Israel Update 30.10.25

ANOTHER HAMAS CEASEFIRE BREACH

 

 

Master Sgt. (res.) Yona Efraim Feldbaum, 37, a heavy machinery operator, was killed in an attack in the Rafah area of southern Gaza on Tuesday. Last week, two soldiers were killed in a similar attack in the same neighbourhood. Israel blamed Hamas for both attacks. Report here

 

 

The Qatari Prime Minister said that Hamas committed a violation of the ceasefire  in attacking IDF soldiers, calling it “very disappointing and frustrating for us.”Report here

 

The IDF said it would respond firmly to “any violation” of the ceasefire agreement  and launched airstrikes in Gaza. President Trump said, “As I understand it, they took out an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit back.”
“You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave. If they (Hamas) are good, they are going to be happy and if they are not good, they are going to be terminated.”  Report here

 

13 MURDERED HOSTAGES STILL HELD IN GAZA

 

A casket handed over by Hamas on Monday night  contained the partial remains of Ofir Tzarfati. Initially, his body was brought back from Gaza in Dec 2023  but in March 2024, additional remains were found and identified as belonging to him.

On Monday afternoon, Hamas had  brought Tzarfati’s partial remains out of a building and placed them in a large hole it had dug in the ground. It then covered the body bag in dirt and pretended to uncover it for the first time in front of the Red Cross. The entire incident was filmed by an IDF drone.

As his family prepared to re-open his casket for a third burial, his mother Rachel said she felt the return of more remains was “continuous emotional abuse” by Hamas.

“It’s a punch in the gut, an arrow to the heart, a wound that is reopened again and again,”  Reports here herehere& here

 

U.S. officials now believe Hamas is stalling – delaying the return of hostages’ remains to prolong the ceasefire and avoid renewed pressure to disarm. An Egyptian team has entered the Strip with several engineering vehicles to assist with locating their bodies. Report here& here

 

Israel has been trying to impress upon the US the utmost importance of returning the remaining bodies from the Strip, as days have passed without Hamas handing over the remains of any additional deceased hostages.Report here

 

Hamas is believed to be well aware of the locations where the remains are buried, while sending Red Cross teams and Egyptian officials to areas unrelated to the real burial sites.  Report here

 

Footnote: The remains of two hostages were transferred into Israeli territory  on Thursday evening just before 5:30 p.m. and will be identified at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine.Report here

 

 

GAZA UPDATE

 

Washington is struggling to assemble an international force to stabilize Gaza, as a wave of Arab countries has rejected American appeals to contribute troops or funding.The U.S. has quietly shifted its focus to non-Arab nations after repeated refusals from key regional allies. Report here

 

 

Within hours of the IDF withdrawal from Gaza City, Hamas swarmed across the city and many other key urban areas, as if the past two years had never happened.
Reprisals, beatings, interrogations, disappearances and mass public executions became, almost overnight, the new reality for the exhausted population. Hamas has also been recruiting, re-arming and reorganizing, as well as repairing its tunnel network.Report here (paywall)

 

 

Leaders of anti-Hamas militias operating in areas under Israeli control oppose any involvement of Qatari or Turkish forces in postwar Gaza.

Militia leader Hussam al-Astal considers both Turkey and Qatar to be “war criminals” adding “Hamas brought destruction upon Israel and upon the Gaza Strip…During the war, when a gunman hid among the tents, Israel would kill him, and then people would say that Israel murdered children. The one responsible for the deaths of women and children in Gaza is Hamas, not Israel”. Report here

 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asked whether UNRWA would assist in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, responded, “UNRWA’s not going to play any role in it…. UNRWA became a subsidiary of Hamas.” Report here

 

Defence Minister Israel Katz instructed the army to destroy all of Hamas’s underground tunnels in the area of Gaza still controlled by the IDF following the implementation of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.Report here

 

Over the last two years, the IDF has found rocket launchers, weapons storage, and operational headquarters within schools, mosques, children’s bedrooms, and hospitals. There was a clear strategy to place civilians as close to danger as possible in an attempt to hide terror operations and create serious complications for IDF missions.Report here

 

IDF forces searching a Gaza mosque less than a mile away from the border fence uncovered detailed models of Kibbutz Sa’ad and Kibbutz Alumim. A cache of RPG missiles and other powerful weapons were also found hidden inside the mosque. Report here

 

FORMER HOSTAGES UPDATE

 

Recently released hostages Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Eitan Mor, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal  were received jubilantly at their homes on Sunday after they were discharged from hospitals after days of treatment, following their more than two years in captivity where they were tortured, starved and stuck in isolation. Report here

 

HAMAS TERRORISTS HOSTED IN LUXURY EGYPTIAN HOTELS

 

Over 150 recently released Hamas terrorists were hosted at the Marriott’s Renaissance Cairo Mirage City hotel, where they were staying alongside unsuspecting Western tourists and British air crews.
Following an outcry, they were moved to an Egyptian-owned five-star resort. Moshe Saville, CEO of an Israeli charity which supports victims of terror, said the incident “reveals to the world the moral absurdity in which murderers are pampered while families are left to face an unending loss every single day.”
“We are hearing from many families a deep sense of pain and humiliation, as the very murderers who destroyed their lives enjoy five-star conditions.”Report here

