News Digest — 11/19/25
Israel Targets Hamas Compound In South Lebanon
The IDF carried out an airstrike Tuesday night (18th) against a Hamas training compound in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon, killing 13 people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, The strike was led by Northern Command and executed by the Israeli Air Force.
The targeted facility had long-been monitored by the IDF, which had planned an operation for some time. Operational conditions aligned on Tuesday night (18th), and after dozens of Hamas terrorists were identified at the site, the strike was carried out using precision-guided aircraft.
The compound was used to coordinate local Hamas cells in Lebanon and to train terrorists in planning attacks against Israel. According to Israeli assessments most of those killed were relatively junior members rather than senior figures.
Lebanese outlet Al-Akhbar, affiliated with Hezbollah, reported that the strike targeted individuals who had just exited the Khaled ibn al-Walid Mosque and were preparing to board vehicles parked outside. Additional reports described the site as a local coordination and planning hub for Hamas terrorists.
Prior to the strike, the IDF implemented measures to minimize civilian risk, including precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence gathering.
“The IDF continues to act against Hamas’ attempts to establish operational footholds in Lebanon and will maintain forceful action against the organization wherever its terrorists are found,” the military said.
One Killed, Three Israelis wounded In Ramming, Stabbing Terror Attack In Gush Etzion Junction Area
One person, 65-year-old Aharon Cohen, resident of Kiryat Arba, was killed and three were wounded in a ramming and stabbing attack at the Gush Etzion junction, Magen David Adom said on Tuesday (18th).
One woman in her 40s was severely wounded, and two others, a 30 and a 15-year-old, were moderately wounded in the attack, but have since improved.
Two terrorists arrived in a vehicle at the junction, rammed into civilians standing nearby, then exited the vehicle and attempted to stab those nearby.
They were killed by reservists who happened to be in the area. They were identified as Ibrahim Imran al-Atrash, 18, from Hebron, and Walid Muhammad Khalil Sabarmeh, 18, from Beit Ummar, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) took credit for the attack and congratulated the terrorists in a social media post. They also called on Palestinians to escalate their attacks against Israelis.
The three wounded were evacuated by medical personnel to Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Hadassah University Medical Center in Ein Karem for further treatment.
The military cordoned off Palestinian towns in the area of the attack and set up roadblocks.
“When we arrived at the scene, we identified that this was a serious and complex incident,”.MDA Paramedic Uriel Lavi said.
“We located several injured individuals suffering from penetrating wounds. We provided them with initial medical treatment on site, and after stabilizing their condition, we evacuated them for further treatment at the hospital.”
Highway 60 was reopened to traffic approximately three hours after the attack took place.
“Security forces arrived very quickly at the scene,” Gush Etzion spokesperson Akiva Spiegelman said. “The terrorists were neutralized quickly thanks to the initiative of those at the station.”.
Chief Of Staff: ‘We remain Vigilant – We Will Continue To Protect The Communities’
Chief of the General Staff, LTG. Eyal Zamir conducted an initial inquiry Tuesday (18th) at the scene of the attack at the Gush Etzion junction together with the Commander of the Central Command, MG Avi Bluth, the Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, BG Kobi Heller, the head of the Israeli Civil Administration, BG Hisham Ibrahim, the Commander of the Israel Border Police in Judea and Samaria, MG Nisso Gueta, and additional commanders.
The Chief of the General Staff noted that this was a severe terrorist attack and shared his condolences to the family of the victim, as well as to the families of the three injured. In addition, the Chief of the General Staff expressed his appreciation for the reserve troops, who sought contact and eliminated the two terrorists.
Chief Zamir instructed the troops to reinforce the defense along the routes and within the communities, and to continue offensive activity, including mapping and dismantling of the residences of the involved terrorists in Beit Ummar and Hebron.
The Chief added that, “In today’s event we saw a drive to engage, determination, professionalism, exactly as we expect and as we instill in the IDF. You prevented an even more severe terror incident.”
“The troops remained alert, and with composure removed a threat against Israeli civilians. We will be required to continue to remain vigilant alongside intense and offensive activity – this is our mission in protecting the communities and the residents.”
