Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 170?

In an interview with KAN to promote his new book, Ilan Kfir claimed that Hamas had an operative plan to reach the heart of Tel Aviv on October 7, but was ultimately thwarted. The veteran journalist published "Gaza Division Conquered," in March, the first book published in Hebrew about the October 7 massacre. 

"Today the picture is much clearer than it was on October 7. Hamas was not satisfied with the phase one plan - but the test was if the phase one plan was successful, they would go on to phase two - and it was prepared with large forces ready on standby and prepared to set off at noon. At the heart of the plan was a breach in two areas, in the north as well as in the south and east, towards Dimona, which was singled out by the group as a very central target. The goal of the operation would have been a raid on Tel Aviv. They marked several focal points in the city that were expected to be crowded in the afternoon and evening in order to carry out a mass massacre in the city," the author stated.

“Whoever from Hamas was planning to arrive in Tel Aviv and the north would have been forces with the mental willingness to commit suicide, because they knew they had no chance of returning from there. It was a plan that was formulated and in very advanced stages," Kfir said.

Hamas sought to initiate second phase on October 7

"Towards noon on October 7, when Sinwar and his central command realized that they had achieved success above and beyond what was expected, an order was given to the forces of phase two to set off. Here, they encountered a big surprise because unlike in the morning - when the fence was broken and there was minimal IDF presence in the area - there was already an assessment and a huge influx of forces into the Nevatim area where a large blockade was carried out. There is no doubt that if Hamas had carried out its second phase, the trauma and disaster on October 7 would have been doubled."

A man walks behind a glass with bullet holes following the deadly October 7 attack by gunmen from Palestinian militant group Hamas from the Gaza Strip, in Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel November 21, 2023. (credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)

Kfir hypothesized that had "Sinwar believed that if an attack on Tel Aviv and Dimona were reported in the news, Hezbollah in the north and the other terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria would also attack. This is a diabolical plan, and if it had succeeded, the reality would have been many times worse."

He also said that "maps found with terrorists indicated that they intended to reach Kiryat Gat. After that, a plan was discovered by a certain force to attack Shikma Prison in Ashkelon and release terrorists. Another plan was to attack the Hatzerim air base. All this testified to Sinwar's pretensions of carrying out something that had never before been done."

Family members of the eight American hostages who remain in Gaza urged the US and Israel to “focus first and foremost on getting all of the hostages home” during the bilateral meetings on Monday in Washington.

“Each passing day could be the last for our innocent family members held hostage by Hamas under horrific conditions, deep in tunnels under Gaza. For some of our loved ones, time has run out, and their bodies are still being held by Hamas. Please, allow us to grieve for these precious souls properly,” the families said in a statement.

“It has been 171 days too many. We implore all parties to seize the current opportunity and bring home our loved ones now. We cannot afford to let another day go by while our families endure the pain of being torn apart and incomplete,” the statement said.

The families thanked the Biden administration for its efforts.

Last Thursday, the families of 81 hostages, including three American families, sent a letter to US President Joe Biden asking him to use all means available to convince Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a reasonable deal.

The Shin Bet and the IDF on Monday announced that they had busted a vast Iranian network for smuggling more serious weapons into the West Bank to help dramatically increase the danger Palestinian terrorists can present to Israel.

A statement named Juad Ofri and Munir Mukdach as lead officials affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who have been masterminding the efforts.

It identified them as linked to Unit 4000 of the IRGC Special Operations Division and Unit 18840 of the Quds Force in Syria, which falls under Division 840 led by Atzar Bakri.

The agency said that its arrests of some Palestinian suspects helped it unravel the wider plot to destabilize the entire West Bank and achieve much higher "quality" terror attacks against Israel.

The Shin Bet said that an operation regarding Mukdach led to the seizing of a very large amount of advanced weapons that had penetrated the West Bank.

The Republican Jewish Coalition and the Zionist Organization of America both issued statements condemning the Biden administration's abstention on the United Nations Security Council resolution, calling it a "new level of betrayal" and "disgraceful."

