Israel Update 6.11.25

ISRAELI AID FOR JAMAICA AFTER HURRICANE MELISSA

 An Israeli medical delegation left for Jamaica on Wednesday to provide humanitarian assistance. The Health Ministry deputy director general and the Shaare Zedek Medical Centre director are leading 30 doctors, nurses and paramedical staff. Report here

IsraAID, Israel’s leading independent humanitarian organization, sent a six-person emergency response team to Jamaica after the recent devastating hurricane. focussing on water, sanitation, and hygiene, and also bringing in experts to provide mental health and psychosocial support. The organization has responded to more than 100 humanitarian emergencies in more than 65 countries since it was founded in 2001

Another Israeli humanitarian organization, SmartAID was collaborating closely with the Jamaican Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management and national relief organizations to deploy solar power systems, mobile communication units, and water-purification technology in the areas hardest hit. Report here

NO GAZA FAMINE

UNICEF data shows that there was no famine in Gaza. The food security agency that made the “famine determination” relied on unweighted sampling of data, while weighted data failed to meet famine conditions.Report here

GAZA

An Oct. 31, video surveillance from a U.S. aerial drone monitoring implementation of the ceasefire observed Hamas operatives looting an aid truck delivering needed assistance to Gazans in Khan Yunis.  X post here

Hamas has demanded passage of between 100 and 200 terrorists in tunnels beneath Israeli-held territory back to its ranks in Hamas-held areas. Since the ceasefire started, they have killed three IDF soldiers and wounded others. Israel has conveyed to Hamas that if the attacks don’t cease, all these terrorists will be eliminated.
The IDF is expected to intensify its operations in areas under its control against those terrorists. However, the Americans are trying to delay such intense operations to prevent collapse of the ceasefire Report here

The IDF killed the terrorist Zaid Zaki Abd al-Hadi Aql in an Oct 29 strike. He was involved in holding six hostages captive in Gaza, one of whom Segev Kalfon said “He was not ‘just another terrorist,’ he was the gateway to hell. The pit where we were lowered into was in his house; the place where our lives above ground ended, and we reached a depth no person should ever know…There, he watched and encouraged the ‘game of life’: they stood around us, counted us, aimed Kalashnikovs, released the safety catch, and asked us to decide which three among us would be executed.” Report here

THE US & GAZA

The U.S. is seeking a mandate of at least two years from the UN Security Council for an international stabilization force to be deployed in Gaza. According to a draft resolution, the force would work with Israel and Egypt to ensure the process of demilitarizing Gaza, including the “permanent decommissioning” of weapons from armed groups. It would also train and support Palestinian police personnel, protect civilians and work to secure humanitarian corridors.  It was not clear how the international force would ensure that Gaza is demilitarized. Hamas has long regarded giving up all its weapons as tantamount to surrender, with armed struggle against Israel a crucial part of its ideology. A Security Council mandate is seen as necessary to persuade many countries to consider sending troops to Gaza.
A number of countries have been skittish about committing soldiers to the force, fearing they could potentially come into direct conflict with Hamas. The draft resolution would also sideline the Palestinian Authority until it completes unspecified change. Report here (paywall)

The original Trump plan concerning the disarmament of Hamas and other Gaza-based terrorist groups used the term “disarmament.” However, the draft proposal to the council uses the term “decommissioning.” This softer and vaguer phrase may allow Hamas to avoid surrendering all its weapons to an external authority.
Another point of concern for Israel is the reliance on the UN as the source of authority for establishing the stabilization force. This could give the UN influence over the rules of engagement granted to the force. Israeli officials fear a repeat of the UNIFIL experience in southern Lebanon, where international forces repeatedly failed to disarm Hizbullah. Its presence could hinder Israel’s ability to prevent Hamas from rebuilding its military capabilities and infrastructure.Report here

Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon warned Wednesday in an interview that the International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza should not become another “ineffective mechanism, like UNIFIL,” referring to the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.
“We have to learn from the mistakes of the past. You want something constructive and effective, not an international presence that looks good on paper but actually destabilizes the situation….Israel’s red line is effectiveness. We can’t afford a symbolic force that doesn’t act.” Report here

HIZBULLAH THREAT

Iran-backed Hizbullah in Lebanon is rebuilding its armaments and battered ranks, defying the terms of a ceasefire agreement, and raising the prospect of renewed conflict with Israel.
Some weapons are coming in via seaports and still functional smuggling routes through Syria. Hizbullah is also manufacturing new weapons itself… The standoff highlights the difficulty of quashing an established militia with a base of support among the population even when it has been badly beaten. The difficulties are also evident in Gaza, where Hamas is resisting demands that it disarm and relinquish power.Report here (paywall)

The IDF carried out airstrikes on Thursday afternoon after previously warning residents in two southern Lebanon villages  to evacuate homes located near Hezbollah buildings which were about to be targeted. Report here

UNWRA

Hamas terror chiefs held top positions within UNRWA’s educational system, while UNRWA knew and did nothing.
The UN agency that raises more than $1 billion annually from Western states with the promise to educate Palestinian children with values such as peace, tolerance, and universal human rights, instead has handed them over to those who recruit child soldiers, glorify suicide bombers, and preach the annihilation of a UN member state.
By knowingly employing Hamas terrorist leaders as school principals and teachers, and by allowing terror chiefs to head the unions that oversee thousands of their teachers, UNRWA institutionalized extremism, turning classrooms into incubators of hate.Report here

MURDERED HOSTAGES RETURNED

Last Thursday night, Israel received the bodies of hostages Amiram Cooper, 84, an economist, poet and a founder of Kibbutz Nir Oz and Sahar Baruch, 25, an engineering student.

