Israel-Hamas War: What happebed on Day 114?

The Biden administration is considering slowing weapons sales to Israel to place pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back the war in Gaza, US officials told NBC News on Sunday.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had seized an oil tanker carrying two million liters of fuel in the Persian Gulf off the coast of southwestern Iran, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

According to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, the vessel was carrying the flag of a country in Oceania, although it did not clarify which country's flag this was.

The vessel, which was staffed by 14 foreign crew members from two Asian countries, was seized by the IRGC about 60 miles off the coast of Bushehr, a port city in southwestern Iran.

The IRGC claimed that the fuel was being smuggled illegally. The fuel was transferred to the National Petroleum Refining and Distribution Company of Bushehr province after it was seized by the IRGC.

An Iranian military ship takes part in an annual drill in the coastal area of the Gulf of Oman and near the Strait of Hormuz, Iran (credit: REUTERS)

Recent tanker seizures by Iran

Earlier this month, the Iranian Navy said that it had seized an oil tanker that had been seized last year by the US. The oil tanker, called the Suez Rajan by Iran and the St Nikolas by the US, was seized by Iran in the Gulf of Oman.

In December, the IRGC  seized two oil tankers carrying about 4.5 million liters of fuel, claiming that the tankers were smuggling fuel.

The incident comes amid heightened maritime tensions in the region as the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen intensifies its attacks on maritime traffic in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and a coalition led by the US and UK carries out retaliatory strikes in Yemen.

Turkey is concerned by the decision of some countries to suspend funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinians and urges them to reconsider their move, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

In a statement, the ministry said the suspension of funding, following allegations by Israel that a dozen of its 13,000 staff in Gaza were involved in Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, primarily harmed Palestinian civilians.

"Working under very difficult conditions, UNRWA meets the vital needs of millions of Palestine refugees. Since October 7, more than 150 UNRWA personnel have been killed by Israel in Gaza," it added.

The IDF expanded the closed military zone around the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip on Sunday, after protesters blocked the crossing in recent days in an attempt to prevent the entry of humanitarian aid to the Strip.

IDF and Border Police officers, along with the Shin Bet, arrested ten wanted persons in the West Bank overnight on Saturday, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit announced on Sunday. 

They arrested two wanted persons who were involved in transporting and smuggling infiltrators. 

In the Shuyukh village in the Etzion regional Brigade, IDF reservist troops arrested a suspect who operated a transport network that smuggled infiltrators, along with an additional suspect, the IDF noted. 

Furthermore, the forces found and confiscated the vehicles used by the two suspects. 

An Israeli military raid to search for wanted Palestinians at the Nur Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarm, in the West Bank. July 24, 2023. (credit: NASSER ISHTAYEH/FLASH90)

Arrest under fire

In Wadi Burkin, in the Menashe regional Brigade, the forces arrested two other suspects while under fire from the opposing force, the IDF reported. 

In the village of Kalkas, within the Yehuda regional Brigade, the troops confiscated weapons they found, in addition to tens of thousands of shekels, which were reportedly designated for terrorist activities. 

The suspects were arrested and transferred to be further investigated by security forces, the IDF said. 

Since the start of the war, more than 2,950 suspects have been arrested throughout the regional Judea and Samaria Division, and over 1,350 suspects in the Bekaa and Valleys Division, who are associated with the Hamas terrorist group, the IDF concluded. 

UN officials and aid groups called for countries to reconsider their decision to pause funding for the UN refugee agency for Palestinians on Sunday, warning that its life-saving aid for some two million people in Gaza was in jeopardy.

At least nine countries, including top donors the United States and Germany, have paused funding for the UN refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) following allegations by Israel that some of its staff were involved in the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people.

"While I understand their concerns – I was myself horrified by these accusations - I strongly appeal to the governments that have suspended their contributions to, at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA's operations," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday, vowing to hold to account "any UN employee involved in acts of terror."

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA commissioner-general, also urged countries to "reconsider their decisions before UNRWA is forced to suspend its humanitarian response."

Mounting death toll in Gaza

More than 26,000 people have been killed in Israel's military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, the enclave's Hamas-run health ministry said. With flows of aid like food and medicine into the territory just a trickle of pre-conflict levels, deaths from preventable diseases as well as the risk of famine are growing, aid officials say.

