Israel Brief: Friday, October 24
Borders hold, allies wobble, enemies reorganize. The war’s quiet front is now paperwork and patience—and neither lasts forever.
Shabbat Shalom, friends.
The week ends with the lines holding but the tension thickening. The IDF is still trading precise blows with Hezbollah from Nabatieh to the Beqaa Valley while Washington tries to keep the Gaza ceasefire, on life support, from giving up the ghost. Vice President Vance promised that Israel will decide who sets foot in Gaza—no Turks, no Pakistanis, no surprises—but Cairo walked away from talks after Netanyahu shut down its demand to insert PA security forces. Italy and Jordan are volunteering for training roles that sound useful but mostly buy time.
In Gaza, Hamas continues to run its own underground gulag even as it “hands over heavy weapons.” That tells you everything about what “disarmament” means in practice. In Judea and Samaria, a Hamas “charity” with Mein Kampf on the shelf proves the same sickness still feeds off donor cash and foreign indifference.
North, the IAF has resumed major sorties, hitting missile depots, training fields, and command sites—sixteen targets in one night—while an excavator strike in Al-Hiyam reminded Hezbollah that no trench is deep enough. Everyone says they don’t want escalation; actions say otherwise.
Inside Israel, Shas is again playing brinkmanship over the draft law, and Hadera’s urban violence reminds the country that internal order is its own front. Abroad, Europe keeps lecturing while China and Qatar quietly move the money. Every time Israel pulls back, someone else pushes in.
The War Today
Hostages, Restraint, and Retribution: Fighting Under a Moral Trap
Hamas exploited IDF-designated “protected compounds” in southern Gaza—areas kept off-limits because hostages were believed to be inside—using them as launchpads for attacks that killed twelve soldiers. While Israel absorbed the cost of restraint, the International Committee of the Red Cross drew fire for acting as a courier rather than demanding access or accountability for the captives. In parallel, the IDF and Shin Bet confirmed they have eliminated eight of the October 7 abductors, including those who kidnapped Noa Argamani, Avinatan Or, and Eitan Mor, in a months-long NILI-led campaign of targeted strikes.
Why It Matters: Israel fights under rules its enemies exploit: hostages as shields, “neutral” guardians who won’t guard, and battlefield zones turned into immunity bubbles. The response must be a tighter doctrine that preserves options without gifting Hamas safe havens—paired with relentless, intelligence-led justice that makes every kidnapper’s timeline short. Even inside Israel’s borders, where a stolen reservist’s ATV was driven into Gaza and flaunted online, restraint and lax enforcement have a cost; the same moral clarity demanded in combat must govern security at home.
Media Sources: Israel National News (1)(2), JNS, Jerusalem Post
The Battle for Gaza’s “Day After:” Diplomacy, Disarmament, and the Danger of Recycling Hamas
Hamas and the Palestinian Authority met in Cairo to discuss the next phase of Trump’s Gaza plan, with the PA lobbying to reclaim control of the Strip and Hamas demanding the U.S. “compel” Israel to uphold the ceasefire. Meanwhile, Washington is floating a phased reconstruction plan that would rebuild only in IDF-controlled zones until Hamas disarms—an approach facing Arab backlash for creating a de facto partition. The U.S. and Israel are also coordinating the deployment of an International Stabilization Force led by troops from Azerbaijan and Indonesia, after Israel vetoed Turkish participation and Gulf states declined to join—a plan already mired in skepticism over its enforceability and U.N. authorization. The diplomatic scaffolding keeps shifting: Egypt’s delegation left Israel after failing to win PA security roles, while Italy offered to train future PA police and Jordan will post a liaison to the ceasefire coordination center; Vance meanwhile said Israel alone will approve which foreign forces deploy in Gaza. Meanwhile, inside Gaza, Hamas is consolidating control through underground prisons and a new Sahem (“Arrow”) Unit tasked with crushing rivals—abductions, starvation cells, and street executions to quiet dissent during the ceasefire. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, under scrutiny for financial ties to a $2 billion Emirati venture, remains a key broker of the postwar architecture. Witkoff’s own adviser, former Arafat aide Bishara Bahbah, now admits that under the current definition of “disarmament,” Hamas would surrender only its heavy weapons while retaining small arms “for self-defense”—and even that handover would go to a “security force” partly staffed by Hamas itself. At the same time, Qatar and Turkey are angling to preserve Hamas influence under the banner of “stability,” while inside Judea and Samaria, IDF forces uncovered Mein Kampf and terror funds in a Hamas-linked “charity,” and PA TV glorified a child-burning murderer as a national hero.
