News Digest — 5/19/26
Hamas Names New Gaza Military Chief After Haddad Assassination, Report Says
Three days after the assassination of Hamas military chief in Gaza, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the Iran-backed terrorist group has chosen his successor, three Hamas officials told the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday (18th).
According to the report, Mohammed Odeh, a close aid to Haddad, was chosen to lead the group’s military wing. Odeh was in continuous contact with Haddad, especially during an “organizational reconstructing” process carried out after the killings of former Hamas military commanders Mohammed Deif and Mohammed Sinwar.
Odeh is one of the few senior Hamas military commanders still alive from the time of the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. He headed Hamas’ intelligence headquarters at the time of the massacre. The IDF first released his photo last September.
After Mohammed Sinwar was killed in May 2025, Odeh was offered the post of Hamas military chief but refused, leading to Haddad’s appointment, the report said. Two other sources however, said they did not have confirmed information about the offer or Odeh’s refusal.
The sources said Odeh now has few serious rivals for the role because of his senior standing in the terrorist organization’s military council and the weakening of its other members during the war.
Odeh reportedly took command of Hamas’ northern Gaza brigade after Ahmed Ghandor was killed in November 2023. He may also have received additional powers, including those held by Raad Saad, who was described as Hamas’ chief of staff before he was killed in an Israeli strike last December.
In a photo released by the IDF showing senior Hamas military commanders in Gaza at the time of the Oct. 7 attack, Odeh is the only one who has not been killed, apart from Emad Akel, head of Hamas’ home front headquarters in Gaza.
A senior Hamas official confirmed to Reuters over the weekend that Haddad was killed in an Israeli Air Force strike on Friday (15th) in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood. His body was identified by family members. Mosques announced his death and his funeral began shortly afterward.
Odeh has been mentioned as having survived several assassination attempts during the war and before it. He is also described as a figure who has operated under constant threat.
Nearly 80% Of Gazans Open To Emigrating From Strip COGAT Survey Finds – Exclusive
Nearly 80% of Gazans are interested in emigrating from the Gaza Strip, according to a recent survey the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) shared with senior Israeli officials.
The findings, seen by The Jerusalem Post, underscore growing frustration among Gaza’s civilian population as Hamas continues to refuse to disarm – a key condition in the plan presented by US President Donald Trump and a central element in efforts toward postwar reconstruction.
As part of the survey conducted by COGAT, respondents were asked which issues they would like “additional information about for the Palestinian public.”
Nearly 80% said they were interested in receiving information about mechanisms for relocating to a third country through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings. Another 17.5% sought additional information about food supplies and humanitarian aid, while only about 2.5% expressed interest in medical humanitarian issues.
Israeli officials viewed the findings as evidence that a substantial portion of Gaza’s population is focused primarily on opportunities to leave the territory, as prospects for reconstruction and long-term change remain remote.
Since the war began following the October 7 massacre, more than 44,000 Gazans – including medical patients and individuals holding visas for third countries have exited the Strip through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings. Approximately 2,500 departed through the Rafah after the crossing reopened in February under the ceasefire arrangement,
Some Israeli officials believe the true number of Gazans interested in leaving may be significantly higher.
“It is possible that some respondents did not fully understand the question or may have been reluctant to express their views openly,” an Israeli security official said during the discussion
Additionally, COGAT facilitated the entry of 30,000 humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza between May 10 and May 14, according to a Monday (18th) release.
The operation included a large shipment of engine oil to ensure the continued operation of UN Humanitarian facilities.
The group also reported that over 440 tons of medical equipment were delivered to Gaza during the week, including 10 trucks of medicine and medical supplies provided by the World Health Organization (WHO). COGAT also supported approximately 130 Gazans who were evacuated to Jordan via the Kerem Shalom Crossing.
‘Active Pause’ – U.S. Quietly Backing IDF Operations Against Hezbollah During Ceasefire – Report
The United States’ decision to extend the ceasefire framework in Lebanon for another 45 days has effectively given Israel additional time to continue military operations against Hezbollah, according to an Israel Hayom report published Monday (18th).
The report said the U.S. announcement came while Israeli forces were carrying out extensive operations in Lebanon, including after Golani troops crossed the Litani River and as Hezbollah was attacking IDF soldiers with explosive drones.
Sources cited in the report described the arrangement not as a true ceasefire but as an “active pause” that allows Israel to keep targeting Hezbollah threats in southern Lebanon.
According to the report, officials in the Israeli government view Washington’s move as tacit approval for another 45 days of Israeli action against Hezbollah.
The article said that behind the formal language of a ceasefire, Israel is preserving freedom of action along the northern front.
The report said the ceasefire label remains useful to Washington, Beirut and Jerusalem because it maintains a diplomatic framework for ongoing talks while avoiding a formal declaration that the fighting has resumed.
