Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 107?

"Gaza must be demilitarized, under full Israeli security control. I will not compromise over the entire area west of the Jordan River," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Sunday evening when addressing the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. 

"We continue the fight on all fronts and in all sectors," Netanyahu said. "We grant no immunity to any terrorist - neither in Gaza, nor in Lebanon, nor in Syria, nor anywhere else. Anyone attempting to harm us - we strike back."

"Regarding our hostages, we have brought back 110 of them so far, and we are committed to bringing them all back. This is one of the war's objectives, and military pressure is an essential condition for its completion.

"I work on this matter around the clock, but let it be clear: I reject the terms of Hamas," Netanyahu stated.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden (credit: REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE AND ALEX KOLOMOISKY/POOL)

'Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel'

Speaking of his weekend discussions with US President Joe Biden on the war, Netanyahu stated, "I conveyed these points to President Biden in our conversation over the weekend. I greatly appreciate the US's support for Israel, and I expressed this to the president. Nevertheless, I stand firm on our vital interests.

"I emphasized to President Biden our determination to achieve all the war's goals and to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.

"Therefore, I insist that after achieving an absolute victory, after defeating Hamas - there will be no factor in Gaza that funds terrorism, educates for terrorism, or sends terrorists," the prime minister said. 

"As long as I am the Prime Minister, I will continue to stand by it. If anyone has a different stance, let them show leadership and honestly state their position to the citizens of Israel."

Some of the bereaved families whose loved ones were killed in the Hamas rampage at the Nova music festival joined an Israeli Jewish nature project group on Sunday for a special tree-planting event at the site.

Around 1,000 people planted about 200 seedlings in the scorched earth of the Re'im parking lot where thousands of young people were partying in the dawn hours of Oct. 7 when armed Palestinian terrorists swept in.

According to police, 364 people were shot, bludgeoned or burned to death at the Nova festival in a stretch of tree-dotted brush near Kibbutz Reim. Another 40 people were taken hostage by Hamas back to the Gaza Strip, 5 km (2 miles) away, police said.

An Israeli soldier walks near pictures that are part of an installation at the site of the Nova festival, where people were murdered, raped and kidnapped during the October 7 attack by Hamas, Reim, Israel, January 14, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/TYRONE SIU)

Weeping and planting 

“I still can’t believe that we are planting a tree instead of hugging our child,” Ela Bahat, whose son Dror was killed at the festival, told Reuters.

Family members wept while planting trees with the Israeli Jewish National Fund, hoping to bring new life to the scene of death and desecration.

"We buried him four days after on October 11, and this was the first day of the rest of our lives," Bahat's father Idan said. "I really hope that in some way, from above they will bring some peace to earth."

The IDF named Staff-Sergeant Shay Levinson as a fallen soldier on Sunday evening, the military announced in a press release. 

Levinson, 19 and from Giv'at Avni, served in the 77th "Oz" Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade and was killed during the Hamas attacks of October 7.

His death, however, has only just been determined after a rabbinical authority evaluated all available evidence. 

IDF reservist killed in southern Gaza battle

Staff Sergeant (Res.) Uriel Aviad Silberman, 23, was killed in the southern Gaza Strip over the weekend and was also named by the IDF early Sunday. 

Silberman, from Moshav Nahalim, served as a reserve combat officer in Battalion 7421, Kirithi Brigade.

Israeli forces operate in the Gaza Strip, January 21, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Another soldier in Silberman's battalion was seriously injured.

The two deaths announced on Sunday bring the total IDF losses since October 7 to 532.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said there could be no normalization of ties with Israel without resolving the Palestinian issue, he told CNN in an interview that aired on Sunday.

Asked if there could be no normal ties without a path to a credible and irreversible Palestinian state, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told CNN's Fareed Zakaria: "That's the only way we're going to get the benefit. So, yes, because we need stability, and only stability will come through resolving the Palestinian issue."

The foreign minister's remarks were part of an interview originally taped on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum held last week in Davos, Switzerland, and aired Sunday on CNN.

SAUDI FOREIGN Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud addresses the UN General Assembly in New York last month. (credit: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Saudis focusing on de-escalating Gaza war, FM says

De-escalation of the conflict in Gaza and halting civilian deaths is a key focus of Saudi Arabia, the minister said.

