Netanyahu rejects Hamas cease-fire proposal, orders troops to advance on Rafah: Day 124 Hamas-Israel war

Thank you for following our LIVE coverage from day 124 of the Hamas-Israel war.

We'll be back tomorrow with more news updates and analysis, right here at L'Orient Today.

A commander of the elite Iraqi armed faction Kataib Hezbollah was killed in a drone strike on Baghdad, two security sources told Reuters.

👉 Who is Kataib Hezbollah? Read more here.

Reuters viewed the counter-proposal drawn up by Hamas in response to a framework presented to the group by mediators following the Paris meeting with Israel — which Netanyahu announced his government had rejected, during this evening's press conference.

Israel has been firm on its refusal to completely withdraw forces from Gaza until Hamas is dismantled. Hamas, on the other hand, refuses to agree to any hostage-exchange deal that doesn't include a comprehensive cease-fire and the removal of Israeli military presence in the enclave.

👉 Read an outline of the proposal that Israel refused.

During his press conference this evening, Netanyahu also spoke about the northern front, where Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in near daily cross-border fighting, Reuters reports. He told reporters that Israel could not tolerate having close to 100,000 evacuees in its own country and its "enemies" knew a solution — either diplomatic or military — would have to be found.

Yesterday, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne warned his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib that Israel might start a war with Lebanon in pursuit of procuring a safe return or residents to the north of the country.

👉Read the full report here.

Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official based in Beirut, declared this evening, following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's press briefing, that his movement "was ready for all options."

Hamdan said that Netanyahu's rejection of the Hamas cease-fire offer proved Israel's intention to "continue the conflict in the region."

He also confirmed that a Hamas delegation would travel to Cairo tomorrow for talks with Egyptian and Qatari authorities, acting as mediators in the conflict.

Netanyahu predicts "a new normalization with the Arab world once Hamas is defeated," according to a report from The Times of Israel.

"The circle of peace will widen" if Hamas is defeated, he said, following statements by Saudi Arabia declaring that the gulf country would not normalize relations with Israel until the war in Gaza was over and a Palestinian state established.

The military campaign launched by Netanyahu's government after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack has so far killed more than 27,700 people in the besieged enclave, according to the latest numbers from the Gaza Health Ministry.

During this evening's press conference, Netanyahu said that "no part of the Gaza Strip will be immune" to Israeli military operations, Reuters reported.

"Rafah is where most people are concentrated in Gaza today. If the Israelis attack it, they will therefore complete their destruction of the Gaza Strip. There won’t be a single large inhabitable urban infrastructure left in the strip. It will be carnage forcing an exodus.

This is the objective of Israel, which is working conscientiously to destroy the Gaza Strip. First they told us that Gaza City was the main Hamas base, then they claimed it was Khan Younis, and now Rafah. The aim is clear: To make the Gaza Strip utterly unlivable and uninhabitable, so that the Palestinians leave on their own."

Guillaume Ancel, former French officer and author of Saint-Cyr, à l'école de la grande muette, spoke to L’Orient-Le Jour following Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's comments last week about the military targeting Rafah, at a time when bombing of the packed southern district had already begun.

👉 Read the full interview here.

🔴 BREAKING: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says "total victory" in Gaza is within reach as he rejected the latest offer from Hamas for a cease-fire to ensure the return of hostages still held in the besieged enclave, Reuters reports.

He said accepting Hamas' "bizarre demands" for a cease-fire would not lead to the return of hostages. "It will only invite another massacre," he said in a televised briefing to journalists.

Netanyahu renewed a pledge to destroy the Palestinian movement, saying there was no alternative for Israel but causing the collapse of Hamas. "The day after is the day after Hamas. All of Hamas," he told a news conference.

Netanyahu also told reporters he had ordered troops to "prepare to operate" in Rafah in southern Gaza, where nearly two million displaced Palestinians have been cornered, fleeing Israeli aggression throughout the rest of the besieged enclave.

Israeli army soldiers sit together near one of the Egyptian trucks bringing in humanitarian aid supplies to the Gaza Strip. (Credit: Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Israel's military proposes increasing the country's mandatory enlistment and reserve service commitments "in light of the war's challenges," AFP reports.

The army issued a statement outlining the proposed lengthening of required military service from 32 months to 36 months for men, and women serving in certain roles.

It also proposed increasing the required number of days of reserve service and extending the maximum age of soldiers and officers in the reserves.

👉 Read the full report here.

In Israel, Blinken pushes for pause in Gaza war to allow for aid, regional integration US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) is welcomed by PLO Secretary General Hussein al-Sheikh (C) as he arrives to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abba

Referring to Israel's integration into the region and the "aspirations of the Palestinian people," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Israeli president: "You can see that equation very clearly, and it was only reinforced by my visits with our friends and partners in the region," Reuters reports.

The top US diplomat earlier met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and discussed a Hamas counter proposal to a cease-fire proposal drawn up by US and Israeli spy chiefs and delivered to the Palestinian group last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

Other Israeli officials such as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Mossad Director David Barnea also attended the meeting, according to a video from the beginning of the meeting released by Netanyahu's office.

