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In-Depth Issues:
Israel's Security Cabinet Approves Plans for Major Gaza City Offensive - Yoav Zitun ( Ynet News)
Israel's Security Cabinet on Thursday approved plans for an upcoming Gaza operation focusing on Gaza City.
On Friday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said, "Soon, the gates of hell will open on Hamas's murderers and rapists in Gaza until they accept Israel's terms to end the war, starting with releasing all hostages and disarming."
"If they refuse, Gaza City, Hamas's capital, will become like Rafah and Beit Hanoun" [which experienced extensive building demolitions].
See also Gen. Amidror: Delaying Gaza City Operation, Agreeing to Ceasefire, Would Double IDF Death Toll ( 103FM-Jerusalem Post)
Delaying the planned IDF invasion of Gaza City, or agreeing to a 60-day ceasefire, would significantly inflate the IDF's death toll during the next part of the operation because "Hamas will have more time to prepare itself," Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, former head of Israel's National Security Council, said Wednesday.
Report: Israel Demands Lebanon Buffer Zone ( Jerusalem Post)
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer reportedly told U.S. envoy Tom Barrack that Israel would agree to gradually stop targeted strikes and would withdraw from several key points in southern Lebanon, but insisted that several villages on the border remain evacuated to act as a buffer zone, Lebanon's Al-Jadeed reported on Friday.
Israel said that Lebanon could develop industrial areas there, but stressed that civilians should evacuate the area.
Understanding Hamas's "Death Culture" - Amelie Botbol ( JNS)
Hamas's embrace of "death culture" is beyond comprehension for much of the world, Mosab Hassan Yousef, the eldest son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, told the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.
"It is beyond understanding that some people are willing to sacrifice human life for political gains or worse, for financial gains. I am a living example of this. My father had to choose between his eldest son and the cause and he chose the cause," said Yousef.
"In its essence, it's a one-sided religious war. On Oct. 7, Hamas did not kill and kidnap innocent people in the name of nationalism or Palestine, they killed in the name of Allah."
"I prefer for my people economy, education, infrastructure, cooperation with Israel and to start mending bridges."
"The state illusion is not going to lead to guaranteed prosperity, especially with this mentality of going after Israel on a global campaign to delegitimize it. I don't understand how this will lead to peace."
Iran: Cautious but Still Dangerous - JCFA Iran-Syria Desk ( Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
Iran's leadership continues to shore up political and military ties to its proxies following its humiliating shellacking by Israel's military.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's most senior foreign policy advisor, former Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Velayati, was dispatched to meet with pro-Iranian elements in Iraq.
Iran also has assured the remaining networks of Lebanon-based Hizbullah of its continued support and will instruct it to resist the Beirut government's effort to disarm the terrorist group.
Iran is determined to prevent the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) from developing the strength to challenge Hizbullah in any future showdown.
In IDF-Controlled Rafah, a New School Plants Seeds of a Hamas-Free Future - Nurit Yohanan ( Times of Israel)
In eastern Rafah in Gaza, a new school operating in an area controlled by the Abu Shabab clan now serves 130 children.
The school eschews Palestinian Authority textbooks and appears to educate pupils along ideas of pluralism and tolerance.
"We want to create a generation of learners, not terrorists," said Mohammed, a senior member of Abu Shabab's forces.
In central Gaza, another school has sprung up with a similar stated mission of educating children away from hate.
Israel Brings Social Media Influencers to Gaza Aid Sites to Fight "Hamas Hunger Campaign" ( Ha'aretz)
The Israeli government arranged last week for 10 American and Israeli social media influencers to enter Gaza to reveal the truth about the humanitarian conditions for Palestinians there.
They included Xaviaer DuRousseau, a Gen Z influencer with a million followers on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok; 16-year-old Druze Israeli Marwan Jaber, who has 250,000 Instagram followers; Jewish American Jeremy Abramson, with 450,000 followers on Instagram; Miami-based attorney Brooke Goldstein, with 150,000 followers across Facebook, X, and Instagram; and Israeli influencers Shiraz Shukrun and David Mayofis.
