Israel Today: Ongoing War Report - Update from 2025-09-12 at 17:08

HEADLINES
Egypt Recalibrates Israel Ties After Doha Strike
Israeli Campaign Strikes 500+ Gaza City Targets
UN GA Backs Two-State Vision Amid Divides

The time is now 1:00 PM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.

This is the 1:00 PM update. The region remains in a fragile balance as security concerns, diplomacy, and humanitarian pressures intersect across Israel, its neighbors, and the wider international community.

On the security and diplomatic front, the ceasefire dynamics between Israel and Iran continue to be uneasy. While there has been no broad escalation, there is a persistent risk of rapid shifts if miscalculations occur or if provocative actions arise along or beyond the surface of the current lines of control. In a related regional development, Egypt has announced a recalibration of its security coordination with Israel in the wake of the Doha strike against Hamas leaders. Cairo says it is restructuring how its security communications with Jerusalem are managed and has signaled that coordination could be scaled back until further notice. Egyptian officials have suggested that this reorganization is intended to safeguard Egyptian sovereignty and territorial security, while observers note it could complicate intelligence sharing and tactical planning in an already tense environment. Israeli and regional authorities are monitoring carefully, aware that shifts in Cairo’s posture could influence Hamas’s behavior and broader regional calculations.

In the battlefield against Hamas, the Israeli defense forces have intensified operations in Gaza. Official briefings indicate more than 500 military targets in Gaza City alone have been struck as the campaign against terrorist infrastructure continues. The emphasis remains on multi-story buildings that have been repurposed as command and logistics hubs for militants. Humanitarian concerns persist as Israeli authorities say every effort is made to minimize civilian casualties, even as operations disrupt daily life for residents in Gaza. The hostage situation remains unresolved, with international and regional voices urging all parties to protect civilians and to pursue humanitarian corridors and secure releases.

On the strategic front, observers note a diminishing capacity among Hamas’s leadership to manage the conflict across Gaza as pressures from the Israeli campaign intensify. At the same time, the hostage issue remains a central lever in the broader conflict, drawing attention to the human cost of the fighting and the difficult negotiations that would be required to achieve a durable ceasefire and a binding, enforceable path to peace.

In the broader regional theater, Yemen’s ongoing war and Houthi attacks continue to draw international attention. The Bab el-Mandeb corridor remains a flashpoint in the Red Sea region, with shipping disruption and military posturing feeding into wider strategic concerns about regional stability and global trade routes. Although the fighting in Yemen is geographically distant from the Gaza crisis, the Houthi campaign adds another layer of complexity to diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalation and conflict containment in the Middle East.

International diplomacy and the future framework for peace also take center stage in New York, where the United Nations General Assembly debated the fate of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a vote that underscored divisions within the international community, 142 countries supported the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution; 10 voted against and 12 abstained. The declaration, chaired by France and Saudi Arabia and endorsed by a broad coalition of states, calls for Hamas to surrender its weapons, endorses a path toward a two-state outcome, and signals consideration of a temporary...