Assessment: The entire “day after” process risks becoming a restoration project for the very forces that destroyed Gaza in the first place. The PA still sanctifies murder, Hamas still commands fear, and Washington’s envoys still treat moral clarity as negotiable. The disarmament clause already reads like parody: Hamas trades rockets for rifles, hands them to its own “security force,” and calls it peace. Call it what it is: not governance, repression. A regime that jails rivals in subterranean cells while “handing over heavy weapons” is not disarming; it’s entrenching. The real test isn’t reconstruction—it’s rupture: breaking the financial, ideological, and political pipelines that keep Hamas and its enablers alive. Any plan that tolerates that architecture only baptizes Hamas rule with foreign uniforms and donor cash. The arrival of an “international force” led by Indonesia and Azerbaijan may look like progress, but it carries the same flaw as every imported solution to Gaza: foreign flags without enforcement. Without that, every bulldozer and handshake only builds the next battlefield.
Media Sources: Ynet (1)(2)(3)(4), The Jewish Chronicle, Algemeiner, Israel National News, JNS (1)(2)(3)(4).
How Iran is rebuilding its nuclear program, learning from past Israeli strikes - analysis
Satellite analysis shows Tehran reconstructing at struck sites with new arched structures, potential “blast traps,” and more work going underground after Israeli attacks. Iran is testing ways to harden facilities and reconstitute capabilities tied to the AMAD weapons program while limiting IAEA visibility. With “snapback” underway but diplomacy stalled, the question is whether future strikes will require deeper U.S.–Israeli coordination to hit newly bunkered targets.
Why It Matters: Iran is iterating against the IAF in real time—rebuilding bunkered nuclear sites while its shadow-banking network moves billions through fronts in the UAE and Singapore, and new defense pacts with Belarus and Russia widen its sanctions shield. The regime’s engineers fortify underground; its financiers refill the war chest; its diplomats stitch the next axis together. Deterring or destroying that system will require Israel and the U.S. to hit both the tunnels and the tills—before Tehran finishes proofing them against pressure and bombs alike.
Read more at Jerusalem Post →
Inside Israel
Shas quits its coalition posts to protest failure to legislate Haredi draft exemption
Shas again suspended its Knesset duties over the unresolved Haredi draft law—echoing past standoffs in 2018, 2021, and this July when it briefly quit the government for the same reason. The party insists it will return once the “status of yeshiva students” is secured and vows to coordinate with other ultra-Orthodox factions. The draft fight reignited as the IDF warns of manpower shortages after two years of continuous combat. says any solution must also accommodate observant recruits’ religious standards.
Why It Matters: This is déjà vu with higher stakes. Shas has used walkouts before to extract guarantees, but the war leaves less room for theatrics. The draft framework must now do more than exempt—it has to build an IDF capable of meeting Haredi needs—such as in modesty and command culture, like they managed with kashrut—if integration is ever to move from slogan to reality. With the attorney general now ordering stricter enforcement, Shas’s leverage may soon run out.
Read more at Times of Israel →
‘City lost control’: Hadera residents live in fear as crime rates rise
A wave of shootings and grenade attacks in Hadera has driven residents to demand help from national authorities, with the mayor declaring an emergency and pledging new security budgets and patrols. Locals describe nightly violence and eroding trust in police, who accused city leaders of politicizing the crisis. The crime surge, fueled by Arab crime clans battling over protection rackets and construction tenders, has pushed the city to its breaking point.
Why It Matters: Hadera’s collapse mirrors a larger national failure to confront Arab organized crime that now dominates much of the periphery. The answer isn’t just more cameras—it’s financial enforcement, tougher sentencing, and dismantling the networks laundering gang money through legitimate business. Until that happens, Israelis will keep hearing gunfire where children should be hearing bedtime stories.
