated

During the IDF’s operational activities there, the military reported engaging and eliminating a terrorist squad in close-quarters combat.

The IDF commando troops fighting in the southern Gaza city enlisted on October 7 before engaging the terrorists that poured from Gaza into southern Israeli communities.

They were then deployed to northern Gaza before moving down to the southern portion of the Strip.

They are operating in the place of the IDF Duvdevan unit, which has been relocated from Gaza to act against security threats in the West Bank.

Germany is considering sending Israel tank ammunition to help in its fight against Hamas, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.

A confiscation and demolition order for the home of the terrorist Hasan Kapisha in Hebron was signed on Monday, according to a Tuesday IDF statement.

Kapisha, along with two other terrorists, carried out a shooting attack at the tunnels checkpoint on November 16, 2023, in which a Border Police.

A confiscation and demolition order was signed last week for the other two terrorists who were involved in the attack.

The 646th Brigade combat team, together with Yalam forces and Engineering fighters from the 99th Division, destroyed an underground tunnel system belonging to Hamas that crosses the Nahal al-Hashur in the Gaza Strip, according to a Tuesday IDF statement.

The IDF described the tunnel as being nine meters below the surface and stretching for hundreds of meters. It was used by Hamas to transport terrorists from the northern end of Gaza to the southern end.

"The accounts of sexual violence committed by Hamas and others on October 7th must be rigorously investigated and prosecuted," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote in a Tuesday post to X, formerly Twitter.

"Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring, and kidnapping of civilians," he added. "Nothing can justify the launching of rockets towards civilian targets."

The accounts of sexual violence committed by Hamas and others on October 7th must be rigorously investigated and prosecuted.

Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians.

Nothing can justify the launching of rockets towards civilian targets.

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) January 16, 2024

Arab countries are not keen to get involved in the rebuilding of Gaza if the Palestinian enclave will be "leveled" again in a few years, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday, adding that the Palestinian statehood question needed to be addressed.

"You have to resolve the Palestinian question," Blinken told CNBC in an interview in Davos. "Arab countries are saying this: They're saying, look, we're not going to get into the business, for example, of rebuilding Gaza only to have it leveled again in a year or five years and then be asked to rebuild it again."

The heroic battle at the Sufa outpost became one of the symbols of the war in Gaza after its fighters stopped the Hamas terrorists on October 7 in heroic battles from point-blank range.

It also became, to a large extent, a symbol of the story of all the borderline outposts in the Gaza Division, which suffered for long hours massive attacks by thousands of terrorists - attacks during which soldiers fell and were abducted into the Strip, and the outposts themselves suffered heavy damage and widespread destruction of infrastructure.

In the Technology and Logistics Division of the IDF, they managed to accomplish the unbelievable - rehabilitating 13 out of 14 outposts that were centers of destruction, shooting, arson, and looting on October 7.

The effort was led by the head of the IDF and infrastructure department in the wing's logistics division, Col. Maayan Liner, and this week the renovated outposts were officially handed over to the Gaza Division.

This excludes the Nahal Oz outpost, which will be demolished after most of its infrastructure is destroyed. 

An ISIS flag seen at Israel's kibbutz Sufa following a massacre by infiltarting Hamas terrorists, pictured on October 11, 2023 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

In addition to the renovated outposts, new battalion command posts will be built in the sector, using construction methods and architecture that have not been used before - subject to the General Staff's work in the Ground Forces, aiming to implement the lessons learned from the war.

From the second week of the war, officers of the Technology and Logistics Division and the contractors responsible for the rehabilitation and renovation of the outposts' infrastructure operated under the shadow of continuous mortar and rocket attacks towards the rear, and also assaults by terrorists who infiltrated Israeli territory.

"They worked in the outposts while the area was still defined as a combat zone, with helmets and personal armor," the division's officers report. "Throughout the day, launches and alarms were heard. What kept them going was the understanding of the event's magnitude and its importance to the IDF and our soldiers."

The flagship project of the renovations was, as mentioned, the Sufa outpost. At its entrance, one can still clearly see the motorcycles and tenders used by the terrorists to infiltrate Israel; at the pillbox position, signs of gunfire and black soot from an anti-tank missile strike are noticeable.

"During the renovation works, we had to accommodate reserve and regular soldiers in some rooms - and also bereaved parents who came to see the outpost or to take personal equipment of the soldiers."

This situation, the Technological Corps officers report, provided some heartbreaking moments. "We are not only rehabilitating but also rebuilding anew."