 

LEBANON

 

 

An Israeli military drone was shot down by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) during a routine surveillance mission on Sunday. The IDF that the drone had posed no threat to the UNIFIL observers who opened fire on it. Israel has long argued that the observer force has failed in its mission, doing little to block Hizbullah from building up its forces near the Israeli border over decades. In August, the UN Security Council voted to end UNIFIL’s mission in 2027. France was responsible for the decision to shoot down the drone. Reports here& here

Israel and Lebanon signed a ceasefire to end the Hizbullah-Israel war in November 2024. In the deal, Beirut committed to disarm Hizbullah.
Today, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is collecting weapons and dismantling Hizbullah infrastructure in the south of the country, but Beirut is baulking about undertaking its obligations in the north.
Fearing civil war, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun started talking about “containing” Hizbullah’s weapons north of the Litani.
Yet there will be no peace, no sovereignty, and no reconstruction for postwar Lebanon without disarming Hizbullah. Report here

 

MANDELA’S GRANDDAUGHTERS VISITED ISRAEL & GAZA

 

The two young women’s recent visit, a few days before the ceasefire, took them from Yad Vashem and the ruins of Kibbutz Nir Oz to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, where they spent a day distributing food and medical supplies to women and children…

Their unequivocal stance on the “apartheid” comparison gives their visit its most powerful statement.

“Apartheid was government-mandated racial separation,” they say. “What we saw in Israel and Gaza is very different. There is no comparison. We witnessed communities – Jewish and Arab – living, working, marrying side by side. Equating the two misrepresents both histories.” Reports here & here

 

INTELLIGENCE CO-OPERATION

 

Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen revealed that  “We gave the Australians probably one of the most critical intelligence items, which saved hundreds of lives, when a bomb was en route to an Etihad aircraft scheduled to depart Sydney for Dubai or Abu Dhabi…”   He said Israel provides life-saving intelligence to other Western intelligence agencies, primarily the American CIA and British MI6.Earlier this week, the Mossad exposed an Iranian operative who planned attacks in Germany and Greece. Report here

 

MIDDLE EAST MINORITIES

 

Representatives from minority groups across the Middle East gathered in Tel Aviv for a first-of-its-kind conference as “The Future of Minorities in the Middle East,” to discuss the region’s future, amid a rapidly changing landscape. Among those attending the conference which was  aimed at forging ties between Israel and historically persecuted Middle East groups were representatives of the Alawite, Druze, Kurdish, Assyrian and Yazidi communities. Report here

 

BUSINESS

 

US chipmaker Nvidia announced plans to triple the size of its research and development presence in Beersheba moving to a newly built site three times the size of its existing 1,000-square-metre facility. As part of the expansion, Nvidia is seeking to hire hundreds of additional employees in the southern region, including chip developers, hardware and software engineers, architects, students, and university graduates. Report here

 

MEDICAL-TECH

 

Downton Abbey creator Lord Julian Fellowes was successfully treated for essential tremor at St. Mary’s Hospital, London with incisionless focused ultrasound therapy from Israel’s Insightec. He had lost the ability to write by hand due to involuntary shaking. (TY Michael) Report here

 

Yaron Segal invented a “brainwave helmet” that helps patients recover after a stroke. Experts said it was a crazy idea and would never work. Clinical trials proved them wrong. Patients learned to walk again, to feed themselves, to bathe themselves, and to go the bathroom by themselves, by wearing Yaron’s helmet for 40 minutes a day. Report here

 

Inspired by the super sticky glue used by molluscs to cling to rocks underwater, a Technion team has invented an adhesive hydrogel that can seal internal wounds within seconds, potentially saving lives on the battlefield or following surgery. Report here

 

 

THE UK & ISRAEL -HEALTH CO-OPERATION

 

The NHS has been trialling MeMed’s 15 minute rapid result blood test in London, Liverpool & Newcastle, to diagnose deadly infections in children. Clinicians hope that the test will improve sepsis treatment and prevent the unnecessary prescription of antibiotics to children. Founded in Israel, Medmed is based in Haifa and Andover, US. Report here

 

Following the first cohort’s success, the British Embassy in Israel has launched a second cohort for healthtech start-ups, this time with a dedicated focus on mental health innovation. The UK-Israel Tech Hub opens a new academy for Israeli start-ups to explore NHS collaboration. Report here

TOURISM

 

Just days after Kibbutz Neot Smadar was added to the U.N. Tourism 2025 list of 52 Best Tourism Villages in the world, the place was flooded with booking requests. The U.N. agency praised the kibbutz for its cultural and natural richness and its commitment to sustainability “in all three dimensions: ecological, social and economic”Report here

ENTERTAINMENT

 

Actor Kevin Spacey will perform a show, “Songs & Stories,” accompanied by a jazz band on November 19 at Tel Aviv’s Hangar 11. Spacey visited Israel in December 2024, touring the Gaza border region and sites attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, with British author Douglas Murray. He also gave an acting master class at a Tel Aviv acting studio.Report here

