Israel Today: Ongoing War Report - Update from 2025-09-13 at 16:05

HEADLINES
Gaza City Evacuations Reach 280,000
Doha Airstrike Targets Hamas Officials; Mediation Questioned
Hezbollah Excluded From Lebanon Disarmament Push

The time is now 12:01 PM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.

This is the 12:00 PM news update. We begin with the Gaza front, where Israeli forces are pressing a campaign that continues to redraw the map of daily life for civilians. The Israeli military has ordered residents in Gaza City to move south as a precaution while it pursues operations against Hamas. The city remains largely in motion as more than 280,000 Gazans have now evacuated the area, a figure that has risen from earlier estimates of roughly 250,000. In Gaza City, the army says a high-rise building used by Hamas was struck in an air operation, a gesture that underscores the intensity of nightly and daily bombardments. The broader context remains the hostage crisis tied to the October 7th violence, in which Hamas killed about 1,200 people and seized roughly 251 hostages, with families and negotiators continuing to seek a path to their release while combat operations persist.

On the diplomatic front, world capitals are watching a related flare of regional tensions. An airstrike in Doha targeted Hamas officials, drawing international scrutiny and prompting a display of broad backing for Qatar as a regional mediator while questions surface about Qatar’s future role. The United States has expressed unease as Doha weighs shifting its mediator responsibilities in the region, a development that could affect how back-channel diplomacy is conducted during the ongoing conflict.

Lebanon and the broader proxy landscape show a separate but related chapter. The Lebanese army has received five truckloads of weapons from Ain al-Hilweh, the country’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, and three trucks from the Beddawi camp near Tripoli, part of a government push to extend state control and disarm non-state actors. Palestinian factions allied with the PLO are handing over weapons as part of this process, though Hezbollah remains outside the disarmament push and continues to be a major factor in the border security dynamic. The Lebanese effort to monopolize weapons within the state’s reach is framed as a step toward stability, even as regional violence and the war in Gaza continue to shape security calculations on Israel’s northern front.

In Israel, domestic security remains a priority alongside regional security concerns. A violent incident in Jerusalem left a 45-year-old man with non-life-threatening injuries after an act of violence in the Abu Tor neighborhood. Paramedics treated him on scene and he was transported to hospital for care. The episode comes as security agencies monitor threats across the country amid ongoing regional tensions and hostage talks, underscoring the constant vigilance felt by communities near flashpoints.

Across the broader region, natural events and electoral debates continue to ripple through the news cycle. An earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale struck southern Iran, a reminder that seismic events add to the complexity of regional stability in an already volatile moment. In Madrid, a blast in the Vallecas district injures 21 people, with emergency services saying the cause remains unknown as investigators begin to piece together what happened in the south-central neighborhood.

On the international political stage, statements from Washington and European capitals continue to shape the strategic climate. President Donald Trump has urged NATO members to halt purchases of Russian oil and has called for major sanctions on Russia only after all NATO nations agree to join in the effort, a position that ties energy policy to the broader goal of pressuring Moscow over its war in Ukraine. The energy sanctions debate underscores the risk that geopolitical...