DuRousseau posted: "You guys can hate me for going to see the truth all you want, it won't change the facts. Israel is NOT the reason many Palestinians are starving."
"Israel is NOT blocking food from entering Gaza.
There is enough food at this aid base to feed EVERY person in Gaza for at least a week, but the UN, Hamas, etc. refuse to distribute the food efficiently. Instead, it sits here to spoil and be stolen. How is that Israel's fault?"
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Israel's Operation to Take Gaza City Underway - Claire Parker
Israeli planes and helicopters circled Gaza City on Thursday, hitting buildings throughout the day, while heavy artillery pounded the neighborhoods of Shejaiya and Sabra, residents reported. Prime Minister Netanyahu said Thursday he had instructed his negotiating team to begin immediate discussions with mediators "for the release of all our hostages and the end of the war, on conditions that are acceptable for Israel."
Israel - which already controls 75% of Gaza, according to its own estimation - appeared to be moving full steam ahead toward the conquest of Gaza City. An Israeli military official said Wednesday that the Gaza operation has been "carefully planned" and will be carried out gradually and involve an "expansion of our ongoing humanitarian efforts."
Intense Israeli strikes over the past 10 days in eastern and southern Gaza City - a prelude to the ground operation - have already driven thousands of people to flee. (Washington Post)
See also IDF Tanks Push Deeper into Gaza City - Itamar Eichner
Israeli forces advanced farther into Gaza City on Saturday, with tanks reaching the outskirts of the Sabra neighborhood. (Ynet News)
See also below Observations: Netanyahu: Israel Will Conquer Gaza Regardless of Whether Hamas Accepts Hostage Deal - Sharri Markson (Sky News-Australia)
- U.S. Issues New Sanctions Targeting Iran's Oil Networks, Shipping Firms
The U.S. on Thursday issued more Iran-related sanctions, targeting 13 entities based in Hong Kong, China, the UAE and the Marshall Islands, as well as eight vessels, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
(Reuters)
See also UK Sanctions Iranian Oil Magnate and Four Companies - Sam Tabahriti (Reuters)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Israel: UN Declaration of Famine in Gaza an "Outright Lie"
Responding to a report by the UN's Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system released Friday that Gaza City and surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Saturday: "The IPC report is an outright lie. Israel does not have a policy of starvation. Israel has a policy of preventing starvation. Since the beginning of the war Israel has enabled 2 million tons of aid to enter Gaza, over one ton of aid per person. Today, prices have plunged because of Israel's surge in humanitarian aid in Gaza."
"Like all previous IPC reports, this one ignores Israel's humanitarian efforts and Hamas's systematic theft....These were the causes of temporary shortages, which Israel overcame with airdrops, maritime deliveries, safe transport routes, and GHF distribution points manned by American companies."
"No other country at war has gone to such lengths to feed the civilian population in enemy territory. The only ones being intentionally starved in Gaza are the Israeli hostages....This is not analysis. It is a modern blood libel, spreading like wildfire through prejudice. History will judge those who peddle it. The IPC must end its double standards against the Jewish state."
(Prime Minister's Office)
See also Israel: UN Famine Report Is Based on Hamas Lies
The IPC has just published a "tailor-made" fabricated report to fit Hamas's fake campaign. Unbelievably, the IPC twisted its own rules and ignored its own criteria to produce false accusations against Israel. The entire IPC document is based on Hamas lies laundered through organizations with vested interests.
There is no famine in Gaza. Over 100,000 trucks of aid have entered Gaza since the start of the war, and in recent weeks a massive influx of aid has flooded the Strip with staple foods and caused a sharp decline in food prices. The laws of supply and demand don't lie - the IPC does. Every forecast the IPC has made regarding Gaza during the war has proven baseless and completely false.
(Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- Israel: UN Agency Assessing Gaza Famine Risk Shows Systematic Bias
The IPC is the UN-backed system for assessing and communicating food insecurity and famine risk. On Aug. 22, 2025, the IPC released an analysis declaring famine in Gaza City. The declaration was issued not only without evidence that would justify it under the IPC's own criteria, but also in contradiction to more recent data that was publicly available before the report's release yet was ignored in the analysis. The classification disregarded newer information that directly undermined the famine classification.
Starting from the second half of July, there was a sharp rise in the volume of food and humanitarian supplies entering Gaza, accompanied by expanded distribution mechanisms that reached much wider segments of the population. Food prices started to decline at the end of July and fell steeply in the first weeks of August - a clear sign of improving availability and access.
A pattern has unfolded throughout the IPC's reporting on Gaza since October 2023: thresholds blurred until they lost their meaning, principles applied inconsistently, and projections repeatedly framed to highlight worst-case outcomes.
The Gaza IPC reports expose a systematic lowering of standards: neutrality safeguards abandoned, critical stakeholders excluded, data selectively used, and transparency sidelined as key datasets and analytical reasoning remained inaccessible to outside scrutiny. (Israel National Digital Agency)
- Israel Rejects Foreign Criticism of Construction Plan near Jerusalem
Israel utterly rejects the statement of foreign governments regarding the approval of a construction plan near Jerusalem, its eternal capital, and rejects the attempt to impose foreign dictates upon it. The historic right of Jews to live anywhere in the Land of Israel - the birthplace of the Jewish people - is indisputable.
There is no other nation in the world that has a stronger, longer-standing, and better-documented connection to its land than the Jewish people has to the Land of Israel, and this connection and right do not require the affirmation of foreign governments.
Israel acts in accordance with international law. The establishment of a Jewish state in the Jewish people's ancient homeland, including the settlement by Jews on the land, was clearly recognized in the British Mandate, which was adopted by the League of Nations in 1922. Under the Mandate, the right of the Jewish people to build their national home extended to the entire territory of "Mandatory Palestine." These rights were preserved under Article 80 of the UN Charter.
There is no restriction for Arabs to reside in any part of the State of Israel, and a call to deny Jews - and Jews alone - the right to reside in certain areas of the State of Israel has a name: racism. The Jewish people are the indigenous people of the Land of Israel.
At no point in history has there ever been a Palestinian state, and any attempt to argue otherwise has no legal, factual, or historical basis. The presumption of foreign governments to speak in the name of what is best for Israelis is an unacceptable pretension. (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
See also Protecting the Contiguity of Israel: The E-1 Area and the Link between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim - Nadav Shragai (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs-24 May 2009)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Gaza War
- The Coming Battle of Gaza City - Maj. (ret.) John Spencer
Gaza City is a sprawling metropolis. Streets are lined with tightly packed mid- and high-rise apartment blocks, some rising 10 to 15 stories. These areas create urban canyons that restrict visibility, funnel movement, and expose troops to fire from above.
Between the larger roads, narrow alleyways wind through crowded residential quarters where vehicles cannot pass and soldiers will be forced to move on foot, often without line of sight to supporting units. Inside these neighborhoods, nearly every structure can be fortified, every doorway booby-trapped, and every basement connected to Hamas's tunnel grid.
Hamas has had two decades to prepare, embedding command posts and weapons caches beneath mosques, hospitals, schools, and apartment complexes. Roads, walls, stairwells, and even ceilings may be wired to explode.
Gaza City is believed to contain sites where hostages could be held underground. Commanders expect Hamas to attempt to move or conceal captives in the vast tunnel system or inside fortified civilian structures, both to shield its fighters and to retain bargaining leverage. The advance into Gaza City may bring breakthroughs in intelligence through interrogations of prisoners, the seizure of documents and electronic devices, and the exploitation of tunnel networks to yield new information on where remaining hostages are hidden.