In a statement, ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said it's disgraceful that the Biden administration refused to veto the resolution. Klein accused the Biden administration of ignoring its own prior warnings that UNSC resolutions could hurt negotiations to halt hostilities and release hostages.

"The Biden administration’s failure to veto the resolution enabled this anti-Israel/antisemitic resolution to pass. Calling for an 'immediate ceasefire' enables Hamas’ terror army to survive, regroup, and rebuild its ability to attack innocent Israelis again and again and again," Klein said. 

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday said that if the IDF ends its war in Gaza prematurely, this will likely lead to Hezbollah being more audacious about launching a larger attack against Israel from the North.

Gallant said, "There is no moral basis for stopping the war until we return home all of the hostages. If we do not achieve a decisive and absolute victory in Gaza, a bigger war in the North will come closer."

Gallant delivered his message from the White House in Washington DC, an hour after the UN Security Council voted to demand Israel end the war and right before he met with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

Gallant reminds US officials of the importance of keeping Israel strong

He said he came to Washington to remind top US officials of the need to keep the IDF stronger than its enemies.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would have reacted the same way Israel did after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, but that Israel was losing international support and should wrap up its war against the terrorist group in Gaza.

Hamas' killing spree through southern Israel, Trump said, was "one of the saddest things I've ever seen."

"That being said, you have to finish up your war. You have to finish it up, you got to get it done," he said.

The former US president made the comments in an interview with Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom published on Monday. A video of the interview was posted on the newspaper's website.

October 7 and the Israel-Hamas war

The Oct. 7 attack sparked the war in Gaza that has raged for nearly half a year. Israel says its offensive will continue until Hamas is destroyed and its hostages in Gaza are released.

Absent a ceasefire deal, the Iranian-backed Houthis of Yemen will likely escalate their attacks in the region, a Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center report said on Monday.

The intelligence center is known to be close to the Israeli intelligence establishment, given that its members are all former members of the intelligence community, but it mostly utilizes open-source intelligence for its analyses.

According to the center, there is a wide mix of agendas regarding the Houthis’ provocative activities.

Even between the US and its Western and Sunni allies, the report said there are differences about how to handle the Houthis and how far to escalate counterattacks on Yemen’s soil versus merely shooting down Houthi attacks.

The country is at a crossroads – and the largest one may not even be the war in Gaza.

As big as the current battles and diplomatic duals over Gaza are, there are going to be a host of parties, factors, and additional critical points where Israel and the region’s future relations will continue to be shaped.

In contrast, the country may have reached the end of the line on the issue of haredim serving either in the IDF, national service, or some mix of the two.

Generally, polls showed that a massive majority of Jewish Israelis favor haredim serving in the IDF, as other sectors of the public do.

Until October 7, however, the Haredim did not want to serve, and the almost impossibility of forming a government without them (they have only been completely out of power for less than five years in the last 30-plus years) meant they got their way on the issue.

South Africa said on Monday it welcomes the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

"It is now the responsibility of the United Nations Security Council to ensure that there is compliance with the resolution, which is binding on the parties," South Africa's department of international relations and cooperation said in a statement.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Liri Elbag's family stated that they marked the Purim holiday by sharing childhood photos of her costumes throughout the years, pressuring negotiators not to forget her as she remains captive by Hamas.

Every year, Liri and her siblings would dress up in costume for Purim; however, this year, her sisters Roni and Shay Elbag refused to participate in the holiday festivities.

Previous reports had claimed that  Liri was exploited by her captors, with her mom stating that she moved "between houses. She had to cook for the family with whom she was staying, take care of their children, and clean their house. 

The hostages had to prepare food but could not eat." 

⚠️The Daily Mail approved:

Israeli hostages were kept in the homes of families in Gaza. This is a photo of a room in Gaza where several Israeli hostages were kept, including Liri Albag, according to DNA found there.

As I said, there are no innocents in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/3cK1TvhHyD

— Vivid.🇮🇱 (@VividProwess) March 25, 2024

Shay said that looking at old photos of Liri was incredibly difficult and that it felt like it was "another life [ago].