Middle East Conflict: Bahraini Hackers Claim Attack On US Navy's 5th Fleet System

Israeli delegation to meet with CIA chief, mediators in Egypt: Report

An Israeli delegation that includes three senior Israeli officials will travel to Egypt Tuesday for a meeting with the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the head of Egyptian intelligence and Qatar's prime minister, as per a Google-translated post on X (formerly Twitter) by Axios political reporter Barak Ravid.

The meeting is expected to focus on efforts to promote negotiations over a ceasefire-hostage deal.

Israeli army will conduct ground operation in Rafah 'when conditions allow': Top IDF official

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, chief of the IDF spokesperson's unit, on Monday said the two elderly hostages rescued by Israeli ground troops from Rafah were "intentionally in the middle of a civilian neighborhood, inside a civilian building to try and prevent us from rescuing them."

Hagari said the hostages were held in harsh conditions. They went through medical examination and have finally been reunited with their families in Israel.

Addressing concerns regarding Israel's plan to launch a ground offensive in the overcrowded city of Rafah, Hagari said Monday's rescue mission "underscores the importance of our ground operation in Gaza, including Rafah, when conditions allow." He said the Israeli army has a "moral obligation" to bring all of the country's hostages back home.

2 Hezbollah members killed in Israeli drone strike, including local leader: Arab report

Initial reports Monday revealed that two Hezbollah members were killed in an Israeli raid on Maroun al-Ras, located in Jabal Amel in southern Lebanon's Bint Jbeil district, Sky News Arabia reported.

The drone attack reportedly targeted a local "Hezbollah leader" the outlet reported, as per a Google translation.There are reports that the said leader was Muhammad Abd al-Rasul Alawiyah, the Lebanese terror group's leader in the Maroun al-Ras region.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which has been launching missiles toward northern Israeli communities since the war started, has yet to officially confirm the report.

Dutch court orders halt to F-35 jet parts to Israel: Report

A Dutch appeals court has ordered the government to halt all exports of parts of F-35 warplanes to Israel amid a "clear risk the exported F-35 parts are used in serious violations of international humanitarian law," Reuters reported Monday.

The Netherlands government is expected to comply with the order within seven days.

Vessel attacked off Yemen reported minor damage: UKMTO

The ship attacked by two missiles off Al Mukha in Yemen earlier in the day reported "minor damage," UKMTO said in an update Monday. The ship and crew are safe, as per the maritime monitoring agency.

Houthis claim attack on 'American' ship in Red Sea

Houthis on Monday claimed an attack on "the American ship 'Star Iris' as part of its "vindication" of the Palestinian people and "as a retaliation to the American-British" strikes that the allied nations said were carried out in self-defense.

Houthi spokesman Yahya Sare'e said "suitable naval missiles" were used in the "accurate" attacks. The Star Iris is a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier, as per data from Marine Traffic.

The U.S. army has yet to confirm or deny the claim.

Iranian outlet withdraws report on killed Pakistanis in Iran

The Iranian government's semi-official Tasnim news agency on Sunday reported that at least nine Pakistanis were killed in southeastern Iran. The outlet has since withdrawn its report, as per Reuters.

"The alert and story on Pakistanis killed in Iran was wrong and is withdrawn," Reuters wrote on its update regarding the Iranian report.

This comes a few weeks after Iran and Pakistan carried out tit-for-tat strikes that Iran initiated. The neighboring nations have since decided agreed to exercise restraint and returned envoys they recalled following the strikes that both countries said targeted terror factions.

Hackers claim attack on US Navy system

A hacker group from Bahrain on Sunday claimed they gained access to the U.S. Navy's 5^th Fleet system and "seized hundreds of secret correspondence" belonging to the said Navy fleet.

In a series of posts on X, the group, which goes by Al-Toufan, said the documents they revealed were only "a small part" of what they acquired through the system breach. "What we have is greater, and it will reach those concerned," the group said.

The hack was carried out to "target the moral support and social welfare services of the U.S. Navy of Bahrain" and to show support for the Palestinian people in Gaza, Al-Toufan claimed.

The U.S. Navy's 5^th Fleet, which covers the Persian Gulf, Red and Arabian Seas, and parts of the Indian Ocean, has yet to confirm or deny the claim.

In November, the same hacker group claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on two websites of the Bahraini government. At the time, they said the attack was carried out due to Bahrain's stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

Hamas claims 2 Israeli hostages killed by Israeli bombardment

Two Israeli hostages were killed and eight others were injured due to Israeli strikes in Gaza in the past four days, multiple outlets reported, citing a Hamas statement on the group's Telegram channel.