But on the ground Israel Hayom said, IDF forces continue to operate, and Hezbollah is still trying to wear down Israeli troops
Israeli officials compared the current situation in Lebanon to the Gaza Strip, where Israel has continued targeted operations during the shaky ceasefire.
The report also pointed to growing frustration among the residents of northern Israel, many of whom have spent years under the threat from Hezbollah.
The debate is also playing out inside the Israeli government.
According to the report, some ministers favor moving quickly toward an agreement and shortening the interim period. While others want to expand the campaign against Hezbollah until the Lebanese government is able to push the group back more effectively.
Some also support further action against Iran to prevent Hezbollah from rearming, even as the Trump administration continues its efforts to bring Iran back to the negotiating table.
Netanyahu Praises Soldiers For Stopping Gaza Flotilla From Turkey
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived Monday (18th) at the navy command bunker located at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
The Prime Minister was accompanied on the visit by Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff LTG. Eyal Zamir. During the visit, the Prime Minister received a detailed professional briefing from navy Commander MG. Eyal Harel.
Netanyahu and the senior officials watched during the visit as the Navy forces took control of the pro-terror flotilla that had set sail from Turkish ports.
The vessels participating in the flotilla sailed with the aim of reaching the security blockade on Gaza and the forces operated at sea to halt the ships’ advance and prevent them from reaching their destination.
While in the command bunker, Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke by radio with the commander of Shayetet 3 and, through him, conveyed praise to the soldiers taking part in the operation at sea.
“Please convey my greetings to all the soldiers of the force. I think you are doing an exceptional job, both in the first flotilla and in this part, and in effect you are thwarting a malicious plan intended to break the isolation we are imposing on the Hamas terrorists in Gaza,” Netanyahu said.
“You are doing this with great success, and I must also say quietly, and certainly with less visibility than our enemies expected, so heartfelt congratulations. Continue until the end. The water looks simply wonderful. I would like to be with you.”
My Children Teach Me About Israeli Resilience – Sari Nossbaum
In February, when the war with Iran started, my family and I were in the French Alps and our flight home was canceled. When we were offered a “rescue” flight five days later and seriously considered remaining abroad, I was met with resistance from my children. My oldest, who is 13, insisted. “We need to go home. We have to be there through the good and the bad.”
After Oct. 7, 2023, my husband and I quietly discussed whether we should leave the country temporarily until things settled down. Later, my oldest daughter asked me, “Mommy, how can we leave? There are people on the frontlines for us!” Then she added: “It’s okay. We’ll have something to tell our grandchildren.” She was 11 years old.
There is still a part of me that wishes I could shield them from all of it. But I’m starting to realize that the traits they are forming – strength, adaptability, and perspective – will serve them far better in the long run. My children are living with purpose. It is impossible not to notice the quiet resilience that so many children here are displaying.
They are not seeking an easy way out. They are stepping into the reality around them with a strength that I deeply admire. There is a sense of responsibility that feels far beyond their years, an understanding that they are part of something bigger than themselves. (Jerusalem Post)
The EU’s Distorted Narrative On Settler Violence – Herb Keinon
The EU’s decision recently to sanction settlement organizations under the guise of “settler violence” was praised by Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot who said, “Extremism and violence carry consequences.” If only that were true. If it were true, then Belgium, along with Britain, France, Canada and Australia, would not have rewarded the Palestinians with statehood recognition in the fall of 2025, less than two years after Palestinians in Gaza carried out mass acts of unspeakable barbarism.
No, this measure is about drawing a distorted equivalence between Israelis and Hamas. Prime Minister Netanyahu said Europe had exposed its moral bankruptcy by drawing a false symmetry between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists.”
Let’s be clear there are acts of violence by Jews against Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, and they are deplorable. They should be unequivocally condemned and prosecuted under the law. But acknowledging the existence of violent incidents is not the same thing as accepting the grotesquely inflated narrative that has grown around it.
Between 2019 and 2022 there were 24,808 incidents of Palestinian stone-throwing and firebomb attacks against Jews – not including shootings, stabbings or explosive devices. Yet it is “settler violence” that has become the focus of international sanctions campaigns and diplomatic outrage. Why? Because this is about delegitimization.
The organizations targeted by the EU included Amana, which deals with developing and financing Jewish communities, and Regavim, which focuses on opposing illegal Palestinian construction on state land, including projects supported by the EU. That is what this is really about.
As Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar explained, Israel “will continue to stand for the right of Jews to settle in the heart of our homeland,” and “no other people in the world has such a documented and longstanding right to its land as the Jewish people have to the Land of Israel.”
When the EU adopts a narrative that inflates fringe violence into a defining characteristic of the more than 900,000 Jews living beyond the Green Line, including Jerusalem, while downplaying decades of Palestinian terrorism, it ceases to be an honest broker, loses its ability to be taken seriously in Israel, and instead becomes a political actor advancing a predetermined outcome.