The remains of Col. Asaf Hamami, Capt. Omer Neutra, and St.-Sgt. Oz Daniel were identified on Monday after they were returned to Israel on Sunday.

Col. Asaf Hamami, who was head of the IDF Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade, rushed to Kibbutz Nirim on the morning of Oct. 7, where he was killed.

Capt. Omer Neutra, 21 was a tank platoon commander.

St.-Sgt. Oz Daniel, 19, was killed on duty with his tank in Kibbutz Nirim on Oct. 7. In his final moments, he attempted to steal a grenade from his captors before being shot to death in the struggle.

On Tuesday the remains of  Sgt Itay Chen, 19, the last remaining fallen hostage with joint Israeli-US citizenship were returned to Israel.

The body of Tanzanian national Joshua Mollel, 21, an agricultural intern at Kibbutz Nahal Oz was returned to Israel on Wednesday.

The bodies of six slain hostages still remain in Gaza. They are Meny Godard, Lt. Hadar Goldin, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, Dror Or, Lior Rudaeff, and Sudthisak Rinthalak.

The partial remains of three bodies that Hamas handed over to Israel on Friday night via the Red Cross were assessed by Israeli authorities as not belonging to any hostages.

Footnote:

Israeli officials say the deal has no real leverage to force Hamas to return the fallen, leaving families in anguish and blaming US pressure for limiting Israel’s military response.

Reports herehereherehere& here

FORMER HOSTAGES UPDATE

Alon Ohel, a pianist recently released from Hamas captivity, took the stage on a top Israeli comedy show and played the piano as the cast sang together with members of his family.
An eyepatch covered his right eye which was injured when he was abducted and left untreated for over 2 years. He recently underwent eye surgery and an orthopaedic procedure in Israel. Article here including video

Former captive Bar Kuperstein was greeted by thousands of well-wishers upon returning home to Holon on Sunday, three weeks after he was freed from Hamas captivity. Report here

THE UK

Data released by the UK’s Department for Business and Trade showed that total trade in goods and services (exports plus imports) between the UK and Israel was £6.2 billion in the four quarters to the end of the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 3.7% or £218 million in current prices from the equivalent period the previous year. While imports from Israel decreased slightly, this was more than made up for by the increase in exports to Israel. Report here

INDIA

Israel and India on Tuesday signed new agreements to expand defence, industrial, and technological co-operation during high-level talks in Tel Aviv, as both nations aim to deepen ties. Report here

India’s Defence Procurement Procedure Administration will meet on Nov. 23 to approve a series of defence deals with Israel worth $3.762 billion which include rockets for ground forces and MR-SAM air defence missiles developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) with local company BDL. Report here

The Indian Army is procuring 425,000 CQB carbine assault rifles for $3.3 billion from PLR Systems, a joint venture between Israel Weapons Industries (IWI) and India’s Adani Corporation. Report here

ECONOMIC RESILIENCE

 The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange rose by 81% between October 2023 and October 2025.
The shekel has appreciated by 9.3% against the U.S. dollar.
The Bank of Israel reported that gross domestic product grew by 3.7% (annualized) in the first quarter of 2025, a pace close to the country’s long-term average.
In the first half of 2025, Israeli startups raised $9.3 billion. Report here

BORIS JOHNSON

Former UK P.M. Boris Johnson told a European Jewish Association conference that it was “strange to see intellectuals supporting Hamas….It is sad and surprising to see a large number of middle-class intellectuals wearing keffiyehs, marching in the streets of London, and calling for Israel to be wiped off the map.” Johnson urged political leaders “to tell the truth” about the difference between Israel and Hamas, “an organization that still holds to its charter calling for the destruction of Israel.”
Johnson also criticized the decision by Britain to recognize a Palestinian state. Report here

A PRO-ISRAEL FRENCH MAYOR

Over the past two years, the Mayor of Nice, France, Christian Estrosi, has been among France’s most vocal elected officials calling for the release of those kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7. Until recently, at the main entrance to City Hall there was a large, vertical banner with photos of the 48 Israelis still being held at the time by Hamas in Gaza, with text demanding their release.