"What we are seeing is the Israelis are crushing Gaza, the civilian population of Gaza," he said. "This is completely unnecessary, completely unacceptable and has to stop."

The local health ministry in Gaza says more than 25,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 62,000 wounded in Israel's assault on the region since an October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said there can be no normalization of ties with Israel without resolving the Palestinian issue, he told CNN in an interview that aired on Sunday.

Asked if there could be no normal ties without a path to a credible and irreversible Palestinian state, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told CNN: "That's the only way we're going to get the benefit. So, yes, because we need stability and only stability will come through the resolving the Palestinian issue."

Senior officials in the IDF estimate that a transition is underway to a new, very sensitive stage of fighting in Khan Yunis, with a greater chance of locating hostages. 

The assessment comes against the backdrop of documentation published by the IDF on Saturday of a tunnel in Khan Yunis in which hostages had been held, in which a drawing by Emilia Aloni, a five-year-old hostage released in November during the hostages-for-prisoners exchange, was hung on the wall. 

"The chance of locating hostages increases as forces carry out operations in the Gaza Strip, with a focus on Khan Yunis,” officials said. “The combination of intelligence and thorough work in the field is yielding results. There is progress, and there are additional findings, including a cage where hostages were kept,” they added. 

Officials also said that according to estimates, IDF forces are approaching Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, in the Khan Yunis area. However, they do not rule out the possibility that Sinwar could escape to another hiding place as the IDF closes in on him. 

About 1,000 people from Gaza have been treated in a French field hospital aboard a ship off the coast of Egypt, its captain said, providing care for some as health infrastructure in the war-devastated enclave collapses.

The Dixmude, a French helicopter carrier, has been docked in the Egyptian port of al-Arish, 50 km (30 miles) west of the Gaza Strip, since November. The vessel is equipped with wards, operating theaters and 70 medical staff.

Nearly 120 injured people have been hospitalized on board, while hundreds more have been seen for outpatient consultations, including follow-ups on injuries and psychiatric issues, said Captain Alexandre Blonce, calling it an "unprecedented mission".

Gazans have struggled to get medical care at home as tens of thousands have been wounded, with most of Gaza's 36 hospitals no longer functioning, and those remaining operating at far over capacity, the World Health Organization says.

Israel has targeted the largest remaining hospitals, saying Hamas fighters are operating there, something Hamas denies.

Interviews over the weekend by three central figures in Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz's National Unity party highlighted differences of views that could divide the party ahead of a future election, which could occur relatively soon.

The three interviewees, Ministers-without-portfolio Gadi Eisenkot, Chili Tropper, and Gideon Sa'ar, differed on issues of the timing of the party's exit from the government, the price that Israel should pay in a possible hostage exchange for the 136 Israeli captives being held by Hamas in Gaza, policy regarding who should rule Gaza once the war ends, and on other issues.

What are the differences between the three ministers?

The differences were mainly between Eisenkot and Tropper on one hand and Sa'ar on the other.

Sa'ar is the leader of the New Hope faction within the umbrella of the National Unity party and is more hawkish on issues of national security than Gantz, Eisenkot, and Tropper's faction, Blue and White.

During Eisenkot's interview on Thursday on Channel 12's popular "Uvda," the former IDF Chief of Staff said that a lightning raid to free Israeli hostages in Gaza is extremely unlikely to succeed, and a deal will soon be needed if they are to be released alive. While not completely contradictory, this differed from the war cabinet's insistence that only ongoing military pressure would bring about a hostage deal, a view Sa'ar reiterated during his interview on Channel 14 on Saturday night.

Later on Sunday, The IDF struck Hezbollah terror infrastructure in two separate waves of strikes near the Lebanese village of Markaba, the military said.

Israeli Air Force fighter jets, along with IDF tanks, struck a military compound, as well as outposts and launch sites across southern Lebanon. 

A Hamas delegation led by leader Ismail Haniyeh met with the Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday evening, the terror group announced on its Telegram channel.

The two discussed the political and military situations in the ongoing Israel-Hamas War and the need for aid to Gaza.