Israel Brief

Israel Brief

Israel Brief: Sunday, November 23

A ceasefire that is anything but, a northern front daring Hezbollah to blink, and an Israeli system finally admitting the old evasions are dead.

Uri Zehavi — אורי זהבי's avatar
Uri Zehavi — אורי זהבי
Nov 23, 2025
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Shalom, friends.

The day opens with the same contradiction we’ve been tracking for weeks: diplomacy talks about “stability” while every front acts like the next round has already begun. In Gaza, the tunnel grid is collapsing, Hamas fighters are crawling out starving, and the Yellow Line is treated as optional terrain. In Lebanon, Israel just erased Hezbollah’s acting chief of staff in Dahieh and kept going—turning Hezbollah’s mythical “red lines” into punchlines. Inside Israel, the draft crisis, the Sde Teiman showdown, and a public done with excuses are converging into something the old system can’t dodge anymore.


⚡️Flash Brief: The Day in 90 Seconds or Less
  • Gaza: IDF kills multiple Hamas commanders across Gaza as starving fighters surface from Rafah tunnels and breach the Yellow Line again. See The War Today

  • Hamas: Leadership warns mediators the ceasefire is “over” and demands U.S. intervention as IDF enforcement tightens. See Developments to Watch

  • Lebanon: Israel’s strike wave expands from Dahieh to Baalbek and Kafr Hamam; Hezbollah debates retaliation under a shattered command hierarchy. See The War Today

  • Syria: Reserve forces find RPG parts and rocket remnants along Iran’s corridor; forward Israeli positions stay active. See Developments to Watch

  • Judea & Samaria: IDF prepares village-wide operations as PA police officers join terror attacks and are eliminated or arrested. See The War Today

  • Iran/Axis: Tehran raises IRGC readiness, floods senior officers into Yemen, and walks out on IAEA cooperation ahead of another strike cycle. See Israel & the World

  • Home Front: High Court–government clash escalates over Sde Teiman oversight; phishing wave targets Israeli civilians; political pressure heats around the draft law. See Inside Israel

The full brief and analysis continue below.

Hamas wants the ceasefire to function as insulation while it scrambles for air in Rafah; Hezbollah wants to look defiant while absorbing hits it cannot answer without risking a war it can’t survive; and Iran is moving its pieces faster than any diplomat can draft a communique.

Inside Israel, the accountability walls are buckling: the army is cleaning house, the Court is fighting for control, and the public is demanding a country where service isn’t optional.

Everything below sits on that same foundation: force, leverage, and the choices nobody can postpone any longer.

The War Today

Beirut Talks State Control as Israel Executes Leadership Strikes

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