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Israel Today: Ongoing War Report - Update from 2026-01-18 at 16:07
Published 1 month, 1 week ago
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HEADLINES
Egypt Joins Gaza oversight at Kiryat Gat
Kurdish fronts crumble as Syria advances
Israel debates independent Oct 7 inquiry
The time is now 11:00 AM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.
At 11:00 AM, a fast-moving set of developments shapes the region’s security and diplomacy, with Israel at the center of a widening web of governance, alliances, and competing visions for Gaza’s future. In Jerusalem, Israeli officials are watching closely as a new phase of regional involvement takes shape around the Gaza ceasefire framework. Egypt has joined Jordan and the United Arab Emirates as the third Arab country to send a delegation to the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat, a site created in October 2025 to shift management of the Gaza ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and the postwar planning process into allied hands. The presence of Egyptian officials at the CMCC alongside Jordan and UAE representatives signals a growing regional footprint in overseeing Gaza’s transition, even as questions persist about how such oversight will operate and how information sharing will be safeguarded.
From Jerusalem’s vantage point, the arrangement reflects a pragmatic balance: partners in the region contributing to a mechanism designed to reduce direct Israeli burden and to coordinate humanitarian and reconstruction efforts, while Israel continues to emphasize security guarantees and control over critical decision points. Israel’s government has repeatedly stressed that any postwar governance must preserve security controls, ensure reliable protection for civilians, and avoid arrangements that could be perceived as undermining Israel’s sovereignty or its security apparatus. At the same time, there is awareness in Israel that the United States has sought to institutionalize a broader, more multinational approach to Gaza’s management, a shift that accompanies Washington’s broader effort to calibrate regional diplomacy around a long-term stabilizing framework.
Across the region, the picture remains unsettled in Syria and its borderlands. Kurdish authorities in the northeast say the current government offensive has moved into territory long controlled by the US-backed SDF, seizing towns along the Euphrates and the area’s oil and gas infrastructure. Kurdish leaders describe a difficult moment, urging Washington to intervene more forcefully to halt the Syrian advance and to provide assurances of protection for Kurdish forces. They insist their goal is not independence but a future within a unified Syria, with greater guarantees for minority and regional rights. Washington, meanwhile, is caught between preserving the gains made against ISIS and supporting Syria’s government push to reassert control over crossing lines that have long defined the country’s political map. France has spoken with President Bashar al-Assad to express concern about the ongoing offensive, emphasizing the need to avoid further destabilization in a country already torn by war. The United States has called for de-escalation, urging restraint and a clear path to political stability, while Kurdish leaders stress that any durable arrangement must be mutual, credible, and free of coercive settlements that could erase the realities of Kurdish autonomy at the local level.
In the same theater, a Syrian government advance into the northeast has seen claims of significant territorial gains, with government forces reportedly moving toward Raqqa and Hasakah, and taking control of key oil and gas fields along the Euphrates. The tension here is stark: the Kurdish-led administration has been a major US partner against ISIS, yet it now faces a government push backed by tribal forces and a broader Arab majority in the region. The question now is whether the US and its coalition partners can reconcile competing priorities—preserving Kurdish political influence and the ant
Egypt Joins Gaza oversight at Kiryat Gat
Kurdish fronts crumble as Syria advances
Israel debates independent Oct 7 inquiry
The time is now 11:00 AM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.
At 11:00 AM, a fast-moving set of developments shapes the region’s security and diplomacy, with Israel at the center of a widening web of governance, alliances, and competing visions for Gaza’s future. In Jerusalem, Israeli officials are watching closely as a new phase of regional involvement takes shape around the Gaza ceasefire framework. Egypt has joined Jordan and the United Arab Emirates as the third Arab country to send a delegation to the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat, a site created in October 2025 to shift management of the Gaza ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and the postwar planning process into allied hands. The presence of Egyptian officials at the CMCC alongside Jordan and UAE representatives signals a growing regional footprint in overseeing Gaza’s transition, even as questions persist about how such oversight will operate and how information sharing will be safeguarded.
From Jerusalem’s vantage point, the arrangement reflects a pragmatic balance: partners in the region contributing to a mechanism designed to reduce direct Israeli burden and to coordinate humanitarian and reconstruction efforts, while Israel continues to emphasize security guarantees and control over critical decision points. Israel’s government has repeatedly stressed that any postwar governance must preserve security controls, ensure reliable protection for civilians, and avoid arrangements that could be perceived as undermining Israel’s sovereignty or its security apparatus. At the same time, there is awareness in Israel that the United States has sought to institutionalize a broader, more multinational approach to Gaza’s management, a shift that accompanies Washington’s broader effort to calibrate regional diplomacy around a long-term stabilizing framework.
Across the region, the picture remains unsettled in Syria and its borderlands. Kurdish authorities in the northeast say the current government offensive has moved into territory long controlled by the US-backed SDF, seizing towns along the Euphrates and the area’s oil and gas infrastructure. Kurdish leaders describe a difficult moment, urging Washington to intervene more forcefully to halt the Syrian advance and to provide assurances of protection for Kurdish forces. They insist their goal is not independence but a future within a unified Syria, with greater guarantees for minority and regional rights. Washington, meanwhile, is caught between preserving the gains made against ISIS and supporting Syria’s government push to reassert control over crossing lines that have long defined the country’s political map. France has spoken with President Bashar al-Assad to express concern about the ongoing offensive, emphasizing the need to avoid further destabilization in a country already torn by war. The United States has called for de-escalation, urging restraint and a clear path to political stability, while Kurdish leaders stress that any durable arrangement must be mutual, credible, and free of coercive settlements that could erase the realities of Kurdish autonomy at the local level.
In the same theater, a Syrian government advance into the northeast has seen claims of significant territorial gains, with government forces reportedly moving toward Raqqa and Hasakah, and taking control of key oil and gas fields along the Euphrates. The tension here is stark: the Kurdish-led administration has been a major US partner against ISIS, yet it now faces a government push backed by tribal forces and a broader Arab majority in the region. The question now is whether the US and its coalition partners can reconcile competing priorities—preserving Kurdish political influence and the ant