Estrosi, 70, said in an interview: “My position on this issue…comes from my commitment to justice and the fight against barbarism, antisemitism and anti-Zionism. I consider it my duty to humanity and civilization to protect the values I share with Israel and what they represent in the history of humanity. Today, that includes defending them in the face of so much hate and adversity.” Full article here

COUSINS MEET – A HEARTWARMING STORY

Two Holocaust survivors discovered for the first time that they are cousins and that both live in Israel: Miriam Eldobi from Kibbutz Lavi, and Anika Kanter (Movshin) from Kibbutz Shomrat. Each believed that most of her family had perished in the Holocaust, and the connection was discovered after cross-referencing family trees. The two met this week in an especially moving reunion.

Source: Israel News Highlights

COMMENT & OPINION

Hamas

David Horovitz:
On Oct. 27, Hamas “returned” to Israel a casket containing additional remains of Ofir Tzarfati – who was shot and kidnapped by Hamas-led terrorists at the Nova music festival, and whose body was recovered from Gaza by the IDF in December 2023.
Hamas staged the ostensible recovery of these remains by digging a large hole in a Gaza City neighbourhood, dumping in a body bag with Tzarfati’s partial remains, covering it over, and then calling in the Red Cross to witness the “discovery” and extrication of the newly buried bag – showing a new level of depravity. The entire process – from the clandestine burial of the body bag through its “discovery” – was filmed by an IDF drone, a documented saga of Hamas fakery.
Hamas would like to believe that its cause – survival, revival and ultimate return – is best served by stalling on the release of the deceased hostages, even as it resumes the deadly targeting of Israeli troops, reemerges and murders its rivals in the half of Gaza where the IDF is no longer deployed, and delays and ultimately prevents the implementation of the further elements in the Trump plan such as disarmament and demilitarization.
The U.S. president evidently needs to convey to those interlocutors he mobilized last time that Hamas had better immediately return those remaining deceased hostages. And that if it doesn’t honour its obligations, then Trump’s assurances about the war being over will no longer apply and Israel will be free to resume its military campaign, with a new capacity to target those Hamas strongholds where it previously could not operate for fear of killing hostages. Editorial here

Khaled Abu Toameh:
On Nov. 4, a senior Hamas official, told Qatar’s Al-Jazeera that there is a “Palestinian consensus that the security force in Gaza should be Palestinian, under the leadership of the committee managing the Strip.” Is Hamas planning to thwart U.S. efforts to deploy an international force in Gaza?…    Hamas is opposed to an international force, viewing it as a direct threat to its rule over Gaza. It is unrealistic to think that soldiers of any outside force – especially Arab and Muslim troops – would risk being shot at by trying to stop any military reconstruction in Gaza by Hamas or other terrorist groups. This bad bet was made unmistakably clear by the presence of UNIFIL in Lebanon, where it took about a minute for the UNIFIL forces to support the terrorists, not confront them. Article here

Turkey

Shira Rubin:
The central role that the Americans see for Turkey in advancing Trump’s peace plan has left Israeli officials aghast. They consider Turkey to be too closely aligned with Islamist groups hostile to Israel.
Israelis have warned that Turkish involvement in Gaza would position hostile forces in Israel’s backyard…If “we finally get rid of Iran and Hizbullah, and then we end up with Turkey, Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood inside Gaza, that would be a very dangerous situation,” said Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Article here (paywall)

Nadav Shragai:
Turkish President Erdogan played a decisive role in securing the release of hostages by applying heavy pressure on his protege, Hamas. We found ourselves in a situation in which, to save hostages, there was no choice but to do business with the devil. But now the moment has come to understand that this is indeed the devil…
Turkey seeks to build a proxy threat around us similar to the Iranian proxy ring. It is already militarily present in Libya and Syria. It established a drone base in Cyprus. It is trying to extend influence into Egypt, and now it is present in Gaza in the form of 13 aid organizations. For many years Turkey has been an economic and military home for Hamas.
The very thought of giving any role in Gaza to a country that still hosts Hamas headquarters on its soil, where they continue to plan attacks against us, is a severe moral distortion. Erdogan for years has aspired to revive the Ottoman empire’s days of glory and sees himself as Islam’s appointed guardian of Jerusalem. He has said, “Every day that Jerusalem remains under occupation is an insult….We were the lords of the region for a thousand years, and we will remain so until the end of days…. Jerusalem is our city.”
Today, Turkey is a centre of anti-Jewish hostility and hatred against Israel. Effigies of Netanyahu are “executed” by hanging, and Israeli flags are trampled in the streets. Article here

The BBC

 Danny Cohen:
The leaked Prescott Report is a devastating insider’s account of serious and widespread failings of impartiality, systemic bias, and activist journalism spanning years of BBC news coverage. It lays bare how senior BBC executives repeatedly failed to uphold the highest standards of public service journalism. Michael Prescott’s memo to the BBC Board exposes in forensic detail a deep and pervasive bias in the BBC newsroom…

Those at the top of the BBC have spent two years assuring me and others within the British Jewish community that they take issues of antisemitism and bias seriously. This report provides hard evidence that the BBC has helped to push Hamas lies around the world and fuelled antisemitism at home. Those responsible for overseeing this deep offense to impartial journalism should hang their heads in shame and resign. The BBC is not safe in their hands. Article here (paywall)