COMMENT & OPINION

 

Wall St Journal Editorial:

The Trump peace plan for Gaza is in trouble, and Hamas is the culprit. Insisting Israel wait for the return of the slain hostages isn’t working. It has been a week since Hamas handed over any bodies, time it has used to solidify control over western Gaza.
The terrorists again fired on Israeli troops on Tuesday and drew an Israeli response. This all should provoke some American rethinking: Hamas’s revival risks preventing any international stabilization force from getting off the ground. The more Hamas restores its power, the more the Arab powers back away.
The terrorists are dragging out the return of the dead hostages to create a fait accompli in Gaza. Gaza’s demilitarization can’t wait for Hamas to dribble out an arm or a leg a week. By that point it would be too late for an international force, which would be little more than a fig leaf for Hamas’s power.
Israeli forces may take some more territory from Hamas for now, but the pressing need is for regular intervention to pressure Hamas and disrupt its reconstitution. If the plan is to restrain Israel even while Hamas violates the deal and no stabilization force is ready, it will fail. The President can let Israel enforce the ceasefire or watch it sink. Editorial here (paywall)

 

Khaled Abu Toameh:
Hamas officials have repeatedly emphasized that they have no intention of laying down their weapons.
Hamas sees Trump’s plan as another temporary ceasefire with Israel that will allow it to rearm and regroup.
Hamas does not believe in any peace process with Israel. Its primary goal is to kill as many Jews as possible and destroy Israel.
Anyone who believes that Hamas will voluntarily give up its weapons is living in a dream world. For the terror group, this would be tantamount to suicide. And anyone who believes that Qatar and Turkey will force Hamas to dismantle its military infrastructure is also living in fantasy land. Article here

 

Tom Gross:
Hamas’s survival was achieved in part thanks to a chorus of Western apologists. A coalition of activists has excused, rationalized and defended the group’s actions across universities and in newspaper editorials.
Tales of impending famine in Gaza, for instance, were broadcast as fact, sourced from UN bureaucrats and “aid agencies” with long records of anti-Israel bias and, in some cases, open sympathy for Hamas. This isn’t journalism: it’s agenda-driven activism disguised as news.
For Hamas, the Western media is the battlefield – no less important to its survival than its rockets and tunnels. Even before Israeli troops had entered Gaza, Hamas sympathizers in the West were shouting about “genocide” and “famine.”
Why were Hamas’s inflated casualty figures reported as facts? Why were incorrect claims of Israel bombing hospitals repeated without scrutiny – while confirmed cases of Hamas rockets hitting Israeli hospitals in Ashkelon and Beersheba were ignored?
The Guardian, London Times and New York Times ran a photo of a skeletal child as evidence of famine on their front pages, inflaming the emotions of millions of readers. In reality, the child wasn’t malnourished due to famine. He had cerebral palsy, hypoxemia and other genetic conditions. Other widely shared images of “starvation in Gaza” were from Yemen. Article here (paywall)

 

Dr. Yariv Mohar:
Following the ceasefire in Gaza, numerous corroborated testimonies – some supported by filmed evidence – have emerged of Hamas’s executions of political opponents, particularly brutal torture of civilians in broad daylight and killings or beatings of civilians who merely expressed gratitude toward the U.S. or criticized Hamas.
Given these facts, I was astonished to look at the X accounts of two of the world’s largest human rights organizations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and find that there has been not a single reference to these atrocities. Every day more atrocities occur, and silence confers a degree of legitimacy upon them. Article here (paywall)

 

Jonathan S. Tobin:
Even Trump seems to have swallowed the Kool-Aid about Qatar’s being a good friend of the U.S. and a tireless worker for peace. That’s in spite of the fact that the Gulf emirate is largely responsible for enabling Hamas to start the war and also spreading Islamist propaganda via its Al Jazeera media outlet and by sponsoring and funding the Muslim Brotherhood…

Too many of those who work for the president seem invested in fantasies about Hamas, the Palestinians, Qatar and Turkey, rooted in naive beliefs about genocidal Islamists having the same hopes and dreams as Americans, Israelis and the people of the West. They don’t. And, sooner or later, that dismal fact is going to blow up the peace plan.
When this happens, we need to hope that Trump and his foreign-policy team are able to divest themselves of the same foolish arrogance that characterized the beliefs of their predecessors about the Palestinians wanting peace and being willing to give up their century-old war on the Jews. Even an indomitable force like Donald Trump can’t wish away the Palestinian desire to destroy Israel. Article here

 

Brendan O’Neill: At Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, as I peruse a vast wall of stickers showing the smiling faces of the men and women who were stolen on Oct. 7 – some of whom made it home, some of whom did not – I feel a sudden flush of anger. Anger that Israel was left almost entirely alone to agitate for the precious lives and liberty of these abducted Jews…

Being there reminded me what a nation is: a place of belonging, of attachment, of sacrifice, of promise. A place where the young are brave and the old are safe. A place where soldiers are celebrated and enemies are defeated. A place where no one is left behind. Not a perfect place – but a place that at least aspires to live by high ideals. Let Israel be – it’s fine. Article here