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Israel Today: Ongoing War Report - Update from 2026-02-16 at 08:02
Published 2 weeks ago
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HEADLINES
IRGC Drills Hormuz Strait, Raising Tensions
Hamas Uses Emojis to Signal Mobilization
Israeli Court Weighs Gazan Patients' Entry
The time is now 8:02 AM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.
In the conflict with Iran and its Regional Proxies, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps navy conducted a combined live and targeted drill in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, named "Smart Control of Hormuz Strait," to test the readiness of naval operations and review security plans for reciprocal action in the maritime domain, overseen by IRGC Commander-in-Chief Major General Mohammad Pakpour. Iranian officials described the exercise as aimed at ensuring readiness against possible security and military threats. The IRGC report said the drill would deliver a decisive response to any anti-security plots in the maritime domain, as Tehran braces for potential action by the United States and has recently fortified nuclear facilities damaged in June. Retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward, former deputy commander of US Central Command, said Iran has been increasing inflammatory rhetoric and appears to be preparing for confrontation with the United States.
In the Disputed Territories (Gaza, Judea and Samaria, East Jerusalem), Hamas used emojis as code before Oct 7, according to a Jerusalem Post roundup of top stories. Findings from an IDF General Staff investigation indicate Hamas’s military wing began sending coded emoji messages on WhatsApp to operatives’ phones just hours before the October 7, 2023 attack, signaling operatives to mobilize to mosques for last-minute instructions, where they received briefings and were directed to retrieve equipment from home or pre-stocked combat bags. Some operatives were instructed to replace Palestinian SIM cards with Israeli ones to disrupt Israeli intelligence tracking. The IDF probe describe multiple indicators overnight suggesting Hamas was moving toward a broad attack. Separately, Israel’s top court is set to hear a petition demanding the government grant entry to thousands of Gazan patients and their families. And six more Hamas terrorists were eliminated inside the tunnels east of Rafah.
In US Policy Concerning Israel, EU Commissioner Dubravka Suica will travel to Washington to attend a meeting of the Board of Peace as an observer, in a show of EU participation focused on Gaza ceasefire and post-war recovery, with Brussels stressing it is not joining the board as a member and that no commitment has been made yet. The invitation to the EU comes after President Trump invited the bloc to join the talks, a proposal Brussels has viewed cautiously. Separately, Israel’s Foreign Minister hosted Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen in Jerusalem, the first such visit since 2016, a gathering described as a potential step in strengthening ties between the two countries.
In Antisemitism and Anti-Jewish Hate, a coalition of minority ethnic psychologists within the American Psychological Association has rejected recognizing the Association of Jewish Psychologists as an Ethnic Psychological Association, arguing that most Jews identify as white and cautioning against conflating religion, race and ethnicity, a move the coalition says could obscure issues of racism and white privilege. The coalition, the Coalition of National Racial and Ethnic Psychological Associations, represents about 2,000 members across six groups. In the UK, a minister writes that Britain remains committed to its Jewish community and will stand against antisemitism, noting that antisemitic incidents in 2025 were among the highest recorded, underscoring a global challenge since the Hamas attack in October 2023.
In Israeli Domestic Politics, seven suspects were detained for allegedly defrauding wartime evacuation grants by changing their registered home addresses to northern Israel to create the impression they ha
IRGC Drills Hormuz Strait, Raising Tensions
Hamas Uses Emojis to Signal Mobilization
Israeli Court Weighs Gazan Patients' Entry
The time is now 8:02 AM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.
In the conflict with Iran and its Regional Proxies, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps navy conducted a combined live and targeted drill in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, named "Smart Control of Hormuz Strait," to test the readiness of naval operations and review security plans for reciprocal action in the maritime domain, overseen by IRGC Commander-in-Chief Major General Mohammad Pakpour. Iranian officials described the exercise as aimed at ensuring readiness against possible security and military threats. The IRGC report said the drill would deliver a decisive response to any anti-security plots in the maritime domain, as Tehran braces for potential action by the United States and has recently fortified nuclear facilities damaged in June. Retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward, former deputy commander of US Central Command, said Iran has been increasing inflammatory rhetoric and appears to be preparing for confrontation with the United States.
In the Disputed Territories (Gaza, Judea and Samaria, East Jerusalem), Hamas used emojis as code before Oct 7, according to a Jerusalem Post roundup of top stories. Findings from an IDF General Staff investigation indicate Hamas’s military wing began sending coded emoji messages on WhatsApp to operatives’ phones just hours before the October 7, 2023 attack, signaling operatives to mobilize to mosques for last-minute instructions, where they received briefings and were directed to retrieve equipment from home or pre-stocked combat bags. Some operatives were instructed to replace Palestinian SIM cards with Israeli ones to disrupt Israeli intelligence tracking. The IDF probe describe multiple indicators overnight suggesting Hamas was moving toward a broad attack. Separately, Israel’s top court is set to hear a petition demanding the government grant entry to thousands of Gazan patients and their families. And six more Hamas terrorists were eliminated inside the tunnels east of Rafah.
In US Policy Concerning Israel, EU Commissioner Dubravka Suica will travel to Washington to attend a meeting of the Board of Peace as an observer, in a show of EU participation focused on Gaza ceasefire and post-war recovery, with Brussels stressing it is not joining the board as a member and that no commitment has been made yet. The invitation to the EU comes after President Trump invited the bloc to join the talks, a proposal Brussels has viewed cautiously. Separately, Israel’s Foreign Minister hosted Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen in Jerusalem, the first such visit since 2016, a gathering described as a potential step in strengthening ties between the two countries.
In Antisemitism and Anti-Jewish Hate, a coalition of minority ethnic psychologists within the American Psychological Association has rejected recognizing the Association of Jewish Psychologists as an Ethnic Psychological Association, arguing that most Jews identify as white and cautioning against conflating religion, race and ethnicity, a move the coalition says could obscure issues of racism and white privilege. The coalition, the Coalition of National Racial and Ethnic Psychological Associations, represents about 2,000 members across six groups. In the UK, a minister writes that Britain remains committed to its Jewish community and will stand against antisemitism, noting that antisemitic incidents in 2025 were among the highest recorded, underscoring a global challenge since the Hamas attack in October 2023.
In Israeli Domestic Politics, seven suspects were detained for allegedly defrauding wartime evacuation grants by changing their registered home addresses to northern Israel to create the impression they ha