Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 117?

IDF and Border Police officers, along with the Shin Bet, arrested 14 suspects overnight throughout the West Bank and confiscated many weapons, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said on Wednesday. 

The Iranian-backed terrorist group Kataib Hezbollah is alleged to have been behind the drone attack that killed three US service members in Jordan on January 27. The US is expected to respond. On January 30, Kataib Hezbollah claimed it would pause attacks on US forces. The Pentagon has said “actions speak louder than words.”

 The Iranian policy with Kataib Hezbollah is similar to its policy with Hamas after the massive unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7. Iran carries out attacks, either directly or via proxies, and then immediately wants a ceasefire. This has also been the Hamas doctrine for decades.

Hamas attacks whenever it chooses, and then it demands a pause in fighting or a ceasefire. In the past, this was characterized as a hudna or long-term ceasefire. The concept here is kind of obvious when one thinks about it. A group’s goal is to defeat an adversary or massacre all of the members of the adversary. However, the group isn’t strong enough to achieve this in one large conventional battle.

Israeli Air Force jets targeted a military infrastructure belonging to the Syrian regime in the Daraa province, in response to launches towards the southern Golan, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said on Wednesday. 

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Thani attempted to douse optimism about an imminent deal for the release of the 136 hostages, even as he expressed optimism that a deal was in the works, of which the first phase would see the release of women and elderly male captives.

“I think we have reached an agreement with the Israelis in order to have it as a starting point, but it needs a lot of resolution and negotiating the details also with Hamas to get into an agreement,” Thani told Fox News in an interview he granted them on Tuesday while visiting Washington.

Iran showcased its Khaybar Shekan ballistic missile on Wednesday in an event in Tehran near the Azadi Sports Complex, according to pro-government media in Iran. The missile is now the pride of the Tehran regime because it was used to target an area in northwestern Syria. Iran claimed to be targeting “Takfiri” groups, a word they use for ISIS and other extremists. However, Iranian media also claimed in mid-January, after the missile was used, that it was a “message” to Israel.

Tasnim News showed the missile on display in Iran in a report on Wednesday. The media said that four of these large ballistic missiles had been used in January and they had been fired from southern Iran.

While the parents of a fallen soldier, Reserve Senior Warrant Officer Israel Socol, were visiting the Temple Mount to mourn their son with family members on Monday, police confronted the family, leading to the detainment of several family members.

The Socol family visited the Temple Mount directly after sitting shivah in order to mark the seventh day since the fall of Reserve Senior Warrant Officer Israel Socol in Khan Yunis, where 21 soldiers fell when a building collapsed on them in an attack by Hamas. Israel Socol was 24 years old and from Karnei Shomron.

The police permitted the family a special and highly attended ascent with about fifty relatives and supporters. The procession circled counterclockwise, which is the custom of mourners, while a crowd waiting comforted them on the mountain, according to the Temple Mount administration. 

Despite arranging with the police that they would take the “mourners route” in their ascension, the group was taken through the “traditional route.” Additionally, the police barred entry to a member of Beyadenu for a reason that remains unclear, according to the NGO Beyadenu, which is dedicated to raising awareness about the Temple Mount and its heritage in Jewish Communities worldwide. The organization helps facilitate access to the Temple Mount. 

While the family was on the Temple Mount, the police demanded that the group hurry through and not stop to eulogize their fallen relative. Once the family exited the compound, the police detained close friends of the family, claiming that they performed the priestly blessing. 

The Socol family with their friends and relatives on the Temple Mount. (credit: TEMPLE MOUNT ADMINISTRATION)

The Temple Mount commander pushed the father of the family and his brother after they protested the detainment of their friends, as seen in a video published by Beyadenu. 

The family memorializes their fallen son

This memorial ascent is an ancient custom rooted in the Mishnah, according to which mourners should ascend to the Temple Mount to receive condolences from the public with the phrase “May he who dwells in this house comfort you.”

While on the Temple Mount, the Sergeant’s father, Yehoshua Socol, memorialized his son, quoting the last conversation they had, in which his son asked to study the laws of eating in a non-Jewish home. 

Marina Socol, the Sergeant’s mother, said, “I sacrificed my son in this war, which is a war for the Temple Mount. I believe that we need to sacrifice offerings here on the Temple Mount, and because we do not sacrifice our obligatory offerings on the Temple Mount, we sacrifice to God our best sons. The very best. Look at the fallen. Each one is the very best because we cannot sacrifice to God something of lesser value, something that is not good. Therefore, we go there with the very best. I expect that we, with Israel, as we already pray here, will also take action and sacrifice offerings to Hashem here."

Some of the visitors concluded their visit by reciting Kaddish, and soldiers returning from the front received the  "HaGomel" blessing, usually recited when a person was in life-threatening danger and saved themselves. 

Since the beginning of the year, the Temple Mount administration has recorded that 18,000 individuals vistors to the Temple Mount. Over ten thousand of them visited the Temple Mount since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza. 

Throughout this period, the Temple Mount has been peaceful, free from incitement by provocateurs. 

Iran's terrorist network throughout the Middle East continues to strengthen - from Hamas in the Gaza Strip, through Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraq, to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The recent incident in which three American soldiers were killed in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attack on a base in Jordan once again brought the terrorist organizations operating in service to the Iranian regime to headlines. 

The Palestinian issue resonates deeply throughout the entire Middle East, as seen clearly since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7.

