Israel Watch: Research Digest

Date saved: 2026-10-24 18:01 (PDT)

Sources: Al Jazeera, AP, Washington Post, Independent, CNN, The New Arab, ABC News, Press TV, Jerusalem Post, Spy Register, BBC, Channel 4

Key findings

Gaza strikes continue under ceasefire

More than 1,500 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by the Israeli military since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began in October 2025, according to the territory's health ministry. (Source)
Israeli strikes killed three people on October 23 in southern Gaza and Gaza City, according to local health officials. Israel's military said it targeted a Hamas militant in one strike. (Source)
Israeli strikes and tank fire in Gaza killed at least four people, including two children, a week after the U.S. asked Israel to curb attacks, according to hospital officials. (Source)
The World Food Programme says ending aid for half a million people in Gaza is due to a funding shortfall. (Source)

West Bank escalation

Netanyahu said the Israeli army is prepared for a "large-scale operation" and will implement a "full lockdown" in the occupied West Bank after Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in a gun battle in Hebron that left two soldiers dead and three wounded. He said the operation would be "such as has not been carried out since the Six Day War." (Source)
The Israeli military began conducting "precise, targeted and thorough searches" in Hebron and started demolishing infrastructure that poses a "threat," with all residents able to leave only through three designated exit points following security screening. (Source)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said there is "no other option but a comprehensive military campaign in Judea and Samaria to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, collect weapons and eliminate terrorists. Exactly like in Gaza and Lebanon." (Source)
Palestinian families were displaced as Israeli forces demolished Hebron homes, according to local officials. (Source)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the situation in the occupied West Bank was "simply out of control," warning that Palestinians continued to face daily attacks by Israeli settlers. (Source)

NAZA documentary and Israeli military accountability

NAZA, a documentary by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, won the special jury prize at the Venice International Film Festival and received a lengthy standing ovation. The film features testimony from 24 anonymous Israeli military and intelligence personnel who describe how targets were selected, how acceptable civilian casualties were calculated, and how AI was used in the process. (Source)
Netanyahu demanded a comprehensive investigation into the participants in NAZA and called for them to be brought to trial for "serious information security offenses, criminal defamation, and harm to Israel's political and security interests." (Source)
The BBC identified 254 incidents in which the Israeli military has been accused of killing or injuring people that it said it was investigating but have had no public outcome. BBC Verify analyzed incidents in Gaza, Lebanon, the occupied West Bank, and Israel. The IDF said it took "every allegation or report raising concerns about conduct" seriously but provided information on only two incidents. (Source)
Channel 4 Dispatches revealed how the UK government responded to alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza, with access to unpublished internal Whitehall documents. (Source)

Lebanon and southern Syria

Heavy strikes shook southern Beirut, with more than 30 air raids on the southern suburbs in the most violent attack since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Hezbollah last month. Lebanon's National News Agency reported the southern suburbs experienced the most violent night since the start of the aggression. (Source)
Hezbollah said its fighters were confronting Israeli troops in Lebanon's southern border region, where the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah fighters inside a mosque. The Israeli military said it had killed 250 Hezbollah fighters in the border area that week. (Source)
Israeli strikes targeted the towns of Kfartebnit and al-Qantara in southern Lebanon, while artillery shelled al-Mansouri, Wadi Zebqine, and Mazraat Bouyout al-Siyyad. (Source)
Israeli forces penetrated with seven military vehicles and two tanks into the northern Quneitra countryside in Syria, establishing positions in front of the former governor's building in the city of Salam. (Source)

Iran-Israel cyber war

The Handala hacking group announced a cyber operation targeting the Israeli military's Media Intelligence Monitoring and Analysis Unit, publishing more than 500 classified documents and tens of thousands of internal messages. The unit is connected to Unit 8200 and the military censorship department. (Source)
Since October 7, Iran has sharply escalated cyber operations against Israel through fronts such as Handala Hack, CyberAv3ngers, and IDFLeaks, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Handala, tied to Iran's Intelligence Ministry, has leaked the phone of Netanyahu's aide Tzachi Braverman, breached Naftali Bennett's Telegram account, doxxed Unit 8200 members, and claimed 197 gigabytes from the Nahal Sorek nuclear center. (Source)
Israeli intelligence is reported to have spent years collecting information on Ali Khamenei through cyber means, including hacking into a network of surveillance cameras in Tehran and monitoring his movements. (Source)
The Israeli National Cyber Directorate reported detecting dozens of Iranian intrusions into surveillance camera systems for espionage purposes and more than 1,300 attempted Iranian cyberattacks since the beginning of the war with Iran. (Source)
Netanyahu told the Jerusalem Post that Russia's cooperation with Iran runs counter to its own interests, accusing Moscow of backing antisemitic bot networks targeting Israel. (Source)

Politics and U.S. relations

Netanyahu said he had issued a directive stating that "the only acceptable solution is the overthrow of the fanatical regime in Iran," and said he would inform Trump of what Israel intends to do but would not ask for a green light. (Source)
Trump suggested that Washington may carry out further strikes on Iran, saying the U.S. had "knocked the hell out of them," and the U.S. and Israel are preparing plans for a possible attack on Iran in early November, after the midterm elections, according to a person briefed on war planning. (Source)
Netanyahu thanked Trump for his endorsement, which came about a week before Israel's national elections. Netanyahu faces a tight reelection race widely viewed as a referendum on his leadership. (Source)

Three years after the October 7 attacks, Israel is fighting on four fronts simultaneously: Gaza, where strikes continue daily despite a declared ceasefire; the occupied West Bank, where Netanyahu has ordered what he called a "large-scale operation" not seen since the Six Day War after two soldiers were killed in Hebron; southern Lebanon, where Israeli air strikes battered Beirut's southern suburbs in the most intense bombardment since the escalation against Hezbollah began; and an escalating cyber war with Iran that spans both directions. The NAZA documentary, which won the special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival, has triggered a direct confrontation between Netanyahu and Israeli military whistleblowers who describe an AI-assisted targeting system that calculated acceptable civilian casualties before strikes.

Ahead of Israel's October 27 election, Netanyahu is pressing the case that Iran and its proxies seek to challenge Israel before the vote, and he has directed Mossad to bring down Iran's regime. The election is widely viewed as a referendum on his leadership before and after the Hamas-led October 7 attack and through a series of inconclusive wars, including with Iran.