Israel Update 28.1.26

Please note that this Israel Update is published on Wednesday 28 January at least 24 hours before circulation. 

MASTER SERGEANT RAN GVILI

The IDF announced Monday that the body of the last Gaza hostage, St.-Sgt.-Maj. Ran Gvili, 24, had been returned to Israel after 843 days.
Despite still recovering from a broken shoulder sustained in a motorcycle accident, he was killed in battle fighting infiltrating Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, after saving the lives of partygoers fleeing the Nova music festival in Re’im and defending Kibbutz Alumim from dozens of Hamas terrorists who attempted to conquer the kibbutz. Wounded and surrounded, Gvili was overpowered by Hamas terrorists and murdered. Reports here& here

Major D., a commander who participated in the operation to retrieve the body said “We cleared the area from explosive devices and the many bodies…The bodies were buried in shrouds according to Muslim burial traditions. There was tremendous emotion at the moment of identification and leading up to it, some fighters were moved to tears…We saw Ran with the police uniform, and that helped initially confirm his identity.”
“We emphasized respecting the dead and returned all bodies for burial in their places. This is one of the differences between us and our enemies.”Report here

Thousands of Israelis lined the route of the funeral procession through southern Israel on Wednesday.

Speaking at the funeral, President Herzog eulogised Master Sergeant Ran Gvili  “Ran, the hero and the beloved, ‘the last hostage,’ is finally brought to eternal rest, in the soil of home”. To Ran’s family he said “An entire nation looks upon you today… and knows: through your path, and through Ran’s path, we must rise from this terrible pain” and as he has done when eulogizing other returned slain hostages, Herzog apologized to the bereaved family on behalf of the state for the loss and delayed repatriation of their loved ones: “At this moment I ask of you, as president of Israel, in the name of the State of Israel: forgiveness. Forgiveness that we were not there for him. Forgiveness that together with so many families you were forced to wait for the return of your beloved for so many agonizing days ” Report here

HOSTAGE POST SCRIPT

Last week, a long-kept secret was revealed regarding Liam Or-Nassar, an 18-year-old abducted from Kibbutz Re’im on October 7 and released 54 days later. His father Ramzy is an Arab Muslim man married to a Jewish woman. Fearing that Hamas would view Liam as “the son of a traitor” or use his mixed heritage to assign him a “higher value” for negotiations, his family and the Israeli government made a strategic, “cold and painful” decision to hide the identity of his father. To maintain the cover, Ramzy Nassar stayed out of the public eye. While other hostage families were campaigning globally, Ramzy remained silent and did not give interviews, fearing that his presence or his background would put Liam in more danger. Full story here

GAZA

The main hurdle for Phase Two of President Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war is Hamas’s refusal to disarm and demilitarize Gaza. That refusal has been voiced repeatedly, and from Israel’s perspective it means that all other points tied to Phase Two cannot be implemented. Disarming Hamas is a central pillar of the plan, which also includes the expulsion of senior figures, except for those who formally renounce terrorism.
A senior American official said: “Trump’s plan is crystal clear. Hamas must hand over all its weapons, expose all tunnels and relinquish power. That is the condition for Gaza’s rehabilitation. There are contacts on the matter, and we are working in coordination with Israel and the mediators to achieve these goals.”  Report here

A senior official involved in the new Board of Peace said, “The development and reconstruction of Gaza will not happen without the dismantling of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza. Trump’s preference is for this to happen in good faith and with agreement under significant pressure from mediators, but everyone understands that if it doesn’t go the easy way it will go the hard way, and Hamas will be disarmed by Israel. That is the starting point of the plan.”
He noted that the very fact that Muslim and Arab states, including Turkey and Qatar, have signed a document stating that Hamas must disarm and Gaza be demilitarized is a “huge achievement” for Israel. “First, Hamas will need to surrender its heavy weapons – rockets, machine guns – and identify all tunnels to be dismantled. Then it will have to turn in Kalashnikov rifles. We start with the most dangerous threats – missiles, production labs and tunnels. This is a strategically critical issue, and then we move to light arms.”
The inclusion of Qatar and Turkey in the Board of Peace “is simply part of integrating all regional actors for this issue….Overall, we moved from a situation where the UN was entirely against Israel, to a Board of Peace that the UN decided to hand responsibility over to, and that supports Israel’s goals of disarmament, demilitarization and reconstruction and ultimately regional peace and expansion of the Abraham Accords.” Report here

An Israeli diplomatic source has said that the Rafah crossing could open soon in both directions after technical arrangements were concluded that guarantee complete Israeli command over those traversing it. Israel will use remote surveillance cameras and additional tools for monitoring those entering and leaving, with their names and ID papers submitted ahead for Israel’s clearance. Moreover, the IDF will maintain a presence around the crossing’s perimeter, requiring all travellers to navigate an Israeli checkpoint. Report here

Hamas has begun taxing street vendors and commercial imports in Gaza to rebuild its war chest and fund a forever war as the group seeks to reassert administrative control following a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