Read more at Jerusalem Post →
High Court gives state 30 days to reassess Gaza media ban post ceasefire
Israel’s High Court ordered the government to revisit its near–two-year ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza, giving it 30 days to submit an updated position. The petition by the Foreign Press Association argues that blocking independent access violates democratic principles; the state cites operational risk and troop safety. The justices said the situation has “substantially changed” since the recent ceasefire and pressed for a new review.
Assessment: Israel is trapped in a no-win dilemma. If a foreign journalist enters Gaza and gets kidnapped or killed, Israel—not Hamas—will be blamed. Yet the longer the ban continues, the louder the claims of censorship will grow. The High Court is effectively asking the state to prove it can guarantee transparency in a war zone where transparency itself costs lives.
Read more at Jerusalem Post →
Israel and the World
‘A direct threat to the UK and Israel’: MPs call for tougher action against Iran at ‘kamikaze drone’ display
British MPs viewed a downed Iranian Shahed-136 attack drone displayed inside Parliament, warning that Tehran’s drone supply to Russia endangers the UK, Israel, and NATO states. Organizers cited tens of thousands of Shaheds launched at Ukraine this year and said Iran–Russia cooperation is accelerating. Senior figures urged a harder line on the IRGC and its European operations, noting multiple foiled Iran-linked plots in Britain since 2022.
Why It Matters: Iran’s drone empire isn’t just an Israeli or Ukraine problem—it’s a Tehran export model that arms Moscow today and its proxies against Israel tomorrow. London signaling public alarm is a step toward proscribing more of Iran’s network and tightening sanctions that actually bite.
Read more at The Jewish Chronicle →
China gains foothold in Gaza Strip
Beijing-linked firms are moving into Gaza reconstruction via U.N. tenders, winning contracts for tens of thousands of mobile homes with bids reportedly 40–60% below competitors. Chinese subsidies covering export logistics and a large share of goods costs give state-backed suppliers a price edge, with much of the hardware routed through Egypt for final assembly and transit at Rafah. Local Egyptian and Palestinian companies are fronting bids while sourcing Chinese products, entrenching a supply chain that sidelines Israeli industry. China, which bought most of Iran’s oil during sanctions and has kept a hostile diplomatic line on Israel, now stands to profit from Gaza’s $70B rebuild.
Why It Matters: If reconstruction cash flows through Chinese pipelines and Sinai fixers, Israel loses leverage and visibility—while an Iran-friendly power embeds itself in Gaza’s “day after.” Economic control shapes political outcomes; this is influence by invoice.
Read more at Globes →
EU lawmakers urge Brussels to keep UNRWA out of Gaza
Twenty-two members of the European Parliament urged the European Commission to exclude UNRWA from Gaza reconstruction, citing the agency’s record of ties to Hamas and PIJ. The lawmakers warned against repeating the “failures of the past” and called for credible partners that build for peace rather than indoctrination. Sweden and the U.S. have already suspended cooperation; the MEPs want the E.U. to follow suit.
Bottom Line: Europe is finally confronting what Israel has said for decades—UNRWA isn’t humanitarian, it’s political (at best). If Brussels acts, it could mark the first real accountability check on the U.N.’s longest-running anti-Israel racket.