They added, "Leaving no trace of what happened before. We rebuilt showers and living quarters. Even the dining room, where the soldiers fought and were hit by terrorists' gunfire and almost 20 grenades, was fully renovated."

And what do the soldiers themselves think?

"We are very satisfied with the renovations," says a soldier from the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion to Walla. "I have known this outpost for years, and they renovated it to a high standard: showers, toilets, bedrooms, dining room. Initially, it was hard to see the destruction, but now everything is like new."

The Technological Corps officers, who oversaw the renovation of the Sufa outpost, were amazed to discover the extent of the weaponry that had hit the outposts.

"It's an unreasonable amount. On some of the  building's floors, the engineering structure withstood their attacks, but on others, it didn't

"One of the outposts withstood an attack and was nicknamed 'Fortress Outpost' by us. We are learning from this and will implement these lessons in the new outposts we build later, with significant improvements in escape routes, command and control, defensive components, obstacles, and more.

"The entire defensive concept of the IDF along the Gaza Strip border will change."

According to Walla, based on the General Staff's work, led by Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Oren Avman, the IDF will invest in building additional outposts for brigades and battalions that will implement new methods of warfare and defense against aerial and ground attacks.

On October 7, the Sufa outpost suffered immense heavy damage. Over 70 Hamas terrorists swarmed the outpost, blew up the security fence, and attacked the forces defending the area. 

The terrorists encountered staunch resistance from the Nahal Reconnaissance Unit and the 50th Battalion, prepared at the entrance to the outpost and within it.

In the battles against dozens of terrorists, the deputy commander of the Caracal Battalion, commanded by Col. Or Ben Yehuda, as well as a platoon of tank crews, IDF combat helicopters, and Shayetet 13 fighters, assisted in eliminating the terrorists and clearing the outpost, which suffered severe infrastructure damage from the terrorists' explosives and fires.

In the battles, IDF forces killed over 50 terrorists. Silent testimony to the attack on the outpost are the terrorists' motorcycles found at its entrance and the tenders they drove in - before being crushed by tank crews from the Caracal Battalion.

The Shin Bet revealed in an investigation how terrorists from the Islamic Jihad trained on Iranian soil on Tuesday. 

In a joint operation in December, the IDF and the Shin Bet arrested a commander of a platoon in the Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Basel Mahadi, who was subsequently brought to Israel for questioning.

Mahadi described the Islamic Jihad training while being interrogated by the Shin Bet. He explained how the terrorists went to a military-like training base in Iran, which was run by Iranian soldiers. 

Between 15-20 terrorists from the Islamic Jihad from Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria were on this military base.

How did they get to Iran?

Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists participate in an anti-Israel military parade marking the 36th anniversary of the movement's foundation in Gaza City, October 4, 2023. (credit: MOHAMMED SALEM/REUTERS)

"I went from the Gaza Strip to Egypt, where I stayed for about two weeks," Mahadi explained to the Shin Bet. "From there, I went to Syria for a few days and then to Lebanon. After two weeks, we went from Syria to Iran."

The course was 15 days long, and "it had physical fitness training and shooting training on different types of weapons," he added.

"Four days training on a Kalashnikov at a distance of 100 meters, five days at a distance of 100 to 150 meters, six days on a Dragunov (sniper rifle)," he explained further. "We practiced shooting at stones, targets, and balloons at a distance of 300 meters."

European Union member states have given initial backing to create a naval mission to protect ships from attacks by Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in the Red Sea, European diplomats said on Tuesday.

Many commercial shippers have diverted vessels to other routes following attacks in the Red Sea by the Houthi terrorists, who control much of Yemen and say they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians as Israel and Hamas wage war in Gaza.

The diplomats said the bloc's Political and Security Committee is responsible for foreign and defense policy. had given its initial support for the mission, which would work with like-minded partners.

Action has not yet been taken 

The objective was to establish it by Feb. 19 at the latest and to make it operational soon afterward. Several diplomats said they hoped that the process could be fast-tracked, given the tensions in the region.

The European External Action Service (EEAS) declined to comment on confidential discussions.

The Galaxy Leader cargo ship is escorted by Houthi boats in the Red Sea in this photo released November 20, 2023. (credit: Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS)

The United States last month said it and other countries would patrol the Red Sea in a new mission - Operation Prosperity Guardian - to try to allay fears that disruption in one of the world's top trading arteries could hit the global economy.

But some US allies, notably European states, have raised reservations about the plan and balked at the idea of being under US command.