News Digest — 4/7/26
Leaked Document: Mojtaba Khamenei Unresponsive In Hospital, IRGC Running War
A report by The Times that Iran’s newly declared Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been incapacitated since the start of the war and is currently hospitalized in serious condition in the city of Qom.
According to the report, which cites a classified diplomatic memo, Mojtaba Khamenei was named supreme leader following the death of his father. However, since his appointment, he has reportedly taken no active role in governing or decision-making. Instead, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is said to be effectively managing the country’s affairs.
In recent days, Iranian authorities released footage showing Khamenei allegedly overseeing operations from a “war room.” But international analysts who examined the video have raised doubts about its authenticity, concluding it was likely generated using artificial intelligence.
Their assessment is based on several factors, including the absence of any accompanying audio of Khamenei addressing current events, his lack of visible response to major wartime developments, and technical analysis of the footage. Experts pointed to irregularities in facial movements and pixel patterns that suggest advanced digital manipulation designed to present an illusion of his active leadership.
Report: Hamas Given Deadline To Agree To Gaza Disarmament By End Of Week
The Board Of Peace, an initiative launched by U.S. president Gonald Trump to establish and rebuild the Gaza Strip, is increasing pressure on Hamas. According to a report published Monday (6th) in The New York Times , the body has set a deadline for the group to agree to a disarmament framework in Gaza by the end of the coming week.
According to diplomatic officials involved in the talks, the international body established to oversee a ceasefire that has been in place for six months is demanding that Hamas commit to dismantling nearly all of its weapons arsenal and provide detailed maps of its underground tunnel network.
The move reflects both the U.S. administration’s desire to secure a stable, long-term ceasefire and growing impatience with Hamas, as the United States and Israel focus on additional fronts involving Iran and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon.
Representatives of the Board of Peace and Hamas are expected to meet in Cairo in an effort to finalize an agreement by the end of the week. However, officials familiar with the details said the deadline could still change.
According to International Board of Peace documents, if a disarmament agreement is reached, IDF troops are expected to withdraw from most or all of the Gaza Strip, long-standing restrictions on the entry of essential goods would be lifted, armed operatives would receive amnesty and temporary housing units would be brought in for displaced residents.
The proposal was delivered to Hamas leadership by Nckolay Mladenov, a senior Board of Peace official on Gaza affairs. Mladenov also hinted over the weekend that refusal could carry serious consequences, writing, “Whoever does not cross the river will drown in the sea.”
At the same time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that Israel would act to disarm Hamas by force if the group does not agree to do so as a part of an agreement. Hamas has continued to reject the demand. Abu Obeida, spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing, said the group would not agree to give up its weapons in negotiations when Israel had failed to achieve that goal on the battlefield. He added that discussing disarmament “in this way” is an attempt to continue harming Palestinians and called on Israel to first meet its commitments under the October 2025 ceasefire agreement.
Hamas has accused Israel of failing to uphold its obligations, particularly regarding what it describes as insufficient humanitarian aid entering Gaza and continued strikes despite the ceasefire. Over the weekend Hamas leaders held talks in Istanbul with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Arab and Turkish officials are pressing the group to take a more pragmatic approach to the disarmament plan.
Within Hamas, however, some view disarmament as tantamount to surrender. Alongside diplomatic pressure, there are also internal dynamics in Gaza, where many residents, in light of widespread destruction, support an agreement that would allow reconstruction. International officials have made clear that rebuilding the territory and the flow of aid are contingent on Hamas’ disarmament.
For now, gaps between the sides remain wide, and the coming days could prove decisive for the future of a settlement in the Gaza Strip.
4.7–Magnitude Earthquake Off Lebanon Coast Felt In Northern Israel
A 4.7-magnitude earthquake struck the eastern Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Lebanon on Monday morning (6th) and was felt in parts of northern Israel, the Energy and Infrastructure Ministry said.
There were no reports of injuries or damage.
The Geological Institute said the quake occurred at 10:52 a.m., noting that the magnitude was a preliminary assessment and may be updated.
The quake occurred some 39 miles west of Tyre at a depth of 6 miles below sea level, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).
Reports from northern Israel indicated that the earthquake was primarily felt from Haifa north to Nahariya, the Ynet news site said.
Noa, a resident of Nahariya, told the site: “The house really, really moved. The floor moved. It was very strong.”
Dvir, a resident of Haifa, was at the site where rescuers were working to recover the bodies of four people from under the rubble of a building hit by an Iranian missile yesterday (Sunday, 5th).
He told Ynet: “We’re working here to rescue people, and for a moment it seemed the house was shaking. We thought it was because of all the cranes, but it turned out to be an earthquake.”
Residents of Lebanon also reported feeling the quake, according to reports in Arabic media.
Israel’s western areas straddle the seismically active Syrian-African Rift, a region in which experts estimate that a major earthquake occurs every 80 to 100 years. The last major tremor struck in 1927, killing 500 people and injuring 700, and there are fears that the next one may be imminent.
