Israel Watch: Research Digest

Date saved: 2026-10-27 03:01 (PDT)

Sources: UN OCHA, DW, Al Jazeera, Reuters, Times of Israel, Financial Times, ABC Australia, Common Dreams, Guardian, UN News, CFR

Key findings

Israel elections: Netanyahu faces Eisenkot in knife-edge contest

DW News (October 27, 2026): In the closing hours of Israel's election campaign, opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot is making a final appeal to voters on leadership and trust. As security dominates the race, the question of peace with the Palestinians remains largely absent from the political debate. Israel says it will lock down the entire West Bank on election day. In Gaza, Palestinians were largely dismissive of the upcoming vote. (Source)

Al Jazeera English (October 23, 2026): The outcome of Israel's elections directly affects Palestinians, but both main camps reject Palestinian statehood. The right-wing coalition of Benjamin Netanyahu is ideologically driven and advocates forced displacement or voluntary emigration, more illegal settlement expansion and annexation. The opposition is also predominantly on the right, but offers a slightly different narrative. They are against Palestinian statehood but accept some form of limited self-rule. For Palestinians, the Israeli elections will either bring more genocide and ethnic cleansing or tone down violence without a path to ending the illegal occupation. (Source)

Financial Times (October 23, 2026): Israelis go to the polls in a historic election, the first vote since the October 7, 2023 attack, pitting Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition against an opposition bloc in a knife-edge contest. Netanyahu threatens an "aggressive" offensive after a West Bank shooting that killed two soldiers and injured three. (Source)

THV11 (October 26, 2026): Israel is hosting its first national election since the 2023 attacks that began the Gaza war. The latest polling suggests Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition is trailing. Israeli news media reports that Netanyahu is considering a new military campaign against Iran before the vote. After two Israeli soldiers were killed in the West Bank on Friday, Netanyahu vowed the largest military operation there since 1967 amid increasing settler violence. The IDF has completely closed the West Bank through election day. (Source)

Guardian (October 27, 2026): Israel Election Live Updates: Polls open as Netanyahu faces a challenge led by Eisenkot. (Source)

Hebron operation displaces nearly 2,700 Palestinians

Times of Israel / Palestinian Authority (October 25, 2026): The Palestinian Authority says nearly 2,700 people were displaced by an Israeli military operation in Hebron, which the IDF launched after Palestinian gunmen killed two soldiers in a shooting attack. Prime Minister Netanyahu pledged a major operation in the territory. The IDF sealed the homes of the two Palestinian gunmen who carried out the attack. The military says it launched an interceptor missile toward a suspicious aerial target over southern Lebanon. (Source)

Times of Israel (October 2026): IDF op in Hebron after soldiers' killing displaces 2,000, and Defense Minister Israel Katz says the prime minister vows a "big surprise" for the Palestinian Authority. The army says the raid is "focused and limited to the area from which the terrorists operated," but troops raze "illegal structures that could pose security risk," which activists decry as collective punishment. (Source)

Gaza strikes continue despite ceasefire

ABC Australia (October 22, 2026): Analysis of Israeli military positions, buffer zones, and settlement plans since October 2023 has found Israel now controls at least 2,490 square kilometres of territory across Syria, Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank. There are now almost 240 settlements. More than 600 square kilometres of territory inside Lebanon are under Israeli control, accounting for 6 per cent of the country. The displacement in Lebanon's south, combined with bombings in Beirut, displaced more than 1 million Lebanese. (Source)

UN News (October 2026): Israeli attacks on war-torn Gaza over the weekend killed at least six Palestinians, including children, despite a year-old ceasefire agreement. Local health authorities told OCHA that 57 Palestinians were reported killed and 319 injured between September 29 and October 12, bringing the total number of casualties since the October 2025 ceasefire agreement to 1,493 fatalities and 5,299 injuries. (Source)

CFR Global Conflict Tracker (October 23, 2026): Palestinian medical authorities reported that Israeli forces conducted a drone strike in Gaza City, killing two people and injuring others. Israeli forces killed four people during operations in Gaza City on October 20, including a married couple. (Source)

UN-sponsored probe accuses Israel of genocide and crimes against humanity

Common Dreams / Times of Israel (October 26, 2026): A UN-sponsored probe accuses Israel of ongoing Gaza genocide and West Bank crimes against humanity. The commission alleges torture and rape by Israeli forces and says the ceasefire failed to halt "genocidal acts." Israel rejects the report as an effort to demonize and delegitimize it. (Source)

West Bank settlement expansion and lockdown

Guardian / UN OCHA (October 2026): Netanyahu unveiled a three-page security doctrine calling for pre-emptive military strikes and buffer zones along Israel's borders. The document identifies Iran, Houthis, Hezbollah, and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza as principal threats. It advocates establishing buffer zones along Israel's borders, strengthening domestic military industries including underground weapons production, and expanding technological capabilities in AI, quantum computing, and space. The doctrine also calls for encouraging settlement in the "Land of Israel" despite the illegality of Israeli settlements under international law. The IDF imposed a complete ban on Palestinian workers entering all settlements and industrial zones on election day, and shuttered all West Bank land crossings with Israel for Palestinians. About 9,000 Palestinians have permits to work in settlements or nearby industrial zones. (Source)

Lebanon: Israel continues strikes, Hezbollah rearming

Times of Israel (October 2026): Hezbollah is rearming for possible renewed conflict with Israel, with Lebanese sources saying the Iran-backed terror group receives fresh cash from Tehran and rebuilds drone and explosives capabilities. The IDF says it destroyed key Hezbollah tunnels in south Lebanon containing dozens of Iranian-made rockets, missiles, UAVs, machine guns, anti-tank missiles, and hundreds of mines and explosive devices. The death toll from Israel's military campaign in Lebanon is approaching 700 people, with more than 800,000 displaced. (Source)

Israel National News (October 2026): IDF strikes just miss Lebanese troops. An out-of-control Israeli robotic APC prompts airstrikes that mistakenly targeted a Lebanese Army vehicle; no injuries were reported. Over 540 terrorist infrastructure sites destroyed and more than 150 weapons located in the southern Lebanon security zone in recent weeks. (Source)

Israel holds its first national election since the October 7, 2023 attacks on October 27, 2026, and the campaign has been built almost entirely on security, with the question of peace with the Palestinians largely absent from the political debate. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition faces a knife-edge contest against an opposition bloc led by former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot. But as Al Jazeera's reporting from the ground makes clear, both main camps reject Palestinian statehood. The opposition promises to dismantle Hamas in Gaza in 18 months and stay indefinitely, and opposes settler attacks while pledging support for illegal settlements. For Palestinians, the election "will either bring more genocide and ethnic cleansing or tone down violence without a path to ending the illegal occupation."

The week's military operations tell the same story in practice. Netanyahu vowed a major West Bank military operation after a shooting attack killed two Israeli soldiers in Hebron, and the IDF imposed a complete lockdown on the West Bank for election day, preventing Palestinian laborers from entering settlements and shutting all West Bank land crossings. Nearly 2,700 Palestinians were displaced by an Israeli military operation in Hebron. In Gaza, Israeli strikes killed multiple Palestinians throughout the week, including a man and his eight-year-old daughter, despite a year-old ceasefire agreement. The UN-sponsored probe accused Israel of ongoing Gaza genocide and West Bank crimes against humanity, alleging torture and rape by Israeli forces. In Lebanon, Israel continues strikes despite the ceasefire, and Hezbollah is rearming with Iranian funding. The scope of military operations has expanded to what Israel describes as a war on seven fronts.