These taxes, combined with profit-seeking by local traders, have kept food and commodity prices prohibitively high for civilians. While the Hamas-led Ministry of Economy claims these “portions of profits” are used to pay the salaries of security personnel and civil servants, residents and analysts view it as a strategy to maintain financial depth and long-term control.  Further, Israeli intelligence officials believe Hamas has successfully preserved billions in cash in its tunnels, allowing it to continue paying thousands of fighters and rebuild its military infrastructure. An Israeli official expressed concern that this “financial depth” makes Hamas strong enough to remain a dominant force indefinitely, noting that while the war “killed a lot of its people, it didn’t alter their control” over the territory’s finances. Report here (paywall)

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza knowingly launched defective rockets throughout the course of the Israel-Hamas War, killing hundreds of Gazans, according to a  document recovered from Gaza…A senior Hamas official mentioned in the document, told Akram al-Ajouri , the head of PIJ’s al-Quds Brigades, “Your rockets are falling on people’s homes in broad daylight, and this is happening again and again,” during their Beirut meeting…Ajouri reportedly replied, “We are at war. And even if a thousand people are killed by friendly fire, that is the price of war.” PIJ’s rockets came under the international spotlight shortly after the start of the war in October 2023, when one of their rockets hit the al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza. International media and terrorists in Gaza quickly blamed Israel for the incident, but it soon came to light that it was a PIJ rocket that struck the facility. Report here

IRAN

Israeli intelligence helped the US establish that Iran’s regime carried out mass executions of protesters, contradicting assurances that President Donald Trump said he had received from Iran’s leadership. Trump has said that one of the reasons he delayed a strike on Iran was a commitment to halt the execution of more than 800 detainees who had taken part in protests. Report here

As many as 30,000 people could have been killed in the streets of Iran on Jan. 8 and 9, according to two senior officials of the country’s Ministry of Health. Stocks of body bags were exhausted and semi-trailers replaced ambulances.
The Health Ministry’s two-day figure aligns with a count of 30,304 gathered by physicians and first responders.That number does not reflect protest-related deaths of people registered at military hospitals or that happened in unreported locales. Report here

DESALINATION

In a significant development for Israel’s water security, the Soreq B desalination plant in central Israel has entered full operation and is now the largest of its kind in the country and one of the largest in the world.

The plant produces approximately 200 million cubic metres of desalinated water annually. Israel now expects to meet between 70% and 80% of its total potable water needs through desalination. The facility has set a new global benchmark for the lowest cost of desalinated seawater, achieved through advanced energy-efficient designs and “steam-driven” reverse osmosis technology. The plant also features a 30% lower carbon footprint than similar facilities, utilizing an independent power station and a carbon capture system that recycles CO2 into the water remineralization process.

The excess capacity generated by Israel’s desalination network has allowed the country to undertake groundbreaking environmental projects, such as the world’s first attempt to refill the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee)  with desalinated water to protect its ecosystem and maintain it as a strategic emergency reservoir. Report here

RESEARCH

A breakthrough at the Weizmann Institute of Science could revolutionize cancer treatment. Researchers have identified two types of cells in fruit flies that survive high doses of radiation and then trigger tissue regeneration.  The research was nearly destroyed during a June 2025 Iranian missile attack which hit the institute destroying around 45 labs, some containing researchers’ entire life’s work. Researchers had to scramble to rescue the live fly larvae from the damaged lab. Report here

SEA TURTLES

Israel’s new, purpose-built National Sea Turtle Rescue Centre has opened in the Alexander Stream National Park. It houses the only captive breeding group of green sea turtles in the world in a critical effort to prevent the extinction of the local population in the Mediterranean. The centre features a full hospital including an emergency and intensive care suite, an X-ray room, and a surgical operating room. Starting in February, visitors can take 75-minute guided tours that include a movie and viewing “patients” and the breeding pool through reinforced underwater windows. Report here

SPORT

Tay Abed, one of Israeli soccer’s brightest prospects, revealed he turned down a staggering offer from Emirati club Al Jazira that would have paid him millions of euros on one condition: he would have to give up his Israeli national team eligibility and play for the United Arab Emirates. “They believed in me in a way that didn’t make sense, like I was Lionel Messi landing there,” Abed said. “But I couldn’t agree to give up the Israeli national team. My country is my pride, representing it is the greatest honour, especially during this time. No one will take away my dream of leading my homeland to a major tournament. I’m first and foremost Israeli. No amount of money—and this was crates of money—can buy me. I’m Israeli, period.” The 21-year-old midfielder signed last week with Spanish club Levante. Report here

 The Israeli bobsled team has qualified for the Milan Winter Olympic Games to be held on Feb. 6-22, 2026. Israel’s delegation to the 2026 Winter Olympics now comprises nine athletes. Alongside the 4-man bobsled team are a skeleton athlete, two alpine skiers, a figure skater and a cross-country skier. Report here/ Short video here

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS (GWR)