According to officials speaking to the Knesset last November, Israel remains woefully unprepared for a major earthquake, despite more than 20 years of warning and repeated state audits highlighting systemic gaps.
Israelis Show Growing Interest In Learning Persian, School Says
As the war with Iran continues to shape daily life in Israel, one of the country’s largest language schools is seeing growing interest in an unexpected direction: Persian.
Dialogue, a long-established language school at Israel’s Open University that teaches a wide range of languages, will be offering Farsi classes in the summer, the school manager told The Press Service of Israel (TPS–IL)..
“Over the past year,we received a number of inquiries from people interested in the possibility of learning Persian, which we had not taught before. So we decided to take up the challenge and build a new course to teach the language,” Tamir Agasi, the school manager told TPS-IL.
For Dialogue, which has been operating for 42 years, the introduction of Persian marks a new challenge, particularly because the reason for the heightened interest remains unclear, according to Agasi.
“We do not know the reasons for the rise in interest. We do not know if it is because of the geopolitical situation, but there is interest,” she said.
Interest in learning Persian has been rising globally in recent years, particularly in academic settings.
According to the U.S.-based Modern Language Association, university enrollments in Persian in the United States increased by more than 80 percent in the early 2000s.
The MLA linked the demand for Persian studies to broader international developments, noting that interest in the language tends to rise alongside political and cultural engagement with Iran.
The new course is designed to provide students with basic communication skills, including the ability to introduce themselves, tell simple stories, and manage everyday situations, Agasi said. The focus, she added, is on practical spoken language.
What makes the move notable is that Open University courses are open to the public, not just degree-seeking students.
Dialogue’s teaching staff includes instructors who speak Persian at home, as well as those who have normally studied the language, Agasi said.
Israel’s Persian community is estimated at around 250,000 people, though only about 50,000 were actually born in Iran, with the rest being second or third generation Israelis of Iranian descent.
The Israel-Iran War began on February 28 with a joint Israeli-American strike that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Since then, Iran has launched missile attacks on Israel and Gulf States, while Israel and the United States have continued to strike targets in Iran.
The first course is expected to open in June, with up to 20 participants, and will be conducted entirely online, Agasi said.
Myths Of The Iran War – Tzachi Hanegbi
One myth related to the war is that if enriched uranium remains in Iran, the war has failed. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran possesses 411 kg. of uranium enriched up to 60%. Israel and the US never intended to deploy thousands of troops deep inside Iran to seize nuclear facilities. Absent a comprehensive agreement to remove the uranium as part of a deal, the approach is to monitor suspected sites and, if necessary, act against them from the air.
In any case, Iran’s enrichment facilities have been completely disabled, and it is doubtful they can be restored to operation anytime soon. Moreover, Iran has yet to achieve a breakthrough that would allow it to build an actual weapon system. Over the past year, many of the senior scientists involved in these efforts have been killed. Without the ability to develop a weapon, the uranium Iran possesses has no practical significance.
The claim that Trump was misled by Israel reflects a misunderstanding of US decision-making culture. American presidents formulate policy based solely on their country’s interests. The decisive consideration guiding the White House is what serves the American people. The notion that a US president makes crucial national security decisions based on assessments presented by Israeli leaders or Mossad officials runs counter to longstanding American practice.
Another myth is that it is possible to decisively defeat Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah or the Houthis once and for all. There is no way to guarantee that even a clear military defeat will end an adversary’s motivation to pursue its objectives, recognizing that capabilities can be rebuilt. Phrases such as “once and for all” amount to speculation.
Even after Israel’s decisive victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, when its military defeated the armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan, within a few years, Egypt launched the War of Attrition and in 1973, together with Syria, carried out a large-scale surprise attack against Israel. So victories may have an expiration date. As we repeated at the Passover Seder, in every generation there are those who rise up to destroy us.
The writer served as Israel’s national Securitty Advisor from 2023 to 2025.
Reserve Duty, Again – Mois Navon
If your country is under attack, every able-bodied citizen should realize that his life, the lives of his loved ones, and the very life of the nation are at stake. Duty is based on responsibility. Good people do not do good because everyone else does good, but because that is what good people do. And there is no greater good than defending the nation of Israel.
This, really, is the key. For 2,000 years, the Jewish people lived in exile, defenseless, subject to the whims of antisemites. We were burdened with special taxes, barred from schools and institutions, banned from professions and social clubs, and confined to ghettos. A Holocaust survivor once took me aside at an Independence Day celebration, looked deep into my eyes, and said, “You have no idea what it means to live in a world without the State of Israel.”
Today, thanks to the existence of our own country, we not only study at the first-rate schools in the world; we establish them. We not only work in the professions of our choice; we lead them. We not only live in thriving cities; we build them. But without a strong and resilient defense force, none of this great good is possible
Without the sacrifice of our citizen soldiers who come to the defense of our nation, there is no flourishing nation of Israel. As hard as it is – and there is no question that it is hard – it is the most important thing you can do. So yes: reserve duty, again.
The writer, one of the founding engineers of Mobileye, serves as an advisor to Israel’s Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology.