“We will continue to review the incident, to learn and improve, in order to meet the missions we have set for ourselves and to protect the civilians of Israel,”
Gaza Water Provider Suspends Services, Cuts Half Of Gaza’s Water After Hamas Detains A Staff Member
A Gaza company that operates water desalination plants serving nearly half of the territory’s population has stopped operations to protest the detention of one of its staff.
Youssef Yassin, a board member of the Abdul Salam Yassin Company, said the move would affect more than 1 million people who normally receive water from the company.
Over 70 trucks that carry water containers across the enclave have also stopped operations, he added, risking further supply disruption after the pipeline network was badly damaged during the war.
“I know it is catastrophic, but protecting our employees is a sacred issue,” Yassin told Reuters.
Yassin said Hamas had given no reason for the arrest late on Monday (17th) . Hamas had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters on Tuesday (18th).
Hamas has been gradually reasserting control in areas of Gaza that Israel has withdrawn from as post-war talks over its future grind on. Foreign powers demand that the group disarm and leave the government, but have yet to agree on who will replace them.
Israel continues to control around half of the Gaza Strip.
The move is a rare show of dissent against Hamas, which has run the Palestinian enclave since 2007.
Demonstrations briefly erupted in March and April, demanding an end to the war and that Hamas give up power, but fizzled out after a warning that public disorder would not be tolerated.
If the water company’s protest persists, it could exacerbate the chronic water crisis in the enclave, which was worsened by two years of war.
Israel stopped all water and electricity supply to Gaza early in the war, but resumed some supplies later.
Most water and sanitation infrastructure has been destroyed, and pumps from an aquifer only rely on electricity from small generators, for which fuel is rarely available.
Along The Israel-Gaza Border, There’s One Path To Peace: Eliminating Hamas – Aviva Kiompas
When the UN Security Council approved a US-backed resolution Monday (17th) to deploy an International Stabilization Force in Gaza, it acknowledged a core truth: The security vacuum that enabled Oct. 7 cannot be allowed to return. Two realities must remain immovable as the world designs Gaza’s future: Hamas cannot retain any foothold, and Israel cannot be expected to outsource its security to external actors.
Last week, I traveled to Kibbutz Nir Oz, where 117 of its 415 residents were murdered or kidnapped on Oct. 7. I walked around with Irit Lahav, who hid in her home with her daughter for 12 hours as Hamas terrorists tried five separate times to break down her door. She jammed a boat oar beneath the handle and prayed it would hold.
Before the attack, Irit believed deeply in coexistence. She was one of the many Gaza-border Israelis who advocated for Palestinians and regularly drove sick Gazans to Israeli hospitals. “I thought the Palestinians were good people like me who want peace,” Irit told me. “Now I understand they really, really hate us and they think that rape, murder, and kidnapping are legitimate.”
Two days later, I stood in Sajaiya in Gaza, a former Hamas stronghold. From Sajaiya, I could see the homes of Nahal Oz,, another Israeli border community a five-minute drive away. The distance between a Hamas command complex and the homes of Israeli families is measured in minutes.
What happened in Nir Oz and the other border communities was the predictable result of leaving a heavily armed, ideologically driven movement embedded minutes from Israeli homes. Two years later, the threat remains. Tunnels still run beneath Gaza, weapons caches remain, and Hamas’ ideology is wholly intact. No international plan can succeed while this reality persists.
The writer is a former speechwriting director at the Israel Mission to the UN. (New York Post)
Military Intelligence: “The Plan To Annihilate Israel Remains Alive And Operational” –Nadav Shragai
• Donald Trump once confessed he was “drawn almost pathologically to complex deals, partly because they tend to be more interesting.” This approach succeeded spectacularly in securing the release of hostages from Gaza, both living and deceased.
• Yet Phase 2 of the Gaza ceasefire agreement has emerged so far as an illusion. Hamas, just like Hezbollah, harbors no dreams of disarmament. It shows absolutely no interest, and its leaders discuss this candidly. Hamas is reconstructing command and control systems, having already deployed 7,500 operatives across the Gaza territory remaining under its authority.
• It has resumed street patrols, salary payments, and tax collection. Its members break arms and legs of anyone questioning their continued rule, restore tunnels, manufacture weapons anew, and settle accounts with armed clans that assisted Israel before the ceasefire.