The nonprofit organization Matnat Chaim (gift of life) is set to enter the Guinness World Records after successfully gathering more than 1,000 kidney donors in a single photograph on Sunday. The record was set during an emotional ceremony in Jerusalem, marking 2,000 kidney donations in Israel. According to global health data, Israel leads the world in living kidney donations per capita. GWR, which had refused submissions from Israel and the Palestinian territories since Nov 2023, is once again accepting them, following pressure from UK Lawyers for Israel which claimed the policy was discriminatory and threatened the validity of Guiness’s registered trademarks. Reports here& here

COMMENT & OPINION

Master Sergeant Ran Gvili – the last hostage

JC Editorial: For Israel – and for Jews far beyond its borders – the recovery of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage, is the closing of a wound that had been open since Oct. 7. Israel’s commitment to bringing every hostage home, living or dead, was never just a slogan. It was part of the national creed.
Gvili’s body was buried under a Muslim name in a Gaza cemetery. In Israel’s determination to bring him home, soldiers were required to work through more than 350 bodies before identification was possible. No modern state goes to such lengths to retrieve its fallen.
Israelis do not see one another merely as fellow citizens, but as members of an extended family, bound by shared fate and history. That bond is the source of Israel’s resilience, sustaining commitment, sacrifice and endurance when they are most tested.
Israel brought Ran Gvili home because leaving him behind was never an option. That instinct is not a weakness. It is civilizational clarity. And it is why his return was a reaffirmation of the values that distinguish Israel from those who fight it. Editorial here

Hamas

David Horowitz, Editor of The Times of Israel: Hamas… has not wavered from its goal of eliminating Israel…Still controlling almost half of Gaza, it believes it is creating conditions under which it will be able to fudge the issue of what exactly becomes of its arms, rebuild its personnel and resources, continue to benefit from the support of a world full of Israel-haters and fools, await more conducive US leadership, and resume its ‘resistance’ to the Jewish state.”… In short, “Hamas is not destroyed” but “the war in its current form is over.”And with the return of Gvili’s body, “Israel’s political and military leadership has cleared a critical hurdle in rebuilding its relationship with the citizenry it so catastrophically failed to protect 843 days ago. The hostages have been returned. To the very last one.  Article here

Gaza

Yoni Michanie: Moral sympathy for civilian suffering and concern for their welfare are separate from an “entitlement to post-war political authority”.

Polling data indicates widespread support for the October 7th attacks among Palestinians. Specifically, backing for the assault reached 82% in the West Bank and remained above 70% months into the war, with 98% of respondents expressing “pride” as Palestinians regarding the events. Accordingly, the typical post-conflict model used in places like post-war Germany or Japan, which assumes a clear distinction between a “criminally culpable elite” and a population held hostage by them is not relevant to Palestinians as the high level of public “pride” suggests the attack was “embraced as a defining moment of collective identity” rather than just tolerated. But what happens when Palestinian democratic sentiment produces an overwhelming mandate for violence against Israeli civilians? What happens when the “will of the people” is inseparable from the endorsement of atrocity? Defining the political framework to prevent another Oct. 7 requires demonstrated rejection of the violence that 75% of Palestinians endorsed. For Palestinians to govern themselves, they must first meet “threshold conditions”: an unambiguous rejection of the October 7th violence, institutional independence, and a demonstrated capacity to challenge the consensus that made the massacre possible. Granting representation without first requiring a formal repudiation of the violence only delays the possibility of a trustworthy, self-governing framework for Palestinians. Article here

Genocide slur against Israel

Maj. (ret.) John Spencer:

The Gaza war is one in which an enemy builds a strategy around civilian suffering as the path to victory – a strategy of human sacrifice for political gain. Genocide under international law requires intent to destroy a protected group in whole or in part. Without it, the charge collapses. When genocide becomes a label applied whenever civilian casualties are high, the term loses meaning.

There has been no genocide in Gaza. Israel has not intentionally targeted civilians. Intent matters. Context matters. Israel has taken more measures to reduce civilian harm than any military in history operating in dense urban terrain against an enemy deliberately embedded among civilians. No other military has attempted civilian harm mitigation at this scale, over this duration, while under constant attack.

Israel has conducted this war while facilitating an unprecedented scale of humanitarian assistance, medical access, vaccination campaigns, and civilian protection measures. No historical case of genocide includes a state feeding, vaccinating, providing medical care to, and sustaining the civilian population of the territory in which it is supposedly committing extermination.

Wanting to destroy your enemy is not genocide. It is war. War is not illegal, and in some cases, it is necessary. Moral seriousness does not erase the difference between deliberate murder and collateral harm. It does not treat the kidnapping and murder of civilians as morally interchangeable with deaths caused in the course of lawful military operations.

If civilian harm alone becomes proof of criminality, democratic militaries face an impossible choice: Fight and be condemned, or refrain and concede defeat. Accusations of genocide being levelled against Israel are a weapon aimed at lawful self-defence. If lawful self-defence becomes impossible, democracies will have lost the next wars before they begin. Article here

My Journey out of anti-Zionism

Kile Jones details his personal and intellectual shift away from the anti-Zionist frameworks common in leftist and academic circles. He describes his transition from adhering to the theories of thinkers like Noam Chomsky and other post-colonial or Marxist scholars to realizing that these frameworks often implode when applied to Jewish history and the State of Israel. Article here