Israel Today: Ongoing War Report - Update from 2025-11-07 at 18:06

HEADLINES PIJ to hand over body tonight West Bank olive violence flares amid harvest US weighs war crimes risk in Gaza The time is now 1:01 PM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report. This is a 1:00 PM update on the evolving situation across Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and related regional and international dynamics. In Gaza, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad has said it will hand over a body of an Israeli tonight for transfer to the Red Cross and then to Israeli forces for identification. Hamas says there are significant difficulties in returning the remaining hostages’ bodies held in the Strip, highlighting ongoing complications in a wider effort to resolve captivity and the humanitarian toll of the war. Official counts continue to vary; Gaza health authorities say the death toll has risen to well over sixty-eight thousand people in Gaza since the conflict intensified, with the toll among civilians a central point of international concern, while the Israeli military emphasizes that a large share of those killed are combatants and stresses its objective of dismantling Hamas and limiting civilian casualties as much as possible. In the West Bank, a surge of violence during the olive harvest season has drawn attention to long-standing tensions. Video footage published by Arabic-language outlets appears to show settlers cutting down olive trees in Susya, in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron. Palestinian witnesses describe additional incidents of vandalism and assaults on olive pickers in Sinjil and elsewhere, with reports that security forces entered homes and removed security footage. Authorities have not announced arrests in connection with these latest incidents, and if confirmed, they would add to a broader pattern of settler-linked violence in the area that has persisted since the Hamas-onset in 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza. On the diplomatic and legal front, new reporting from Washington and foreign policy channels describes a US internal debate over intelligence indicating that Israeli military lawyers had questions about the legality of certain tactics used in Gaza. The materials described by former US officials suggest concerns about potential war crimes considerations, yet the assessment that the United States continued to support Israel with arms and intelligence was maintained in the end. State Department lawyers had previously raised concerns that Israel’s military conduct could amount to violations of international humanitarian law. The discussions, which occurred at high levels including interagency meetings, illustrate the political and legal tightrope facing Washington as it seeks to balance security aid to Israel with concerns about civilian harm in Gaza. International bodies and other governments have long scrutinized actions in Gaza, with past warrants from the International Criminal Court and continued global attention to compliance with the laws of armed conflict, even as Israel maintains its position that its campaign targets Hamas and minimizes civilian harm to the greatest extent possible. Regionally, Azerbaijan indicated it would not send peacekeepers to Gaza unless fighting ceases completely, a condition that would require parliamentary approval and demonstrates the political and logistical hurdles surrounding any ISF-style mission. In parallel discussions tied to President Trump’s peace framework for the region, the United States has been engaging with several states about potential contributions to an International Stabilization Force of roughly 20,000 troops, including discussions about partners such as Indonesia, the UAE, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey. Azerbaijan’s position underscores the complexity of assembling a multinational force and the caution some states would exercise before committing troops to a volatile theater. In Europe and neighboring fronts, France has called on Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon and expressed support for the Lebanese army, signaling how border and regional security calculations continue to shape diplomacy. The Lebanon front remains a factor in broader regional risk assessments as combat dynamics in Gaza, the West Bank, and along the Israel-Lebanon border intersect with international efforts to manage ceasefires and humanitarian access. Elsewhere, security-related developments include an incident in which Mexican security forces thwarted an assassination attempt by Iranian proxies aimed at Israel’s ambassador to Mexico. The episode adds another layer to the regional contest between Iran and Israel, with broader implications for diplomatic relations and security implications across the hemisphere. In sports diplomacy, FIFA fined the Italian and Norwegian football federations for incidents linked to World Cup qualifiers against Israel, including disturbances of national anthems, field incursions, and crowd-management failures. The penalties come amid heightened security deployments at the matches