• Gaza isn’t simply a minor irritant, it constitutes the core issue because from there was launched Oct. 7 and Israel’s destruction blueprint, coordinated with Iran and its proxies. A senior military intelligence official recently informed cabinet ministers that “the plan to annihilate Israel remains alive and operational, with Oct. 7 continuing to inspire all Israel’s regional enemies.”
• Trump’s America presumes that economic enticements provide the key, and that every problem features a deal awaiting signatures once proper incentives materialize. But business principles don’t govern everything. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict encompasses identity, religion, security, and national aspiration dimensions, and that Gaza residents and Hamas are especially identical.
• The hatred culture centered on Israel’s destruction cannot be eliminated through financial means. Israel and its military possess genuine motivation and capability – now with no living hostages remaining in Gaza – to complete the mission there and strip Hamas of weaponry. Trump’s peace vision might potentially materialize only after Hamas’ Gaza elimination.
Iran: Surrounded By Water With Nothing To Drink – AJ Caschetta, Middle East Forum
“Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink, “ from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, is a suitable motto for the Islamic Republic of Iran.
With the Persian Gulf in the Southwest, the Sea of Oman in the South, and the Caspian Sea (an inland brackish water lake) in the North, Iran is surrounded by water, yet there is very little to drink.
Iran’s experts, of course, blame Israel and the US, for manipulating the weather and causing a drought so severe that the Islamic Republic’s President says he may “have to evacuate Tehran.”
“If only Khomeini, Khamenei and the many Mullahs had spent their money on desalination plants instead of nuclear facilities, the people of Iran would not be facing death from dehydration.
According to a new report by The Middle East Forum, Iran is at the precipice of “water bankruptcy” stemming from “the regime’s profound failure to adapt in a region where other arid states have successfully implemented sustainable water management strategies.”
Whereas, its neighbors have long-planned for the absence of rainy days, investing in the infrastructure to provide water for its subjects, the Islamic Republic has wasted all its resources for foolishly pursuing nuclear weapons.
Iran’s neighbors, on the other hand, have invested their resources differently.
Kuwait built 8 desalination plants that provide 93% of the necessary drinking water to its 5 million people.
Qatar built 109 desalination plants that provide 48% of the drinking water to its 3 million people, and the UAE built 70 plants that provide 42% of its drinking water for 11 million people.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest producer of desalinated water, built 30 “super plants” that provide more than half of drinking water to its 34 million subjects.
Iran’s desalination plants, however, provide a mere 3% of the potable water for its 92 million thirsty people.
It was one of the last nations in the Middle East to begin installing desalination plants, and they are small and inefficient, mostly relying on old technology and antiquated methods.
In spite of Iran’s efforts to ramp up its desalination capabilities, the situation is dire and will likely amount to too little, too late.
Blinded by its nuclear ambition and hatred of Israel and the US, Iran has unwisely spent its money on expensive nuclear reactors and even more expensive nuclear bombs.
In Iran, we can assume that the total price tag is costly, with the added expense of burying facilities deep underground, which probably makes the total even more.
On top of the money Iran has spent on nuclear reactors, it has also spent untold billions on enrichment facilities, many of them also subterranean.
It has spent liberally on research and development into trigger systems and the ballistic missiles to deliver bombs,
By contrast, a desalination plant costs in the millions of dollars. In 2010 Texas put the price at $658 million for a 100 MGD desalination plant.
Today, a desalination plant might run $1 billion. That means that for every 20 billion-dollar nuclear site built, Iran might have built 20 state-of-the-art desalination plants.
Without a steady supply of desalinated sea water, Iran has resorted to unsound policies to provide potable water, causing great harm to the land.
These policies have led to drastic groundwater depletion, according to the Middle East Forum report, causing Iran’s cities to literally sink into the ground due to “aquifer compaction,” putting the nation well along the path to “aquifer death.”
Of course, the Islamic Republic will never acknowledge the folly of its ways, instead it will continue to blame the US and Israel, where 5 major desalination plants provide 80% of the nation’s (Israel’s) drinking water.
The irony of Iran’s situation is that the entire world would step up to help the people of Iran avoid impending disaster were their nation not run by a bellicose government motivated by hatred. And Israel–the object of that hatred–would be among the nations most willing to help,