The conditions of hostages "are becoming more dangerous in light of the inability to provide them with appropriate treatment," the Iran-backed terror group said, adding that Israel "bears full responsibility" for the lives of the abductees, as well as those injured in Israeli bombardment.

Israel has yet to confirm Hamas' claims.

UNRWA 'did not know' there was a Hamas tunnel under HQ: Lazzarini

Philippe Lazzarini, chief of the embattled UNRWA, on Sunday said the agency "did not know what is under its headquarters in Gaza," adding that the humanitarian aid agency has not used the Gaza City compound since staffers departed the facility on Oct. 12 under the IDF's evacuation orders.

He went on to reveal that in the past, "protest letters were promptly filed to parties to the conflict" whenever "suspicious cavity" was detected close to or under UNRWA facilities. Media reports related to the matter "merit an independent inquiry" that cannot be undertaken at this point considering the war in Gaza, he said.

His comments came hours after the Israeli army unveiled what it said was a "tunnel shaft near an UNRWA school, leading to an underground terrorist tunnel beneath UNRWA's main headquarters."

The IDF added that its ground forces found "electrical infrastructure inside the tunnel connected to UNRWA's main HQ, suggesting it was supplying the tunnel with electricity – generated by the fuel provided through humanitarian aid."

There are 'enough' hostages in Gaza to 'warrant' war: Netanyahu

The Israeli prime minister on Sunday told ABC's "This Week" that there were "enough" hostages still in Gaza "to warrant the kind of efforts that we're doing."

He added that the Israeli army will keep giving its best "to get all those who are alive back, and frankly, also the bodies of the dead."

His comments came amid increasing international calls for restraint in Rafah, given the circumstances in the area wherein thousands of Palestinians are believed to have evacuated to since the war started.

Ship off Yemen attacked by 2 missiles: UKMTO

A commercial vessel transiting around 40 nautical miles south of Al Mukha in Yemen was "attacked by two missiles" early Monday, the UKMTO said. The crew are reported safe and the ship has since proceeded to its next port of call.

British maritime security firm Ambrey said the attack targeted a Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier as it transited through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The security company added that the bulker was reportedly headed to the Iranian city of Bandar Imam Khomeini.

"The group owner and operator regularly trade bulk cargo with Iran, so this was assessed to be the likely destination," Ambrey added.

This comes after the U.S. conducted new "self-defense strikes" targeting missiles and USVs in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

US strikes Houthi assets in 'self-defense' operation

U.S. forces on Saturday carried out "self-defense strikes" against two USVs and three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM) identified in Houthi-held areas of Yemen, the U.S. army said Sunday.

The missiles were "prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea," and were deemed to present an imminent threat to commercial ships and U.S. Navy warships in the region.

Hezbollah claims it has carried out more than 1,000 operations since Oct. 7

Nasrallah early on Monday said Hezbollah attacked five sites and assets of the Israeli army, including an IDF site in the Kafr Shuba hills in the Shebaa Farms area, which is a disputed land area between Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

He also said in a statement on X that the Iranian-backed terror group has carried out 1,013 operations from Oct. 8, 2023 through Feb. 11, 2024.

2 hostages rescued from Rafah: IDF

The Israeli army early on Monday announced that ground forces rescued two elderly hostages from Rafah, identifying the rescued abductees as 60-year-old Fernando Simon Marman and 70-year-old Louis Har.

The two were "kidnapped by the Hamas terrorist organization on October 7^th from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak," the IDF said. The two are "both in good medical condition" and have been transported to the Sheba Tel Hashomer hospital for further medical evaluation.

The forum of families of hostages still being held in Gaza posted photos of the rescued hostages.

Read the full story here.

Egypt reportedly tells Hamas: Reach a ceasefire in 2 weeks or Israel will raid Rafah

Egypt, which has been mediating alongside Qatar in hopes of securing a ceasefire in Gaza, reportedly warned Hamas that the terror group has two weeks to reach a truce or Israel will pursue a ground invasion of Rafah, the overcrowded southern Gaza city, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

This comes amid increasing concerns over the Israeli army's move toward Rafah, where over a million civilians are sheltering amid fighting the northern and central parts of the Gaza Strip.

Israel has not provided a specific timeline about its supposed plan to conduct a ground offensive in the city, but Egyptian mediators reportedly estimate the Israeli military may be prepared to launch a ground campaign in two weeks.