👉 Read the full report here.

During the last hour in southern Lebanon:

• Residents of Khiam told L'Orient Today that the second wave of Israeli strikes which targeted several houses in their village did not result in any casualties.

• The Israeli army shelled the outskirts of the southern Lebanon villages of Tayr Harfa and Dhaira in Sour district, according to residents who spoke with our correspondent in the south.

The committee for Maronite priests in Lebanon warned of the "international and internal attempts to force a fishy deal" for the borders between Lebanon and Israel that "does not include clear international guarantees."

The committee also said that such negotiations should have taken place through a Lebanese president, but such a process is currently not possible, as Lebanon has been without a president for more than a year.

Israel says officials are "looking intently" at a new Gaza truce proposal presented by Qatari negotiators, according to a government spokesperson cited by Reuters.

"We have received an update, we have received notification from the Qatari negotiators. We are looking at them. The Mossad is looking intently at what was presented to us," spokesperson Avi Hyman told reporters, repeating a statement from Tuesday evening.

Earlier today, Reuters reported that Hamas had submitted a counter-proposal to the one sent by Egypt and Qatar that would see a permanent cease-fire put in place following a 135-day phased agreement.

Hamas' proposal outlines a process in three phases, each lasting 45 days, during which the remaining Israeli hostages and bodies would be returned to Israel in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The reconstruction of Gaza would also begin during this time as well as an Israeli withdrawal from the enclave while aid flows in.

🔴 BREAKING: One person has been killed and two others injured in a Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the village of Khiam, Marjayoun district, more than an hour ago, a medical source and the mayor of the village Adnan Alyan told L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south.

The person killed was a civilian by the name of Mohamad Awada. This death brings the total number of civilians killed in Lebanon since the beginning of the war to 24.

👉 Read the full report here.

Also in the last hour:

• Israeli warplanes flew at low altitude, carried out mock raids and dropped Incendiary balloon over the southern Lebanese districts of Sour and Nabatieh and the region of Iqlim al-Tuffah, eyewitnesses told our correspondent in the south.

Incendiary or thermal balloons are balloons that contain gas and an explosive, and are released with the intention that the wind carries the bomb to its target. The Lebanese Army warned of their use in early January, saying in a statement that these weapons "fall perilously close to residential areas and between houses without detonating."

Here's what happened in southern Lebanon during the last hour:

• Hezbollah announced that it hit the Israeli site of Zebdine in the disputed Shebaa Farms and a group of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the same site with guided missiles at 1:45 p.m.

• The party also said that it hit technical equipment at the Ramyah Israeli site at 2:15 p.m., located opposite the Lebanese border village of the same name.

Catherine Colonna, the former French Foreign Minister, is chairing a panel to determine whether UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, is doing what is necessary to "ensure its neutrality," after Israel accused twelve of its employees of participating in Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, according to information reported by Le Monde.

Colonna and the committee members will work in collaboration with three research centers, the Raoul-Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway and the Danish Institute for Human Rights. They will submit an interim report to Antonio Guterres by the end of March, followed by a final report by the end of April, with recommendations for "improving" and "strengthening" the existing mechanisms.

Three people were injured in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the village of Khiam (Marjayoun) in southern Lebanon, around an hour ago, a medical source told our correspondent in the South.

One of them was seriously injured. They have been transferred to a hospital in the area.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Wednesday that there was no "justification" for keeping US troops in the Middle East, where they represent "a threat to security," reports AFP.

Addressing ambassadors in Tehran ahead of the 45th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on Feb. 12, Raisi again called for the problems of the Middle East to be "solved by the region's leaders."

"We have proved that we are the best friends of neighboring countries and of the region," he said. For him, "the presence of American forces in our region has no justification."

Here is what has been happening at the Lebanese-Israeli borders during the past hour:

- Israeli warplanes fired two missiles on the outskirts of Marwahine (Sour). Ambulances headed to the targeted area.

- An Israeli drone carried out a strike on the village of Khiam (Marjayoun).

- Four Israeli artillery shells fell on the outskirts of Rashaya al-Foukhar (Hasbaya).

The Gazan Ministry of Health announced a new death toll of 27,708 since Oct. 7 with an additional 67,147 injured.

Bombing continues in Gaza. Yesterday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared that his army's offensive would reach the southern Gaza town of Rafah, on the Egyptian border. Today, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel to discuss proposed agreements to end the fighting in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and the return of other hostages.

UNRWA says only four out of 22 UNRWA health facilities are still operational in Gaza, because of ongoing Israeli bombardments and access restrictions.

"A staggering 84 percent of health facilities have been affected by attacks", the agency added on X yesterday.

Today the Gazan Ministry of Health announced that 27,708 people have now died in Gaza, since Oct. 7.

A girl walks through rubble in an area that was hit by reported Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Feb. 7, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Credit: Said Khatib/AFP)

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the French victims in Israel of the Hamas attack of Oct. 7.