However, Iran has left Hamas alone to face Israel's fury, and thus, Iran risks dismantling the military alliances it built up since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 when it once again entered into a conflict with the West.

The Houthis

The Houthi rebels, who control large parts of Yemen, announced their entry into the conflict on October 31, when they began launching drones and ballistic missiles toward Israel, which is located over 1,500 km from Yemen.

In November, the Houthis expanded their terrorist operations and began attacking commercial ships sailing in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, particularly those ships destined to reach Israel. 

Houthi troops ride on the back of a police patrol truck after participating in a Houthi gathering in Sanaa, Yemen (credit: KHALED ABDULLAH/ REUTERS)

After the United States and Britain decided to retaliate against the rebels, the Houthis announced that they would also attack American and British ships as revenge for the airstrikes. The attacks by the Houthis widely disrupted international trade between Europe and Asia, which led some shipping companies to reconsider their route.

Hezbollah in Yemen and Lebanon

The US believes that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps assisted the Houthis in carrying out the attacks on merchant ships in the region, while Iran continues to deny any involvement. Earlier this month, sources familiar with the details told Reuters that senior commanders in the Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah are present on the ground in Yemen and are assisting in monitoring the attacks against merchant ships. Consequently, the US announced that it re-designated the Houthis as a terrorist organization in response.

In the last decade, the Shiite-Lebanese terrorist organization has received significant support from the Islamic Republic and has been using it against Israeli targets since the morning of October 8, when it decided to open a front against Israel on its northern border. Hezbollah was established in 1982 by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and serves as an example of an organization operating in the service of Tehran throughout the Middle East and as a partner of Iran's Shiite Islamic ideology.

Al-Ashtar Brigades

Al-Ashtar Brigades is a Shiite terrorist organization based in Bahrain that is supported by Iran and has been designated as a terrorist organization by several countries, including the US, Canada, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. The organization's operatives primarily work to overthrow the monarchy in the small Persian Gulf country and annex its territory to the territory of Iran.

Patmion Division

A Syrian militia that was established in 2014 as a result of the rise of the Islamic State, it is considered loyal to the Assad regime. Among its members are mainly Shiite Muslims and Persians of "Zahra" descent. According to the reports, its operatives are mainly between the ages of 20 and 30, often recruited due to economic hardships and the marginalization of their status as migrants.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Iranian government has reportedly offered payment and legal protection to individuals who served in the organization. According to various reports, the organization has between 20,000 and 50,000 fighters.

Hezbollah brigades

The Hezbollah Brigades, or Kataib Hezbollah, is an organization founded in 2007 following the US invasion of Iraq and is considered one of the most heavily armed terrorist organizations that is operating in the service of Iran. 

It is an umbrella group of Shiite militias. After its establishment, the organization gained notoriety for its deadly attacks against military and diplomatic targets in the late 2000s, using a variety of military tools such as improvised explosive devices, rockets, and a variety of bombs. 

In 2009, the United States blacklisted the organization on its terrorist list. The group adheres to a Shiite ideology that views the borders between Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon as only temporary. It views the American soldiers on Iraqi soil as foreign occupiers and actively works to remove them. 

The organization operated alongside various Shiite militias that fought against Sunni rebels during the Syrian civil war and has continued to operate in Syria ever since. The organization has thousands of fighters and an arsenal of unmanned aerial vehicles, rockets, and ballistic missiles.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ordered its pro-Iranian militias in Syria, especially in the Deir ez-Zur region, to stop their activities against US bases in the country, according to Ynet on Wednesday. 

Iran's envoy to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani warned that Tehran would swiftly respond to any attack on its territory, its interests or nationals outside its borders, state media reported on Wednesday.

The comment from Amir Saeid Iravani comes a day after United States President Joe Biden announced he has decided how to respond to a drone attack by Iran-aligned Iraqi groups that killed US service members in Jordan, without elaborating.

Eretz Nehederet, a popular satirical comedy program on Israeli primetime television, took the opportunity to run with a popular TikTok trend and poked fun at the UNRWA in a new video released on the platform on Tuesday.

UNRWA, a UN agency focused on assisting Palestinian refugees, has recently come under international fire after several reports alleged that UNRWA staffers had participated in the October 7 Massacre.

In a new TikTok trend that has users identify with a group or personal trait before relating to stereotypes related to each trait, the performers at Eretz Nehederet pulled the same for what you’d expect to find in a UNRWA school or staff member’s home.

@eretz.nehederet The UNWRA Tiktok trend #stanswithisrael #keshet12 #טיויטוק #ארץנהדרת ♬ original sound - ארץ נהדרת

“I’m a UNRWA teacher; of course, I make sure my classroom has all the necessary supplies!” The actor then pulls out dry-erase markers, an eraser, and an AR-15.

“I’m an UNRWA staffer, of course I make sure all humanitarian aid goes to who really needs it,” another actor said, as an actor depicting a Hamas terrorist takes supplies right from him.

Una mujer palestina participa en una protesta contra posibles reducciones de los servicios y la ayuda ofrecidos por la Agencia de Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados Palestinos en Oriente Próximo (UNRWA), frente a la sede de la UNRWA en la ciudad de Gaza el 16 de agosto de 2015. (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)

Poking at UNRWA when relevant

Another scene depicts a teacher talking about subjects they teach while pulling out three different copies of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

Other scenes poked at UNRWA workers' participation on October 7 - joking that they can be seen in videos from Gaza that went viral.  “Do you see that person running? That’s me.”