The IDF has adapted in real time, learning lessons in combined-arms maneuver, coordination, urban clearing operations, and civilian harm mitigation. It will enter Gaza City with more experience, better integration of technology, and hardened formations.
The writer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point. (Substack)
- It's Time for the Whole Truth on the UN's Declaration of Famine in Gaza - Jake Wallis Simons
When it comes to military might, the IDF is unstoppable. As Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out last week, Hamas would have been defeated without a single Israeli casualty if Jerusalem hadn't striven to limit Palestinian civilian deaths.
With the UN officially declaring famine in Gaza, we are being asked to believe that the privations match the other internationally recognized famines of this century, in South Sudan, Sudan and Somalia.
This seems unlikely, given that 10,000 aid trucks have entered Gaza since May, 2,300 boxes have been dropped from the air, and more than 2.2 million family food parcels have been handed out weekly. Look at what people are posting in Gaza on Snapchat in real time. Pockets of hunger there may be, but Somalia this is not.
True, distribution has been a grim challenge. This is, after all, a war zone. There have been cases of malnutrition. Yet even before the war, this was so; that is what happens to the poorest when a society is ruled by incompetent jihadis. (Telegraph-UK)
- Who Is a "Journalist" in Gaza? - James Kirchick
Al Jazeera employee Anas Al Sharif was killed in an Israeli airstrike this month. International watchdog groups claim an unprecedented number of journalists have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas. Yet these assertions rely on an expansive definition of the word "journalist." There is no independent media to speak of in Gaza, and journalists operate at either the direct command or the mercy of Hamas and other terrorist groups.
Of the journalists and media workers listed by the Committee to Protect Journalists who were killed since Oct. 7, 26 were employed by or freelanced for Al-Aqsa TV, which CPJ describes as "Hamas-affiliated."
19 were employed by Al-Quds Al-Youm, which the State Department says is "run by Islamic Jihad," and 7 worked for Palestine Today, which the CPJ calls "pro-Islamic Jihad."
6 worked for Al Mayadeen or Al-Manar, the former affiliated with and the latter owned by Hizbullah. 23 worked for outlets connected to terrorist groups ranging from Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to the Houthis.
What's being hyped as an unprecedented attack on journalists is actually a cynical salvo in an information war. The figure is high because the world has never seen a conflict in which so many people working on behalf of terrorist organizations have been disingenuously characterized as journalists by once-respected watchdog groups.
(Wall Street Journal)
- Gaza Reporters Are a Branch of Hamas's "Special Forces" Dedicated to Defeating Israel - Lenny Ben-David
Under penalty of death, no reporter or photographer in Gaza today can file an accurate report on Hamas human rights violations or casualties. Western editors rely on their Gaza reporters and fixers who report what Hamas tells them to.
The Gaza Press Corps is one of Hamas's most important units. They report the casualty figures or starvation numbers given to them by the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health. When Hamas seeks an international campaign claiming Israel starves babies, the Gazan press and photographers are quick to find ravaged sufferers of congenital diseases to present as hungry victims, and the New York Times is just as fast to print the pictures on its front page.
The writer, former Deputy Chief of Mission at Israel's Embassy in Washington, is a Research and Diplomacy Fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. (Substack)
Iran
- The Negotiation Goal with Iran Should Be Complete Dismantlement of Its Nuclear Program - Brig.-Gen. (res.) Jacob Nagel and Mark Dubowitz
After the 12-day U.S.-Israel campaign that demolished much of Iran's nuclear and missile infrastructure, there is only one acceptable objective for any future negotiations: the total dismantlement of what remains. No more illusions. No more incremental deals. No more diplomatic games. As Trump rightly stated, "the old deals and proposals are not on the table anymore." He added, "Iran is stupid to keep pushing for uranium enrichment after being beaten up very badly. We're not going to allow that to happen."
