Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 163?

During the IDF and the Shin Bet's reinvasion of Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza on Monday, they killed Hamas's Interior Ministry Operations Chief Faack Mabhough.

Mabhough has been in charge of all of Hamas's internal security forces both during the war and during peacetime.

Israeli forces killed Mabhough during an exchange of gunfire when he resisted arrest and had been trying to hide within the Shifa complex.

In the room next to his hiding spot, significant Hamas weaponry was located.

IDF, Shin Bet, and the Border Police personnel arrested 14 wanted individuals overnight throughout the West Bank, the IDF reported Monday.

At the same time, the Jordan Valley region brigade interrogated many suspects during an operation in Dheisha in Etzion.

In the counter-terrorism operation in Dheisha, in cooperation with the Metzada Unit of the Israel Prison Service (IPS), two wanted persons were arrested, and many suspects were interrogated.

According to IDF reports, IDF soldiers discovered weapons in both Beita and Huwara. Three wanted men suspected of inciting terrorism were also arrested in Beitunya and al-Bireh in Benjamin.

Confiscated weapons were transferred for further inspection

The arrested individuals and confiscated weapons were transferred for further inspection by the security forces. There were no reported IDF casualties in these operations.

IDF forces operation in Judea and Samaria, March 18, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Earlier on Thursday, the Shin Bet arrested 14 wanted people throughout the West Bank, in addition to the IDF arresting four suspects at the Tzofim checkpoint after finding a bomb in their vehicle.

According to the IDF, in the villages of Arraba in Northern Israel and Tulkarm in the West Bank, five wanted people were also arrested on Thursday. Those arrested had all their weapons confiscated from them, while no IDF soldiers were injured in the process.

So far, since the beginning of the war, approximately 3,500 wanted persons have been arrested throughout the West Bank by the Jordan Valley region brigade, over 1,500 of whom are affiliated with Hamas.

Staff-Sergeant (St.-Sgt.) Matan Vinogradov, from Jerusalem, 20, was killed in combat in the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF announced on Monday. 

Vinogradov was a soldier in the 932nd Battalion in the Nahal Brigade.

Staff sergeant Matan Vinogradov. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Israel is provoking famine in Gaza and using starvation as a weapon of war, the EU's foreign policy Chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.

"In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine, we are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people," Borrell said at the opening of a conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza in Brussels.

"This is unacceptable. Starvation is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine."

Israel will send a high-level delegation headed by its Mossad chief to Qatar on Monday for mediated talks with Hamas designed to secure the release of 40 hostages in exchange for a six-week Gaza truce, an Israeli official said.

This stage of the negotiations could take at least two weeks, the official estimated, citing difficulties that Hamas' foreign delegates may have in communicating with the group in the besieged enclave after more than five months of war.

Overnight between Sunday and Monday, Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah military structure and an observation post in the area of Ramyah in Lebanon, the IDF reported. 

On Sunday, the IDF struck additional Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the area of Naqoura in Lebanon.

While the war in Gaza rages on, much of northern Israel has been continuously hit by Hezbollah rocket fire, prompting residents to evacuate from their homes until further notice.  

However, an IDF reserve unit has stayed behind to protect northern towns and is preparing for any possible scenario, including October 7-style infiltrations and combat with Hezbollah terrorists. IDF Online interviewed these reserve soldiers from the “Dvora,” or "bee" unit who work day and night to protect the northern border.

”Dvora,” a special forces reserve unit, began operating in northern Israel in recent years and was created with the goal of repelling terrorist infiltrations from the border. The unit is responsible for gathering as many forces in one area as quickly as possible. The unit is formally named “YATAM (immediate response unit) Galil,” but it received its unique, and more familiar name of “Dvora” after the late Deborah Drechler, who was killed in the Battle of Tel Hai in 1920. 

The IDF's reinvasion of Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza started around 2:30 a.m. early Monday morning and included a mix of IDF Division 162 regular infantry, armor, special forces, the Shin Bet, and IDF intelligence collection Unit 504.

Although the IDF said it achieved surprise on a group of terrorists who had returned to Shifa, it said it had both given a general warning to the medical staff there and had been following the return of terrorists for a long time.

More specifically, the IDF said it had planned the operation for a number of days, waiting for the right timing when they could most catch Hamas off guard.

Other than that this was a time when more terrorists had returned to Shifa, including some commanders, the IDF did not explain why taking over the hospital during Ramadan and heated criticism from the US over the humanitarian situation was smart strategic timing.

A suspicious aerial object fell north of Eilat after crossing into Israeli territory near the Dead Sea on Sunday, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said on Sunday night.

Tensions in the government are escalating, as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was allegedly furious with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the cabinet meeting on Sunday.

During the meeting, Ben-Gvir reportedly told Netanyahu, “I don’t blame you, but you’re Gallant’s boss, so rein him in. It cannot be the case that he manages policy independently. He can’t evacuate the hilltop settlements independently; he cannot take down checkpoints independently.”

Ben-Gvir continued: “Despite all the discussions, there are still concessions for Ramadan and thousands of vehicles under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority are on the roads in Judea and Samaria – next to the vehicles of our people with babies inside them. I don’t understand how they tell us there is no manpower in the army and yet you are going to evacuate six hilltop settlements and dealing with the kids building them – you decide if there is manpower or not.”