The tribute, the first of its kind outside Israel, comes four months to the day after the Hamas attack that killed more than 1,160 people, according to an AFP count. Each victim will be represented by a photograph. Many of the 55 families present were flown in from Israel on a special flight.

France is home to Europe's largest Jewish community, numbering some 500,000.

Hezbollah announced the death of two of its members; Mohammad Assili, from the village of Ansar (Nabatieh), and Hussein Shams from Laboueh, Bekaa.

In a statement the group described that the fighters died 'on the road to Jerusalem' – the term it uses to describe members of its group killed in Israeli strikes.

184 Hezbollah fighters were killed in Lebanon and Syria since the beginning of the skirmishes between the party and Israel on Oct. 8.

Hamas submitted a counterproposal to the one sent by Egypt and Qatar that would see a permanent cease-fire put in place following a 135-day phased agreement, Reuters reports.

According to Hamas's vision, there would be three phases, each lasting 45 days, during which the remaining Israeli hostages and bodies would be returned to Israel in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The reconstruction of Gaza would also begin during this time as well as an Israeli withdrawal from the enclave while aid flows in.

It is not clear if Israel would be open to such an agreement, but Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an uncertain political future once the war is over, have repeatedly stated that there would be no cease-fire until they achieve their goal of eliminating Hamas.

Read the full story here.

People have been gathering in Oath Square, in the city of Sour, for the funeral ceremony of three Amal members who were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted them on Monday in the village of Beit Lif (Bint Jbeil).

219 people have been killed in Lebanon, including combatants and civilians according to L'Orient Today's count.

Photo: People are carrying coffins wrapped with the Amal flag on their shoulders. (Credit: Courtesy of Muntasser Abdallah).

Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health says 171 people have been reported dead since fighting began between Hezbollah and Israeli on Oct. 8, according to new figures that go up to Feb. 6. 771 people have been injured, and 146 of them are currently receiving treatment in hospital.

97 percent of cases were Lebanese, 2 percent Syrian and 1 percent Palestinian. 86,665 people have been displaced from their homes.

However, according to L'Orient Today's count, 219 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 166 Hezbollah fighters, 16 from Palestinian factions, 10 from other groups, 3 journalists, 23 civilians and 1 member of the Lebanese Armed Forces.

Yemen's Houthis fired six ballistic missiles at two ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the US military said early this morning, according to Reuters. There was light damage to the vessels but no injuries were reported.

The Houthis have been wreaking havoc on global shipping since they first started launching attacks "in solidarity" with people in Gaza.

Yesterday, the Houthis targeted two ships, thought to be owned by American and British companies. One of them, the Star Nasia, was lightly damaged by an explosion, with no injuries reported.

Here is what happened at the Lebanese-Israeli borders today at dawn:

- An Israeli drone targeted, with a guided missile, a water pumping station in the plain of the Wazzani village, south of Khiam (Marjayoun district), the mukhtar of the village told our correspondent in the South. The station's facilities were severely damaged.

Here is what happened at the Lebanese-Israeli borders last night:

After midnight, Israeli warplanes struck the al-Dawaweer area in the village of Houla (Marjayoun) and completely destroyed a house under construction in Beni Hayan (Marjayoun).

Saudi Arabia has informed the United States that its "firm position" is that there will be "no diplomatic relations with Israel" until an independent Palestinian state is recognized.

The statement issued by the Saudi Foreign Ministry on X rejects claims by US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby yesterday that Riyadh would be prepared to normalize relations before a cease-fire in Gaza and without progress in recognizing a Palestinian state, reports the Times of Israel.

The statement calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state "on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem," and an end to "Israeli aggression" on the Gaza Strip.

Israel claims that 31 hostages have died in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, reports The Guardian. In addition, a confidential internal Israeli assessment revealed to The New York Times suggests that a further 20 people may also have died – although this information is unconfirmed. 136 hostages are still being held in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing increasing pressure from hostage families over his government's handling of the crisis. The circumstances surrounding the hostages' deaths remain unclear.

Israeli strikes on targets in Homs province killed a number of people, according to the Syrian army.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war observatory, said four people were killed, including two civilians. Among the targets was the Shuyrat air base, a Syrian military source told Reuters.

Since Oct. 7, Israel has stepped up its attacks against Iranian-backed militias in Syria.

Yesterday's main developments in Gaza:

- The Qatari prime minister said that Hamas had given a "generally positive" response to proposed agreements to end the fighting in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and the return of other hostages.

- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would discuss Hamas's response with Israel today. "There's still a lot of work to be done, but we continue to believe that an agreement is possible," said Blinken, as he addressed the Qatari prime minister on his fifth tour of the region since the October 7 attacks.

- Israel's defense minister said his army's offensive would reach the southern Gaza town of Rafah, on the Egyptian border. Egypt has warned that this could threaten the peace treaty the two countries signed over 40 years ago and also fears that it could drive terrified Palestinians across the border.

Check out the Morning Brief to make sure that you are caught up with what has been happening.

Morning Brief

French FM warns of war with Israel, army retirees block roads, Bou Habib snubbed by Cameron: Everything you need to know to start your Wednesday

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