Iran didn't just enrich uranium, it launched ballistic missiles at Israel before and during the war, firing hundreds of rockets, drones, and cruise missiles at civilian and military targets. That alone justifies new red lines: Iran must dismantle all missile production facilities, eliminate its stockpiles, and halt development of delivery systems capable of carrying nuclear warheads, including ICBMs that can strike the U.S.
Tehran's support for terrorism must also be on the table. Hamas, which carried out the Oct. 7 massacre, along with Hizbullah and the Houthis, which launched hundreds of attacks during the war, are all armed and financed by Iran. Any future agreement must include an end to this "proxy war" network.
Some claim the U.S. "joined" Israel's war. That's false. These were American strikes against an American adversary. The U.S. followed Israel's daring preemptive strikes with overwhelming airpower to eliminate a shared threat.
Jacob Nagel, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, served as Israel's National Security Advisor. Mark Dubowitz is CEO of FDD and an expert on Iran's nuclear program.
(Jerusalem Post)
- "System Shock": The Doctrine behind the IDF's Opening Strike in Iran - Amir Bohbot
A critical component of the Israel Air Force attack on Iran was a secret initiative that involved fighter pilots using advanced weapons from extremely close ranges, catching Iran's dense air defense network off guard.
The plan implemented the concept of "system shock" - a doctrine referring to an adversary's psychological and organizational collapse after a sudden and precise blow that disrupts command, control, communications, and morale. In hindsight, this was the effect of the IDF's opening strike in Iran and subsequent attacks on the Revolutionary Guards and military facilities.
Maj.-Gen. Amir Baram, then deputy chief of staff and now director-general of the Defense Ministry,
told a security meeting on Sep. 15, 2024, that although striking over Tehran sounded unrealistic due to distance and risk, it was essential to achieve a historic result against Iran. Unlike the "standoff" concept of firing munitions from hundreds of kilometers away, operating over Tehran meant penetrating deep into enemy territory. Bringing aircraft closer accelerated and expanded target destruction. (Jerusalem Post)
Observations:
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Sky News Australia on Thursday that even if Hamas agreed to an eleventh-hour deal, Israel would still take over Gaza in order to eliminate the remaining terrorists and achieve security. "There was never a question, we're not going to leave Hamas there....It's like leaving the SS in [Nazi] Germany."
- Netanyahu said, contrary to media reports, his goal was not to "occupy Gaza. It's to free Gaza, free them from Hamas tyranny, free Israel and others from Hamas terrorism, give Gaza and Israel a different future, and I think we're close to doing it. It'll have to, of course, mean getting the last strongholds of Hamas, they shouldn't be there. Everybody understands that."
- "There's been a great underlying friendship [with Australia] for over a century....I think it's gone astray because I think leaders did not show the strength and conviction that they should have when we're actually fighting the war of Western Civilization against these barbarians. I think ultimately most Australians will get it...once we finish this war and give a future of peace and prosperity."
- "When the worst terrorist organization on earth, these savages who murdered women, raped them, beheaded men, burned babies alive in front of their parents, and took hundreds of hostages, when these people congratulate the Prime Minister of Australia, you know something is wrong....To offer them a state, when they had a state, a de facto state in Gaza, and they use it for murder, pillage and monstrous crimes, is to reward terrorism, and I think that's a sign of weakness."
- "The Western leaders, including unfortunately in Australia, are...trying to feed the crocodile of militant Islam that has claimed the lives not only of Jews, but Christians and Arabs, many Muslims and so on, and they think they'll pacify, they'll appease the crocodile. The more you pour fuel into this antisemitic, anti-Israel and anti-Western fire, the greater the fire will grow, it will consume you in the end. You have no protection unless you stand up to it."
- "When [Australian] Prime Minister Albanese and the leaders of France, Britain and others say, 'Oh we'll give them a Palestinian state,' they're actually rewarding terror....We're not going to commit suicide and put another Palestinian state right next to our doorstep in Tel Aviv or in Jerusalem because the distances are tiny."
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