Read more at JNS →
Briefly Noted
Security and Strategy
Ynet: Senior IDF officials warned the treasury that Israel remains unprepared for multi-front war without an urgent budget boost—citing stockpile gaps, defense-industry shortfalls, and rising threats from Iran, Hezbollah, Gaza, and an emboldened Turkey in Syria. Read more →
Israel National News: IDF forces arrested 44 terror suspects across Judea and Samaria in sweeping counterterrorism raids, seizing dozens of weapons and foiling planned attacks—targeting bomb making cells and arms networks—another reason Israel needs control over the tumultuous region. Read more →
Israel National News: IDF forces and Unit 504 stopped a weapons smuggling attempt from Syria into Lebanon near Mount Hermon, seizing the arms and detaining the suspects. Each disrupted run cuts off Hezbollah’s resupply line to the northern front. Read more →
Algemeiner: Turkey extended its UNIFIL mandate and says it will “build capacity” for the Lebanese Armed Forces—useful optics for Ankara, while Hezbollah remains the real army in Lebanon. Read more →
Jerusalem Post: Pakistan banned the Islamist Tehreek-e-Labbaik party after anti-Israel riots left five dead—its second outlawing in four years—underscoring how Gaza-linked agitation fuels jihadist violence far beyond the region. Read more →
Politics and Propaganda
JNS: Japan’s new prime minister Sanae Takaichi—a US-aligned security hawk—signals tighter Tokyo-Jerusalem links in tech and defense; notably, Japan avoided the recent unilateral recognitions of a “Palestinian” state, tracking Washington over Europe. Read more →
The Jewish Chronicle: Ireland’s presidential frontrunner Catherine Connolly previously accused Israel of “Jewish supremacy” and was reluctant to condemn Hamas; she also argued Hamas should have a role in Gaza’s future governance. Irish voters could hand a bully pulpit to someone else who mainstreams anti-Israel tropes. Read more →
JTA: Bernie Sanders is standing by a Maine Senate hopeful after a Nazi-style tattoo revelation, waving it off while the candidate pivots to policy; the episode shows how antisemitic imagery still gets minimized in U.S. politics. Read more →
Israel Hayom: Tel-Hai professor posted that Israel “lost its right to exist” like the Third Reich and alleged “genocide”; the college and student union condemned the remarks and cited IHRA standards. Read more →
Society and Resilience
Jerusalem Post: A 12-year-old Jewish boy in Vienna was brutally beaten by classmates after weeks of antisemitic bullying that school officials ignored, prompting his family to demand police action and a transfer for his safety. Read more →
Jerusalem Post: The 39th World Zionist Congress convenes in Jerusalem next week to allocate billions across key Zionist bodies and set policy on aliyah, education, and antisemitism—decisions that will shape global Jewish priorities for years. Read more →
Ynet: A Colombian-born IDF reservist went viral challenging President Gustavo Petro’s anti-Israel rhetoric, galvanizing quiet support among Colombians who oppose Bogotá’s hard line. Read more →
Globes: Five carriers—British Airways, Iberia, Swiss, Eurowings, and SAS—will resume Israel flights next week as fares drop sharply in a low-demand window; more routes are slated for December if the ceasefire holds. Read more →
Developments to Watch
Beqaa multi-target airstrikes – The IAF hit sixteen Hezbollah sites in Lebanon’s Beqaa and north, including a precision-missile facility and a training compound used for live-fire and planning. LIKELY TO ESCALATE
Nabatieh depot destroyed – Israeli jets struck a Hezbollah weapons storage site in southern Lebanon tied to recent launches, degrading local command-and-launch capacity. LIKELY TO ESCALATE
Hezbollah excavator eliminated – An IDF drone destroyed an entrenched engineering asset in Al-Hiyam, disrupting cross-border fortification and staging work. LIKELY TO ESCALATE
Signals of larger Lebanon war – European sources told Sky News Arabic a broad Israeli operation in Lebanon may be “only a matter of time,” as both sides harden positions. LIKELY TO ESCALATE
Ceasefire breach at “yellow line” – A Hamas operative crossed the line near Khan Yunis and approached IDF forces; an airstrike killed him after warning shots. LIKELY TO ESCALATE
Pakistan participation worries – Israeli officials flagged concerns over Pakistan’s possible inclusion in a Gaza force given its ties with Hamas; the idea faces rising skepticism in Jerusalem.
Drone drug drop foiled – Border Police on the eastern frontier seized a quad-drone carrying 10 kg of narcotics near Kibbutz Hamadia, highlighting a smuggling vector that can also move weapons or intel.
Rocket false alarm near Mefalsim – A red alert in the Gaza envelope proved false, but the episode underscores jumpy air defenses and a fragile quiet along the strip.
The pieces are moving, but unfortunately not toward peace. Gaza’s “day after” is already turning into Hamas’s day again, the north is one mistake from ignition, and Washington and Israel are in a race to see who will lose their patience first. The next phase won’t be about speeches or summits; it will be about enforcement—of red lines, borders, and basic sanity.
Shabbat is coming, and with it the reminder that rest isn’t surrender; it’s preparation. Hold the line, clear your head, and stay watchful.
— Uri Zehavi · Intelligence Editor
With Modi Zehavi · Data + Research Analyst
🔒 Tip? Send it securely via signal: (@Uri.30) or proton ([email protected]).