UNRWA employees take part in a sit-in demonstration, according to them against anticipated austerity measures within the organization, in Amman, Jordan November 8, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/JEHAD SHELBAK)

Since the Oct. 7 conflict began, most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have become reliant on the aid UNRWA provides, including about one million who have fled Israeli bombardments sheltering in its facilities. Palestinians expressed anger at the funding cuts.

"We used to say Israel was launching a war of famine against us in parallel to its war of destruction, now those countries who suspended the aid to UNRWA declared themselves partners in this war, and collective punishment," said Yamen Hamad, who lives at an UNRWA-run school in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip, after fleeing northern Gaza.

A UN-appointed expert on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, warned on social media platform X that the funding cuts meant that famine was now "inevitable" in Gaza.

Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Saturday called for the agency to be replaced and urged more countries to cut funding. Israel has not yet publicly given details of UNRWA staff members' alleged involvement in the attack on Israel.

Deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq declined to respond directly to Katz's remarks but said UNRWA overall had a strong record.

Guterres said 12 staff members had been implicated and that nine had been terminated, one was dead, and the identities of the other two were being clarified.

There was no immediate sign of countries' heeding the UN call to reinstate aid. However, Norway and Ireland said they would continue funding the agency.

UNRWA was set up to help refugees of the 1948 war at Israel's founding and provides education, health, and aid services to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

Fighter jets recently attacked two Hezbollah military sites in the area of the villages of Zibqin and Hula, in southern Lebanon, the IDF reported on Sunday.

In addition, the IDF fired artillery earlier on Sunday in order to remove a threat toward several areas in southern Lebanon.

IDF troops continued their operations in Gaza, killing terrorists throughout the Strip, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit reported on Sunday.  

In Khan Yunis, fighters of the 98th Division were engaged in intense fighting, while in the north of the Strip, soldiers from the 5th Brigade located and destroyed a tunnel route used by the terrorists in the area.

Egoz combatants of the Commando Brigade identified a terrorist squad wielding RPGs and eliminated it.

In parallel, fighters of the Maglan unit killed several terrorists and found weapons in the Khan Yunis area, according to the IDF.

IDF troops on patrol in Gaza. January 28, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Combatants of the Paratrooper Brigade also continued to strike terror targets in Khan Yunis. During the operation, they eliminated terrorists and located numerous weapons.

Subsequently, the air force, in cooperation with troops of the 7th Brigade, killed two terrorists in the surroundings of the city using a fighter jet, the IDF added.

IDF continues operations in the north of the Strip

In the north of the Strip, soldiers of the 5th Brigade unearthed a tunnel route in the area and destroyed it. Additionally, the fighters eliminated terrorists and located armaments in the area, as per the IDF.

In the center of the Strip, the Nahal Brigade's combat team directed a manned aircraft from a distance, killing a terrorist who was located near them, the military reported. 

Israel could be close to signing a new deal with Hamas, which would see the release of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a four-month ceasefire, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. 

CIA chief William J. Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, along with Israeli and Egyptian intelligence officials, are set to convene in Paris on Sunday to discuss the new proposal. 

According to the report, the new deal would include a number of phases. 

First, the fighting would cease for six weeks, following which Israeli children, women, and elderly in need of urgent medical care would be freed from Gaza captivity. In return, Israel would release numerous Palestinian prisoners and expand the aid entering Gaza, the WSJ said. 

PALESTINIAN UN envoy Riyad Mansour holds up a sign calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as he speaks in the General Assembly Hall at UN headquarters in New York City, last week. The UN is losing its relevance fast, the writers argue. (credit: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

In the subsequent phases, Hamas would release Israeli female soldiers and male soldiers, followed by bodies of hostages. 

In exchange, during the pause in the fighting, Hamas would receive an international guarantee, led by the US, that a deal would be obtained, which would see the permanent end of the war in Gaza, the Journal further stated. 

An Egyptian official told the WSJ that both sides have yet to agree to the deal. 

New deal could be reached in next two weeks

However, according to a report by the New York Times, US negotiators have already written a draft based on Israel and Hamas's propositions to be discussed in the Paris meeting.

A deal could be reached in the next two weeks, as per the report. The last ceasefire between  Israel and Hamas came into effect on November 24 and lasted until November 30.  

During that time, 105 Israeli hostages were released from Gaza captivity. 

There are still 136 hostages detained by Hamas in Gaza. 

Aaron Poris and Miriam Bulwar David-Hay contributed to this article. 

After 114 days of war in Gaza, 80% of Hamas's terror tunnels have yet to be destroyed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.