(Spiked-UK) Brendan O'Neill - At Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, as I peruse a vast wall of stickers showing the smiling faces of the men and women who were stolen on Oct. 7 - some of whom made it home, some of whom did not - I feel a sudden flush of anger. Anger that Israel was left almost entirely alone to agitate for the precious lives and liberty of these abducted Jews. A short walk and I am in Dizengoff Square, which has become a makeshift monument to the Israelis who have died in this infernal war Hamas started. Hundreds of lovingly framed photos of the dead have been perched on the perimeter wall of the square's fountain. Untold numbers of joyful, youthful faces. Photos of men and women whose lives have already been given for their country. You see young Israelis with their fierce faith in their nation, with their willingness to die for their people. How does a country in the 21st century withstand the cult of fashionable frailty and self-hatred and do that thing you're not supposed to do - fight? The secret ingredient is self-belief. The sense of nationhood in Israel, of peoplehood, is extraordinary. That doesn't mean there aren't divisions. There are millions. But everyone I meet - everyone - is a Zionist. The hippy chicks, the pacifist kibbutzniks, the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in a rooftop bar, the old fellas drinking coffee in Dizengoff - all of them. They are bonded by something that rises above all of it: peoplehood; sovereign conviction; an attachment to nationhood so powerful that it can even withstand the ceaseless barbs and libels of virtually the entire intellectual elite of the Western world. People say that Europe and the Jews took wholly different lessons from the Second World War. Europe's rulers decided nationalism was bad, the Jews decided nationhood was essential, in order that they might protect themselves from the murderous urges of organized antisemitism. The Jewish people went down the path of restoring their ancient homeland so that they might live freely and securely in the land of their forebears. Being there reminded me what a nation is: a place of belonging, of attachment, of sacrifice, of promise. A place where the young are brave and the old are safe. A place where soldiers are celebrated and enemies are defeated. A place where no one is left behind. Not a perfect place - but a place that at least aspires to live by high ideals. Let Israel be - it's fine.

(Israel Hayom) Ariel Kahana - The Civil-Military Coordination Center for Gaza is being set up in Israel at a rapid and impressive pace. There is an international blend of Israelis, Americans, French, Germans, Canadians, Cypriots, Greeks, and others in the enormous hangars. Yet nobody possesses plans yet for how to proceed, only good intentions. What is still absent is a unified International Stabilization Force (ISF), certainty regarding the nations that will comprise it, coordination methods between the different armies that will function within it, guidelines on what occurs in problematic scenarios, and a Security Council resolution without which the force won't be established. Consequently, even though the Americans and the Israelis assisting them are all functioning at Trump speed, weeks or months will elapse before the ISF commences dismantling Hamas from its armaments, demolishing the tunnels, and demilitarizing Gaza. Ultimately, a moment will come when the international force will need to confront Hamas terrorists directly. Every day that elapses will render the ISF's future work more challenging, perhaps even unfeasible.

(Spectator-UK) Tom Gross - Hamas's survival was achieved in part thanks to a chorus of Western apologists. A coalition of activists has excused, rationalized and defended the group's actions across universities and in newspaper editorials. Tales of impending famine in Gaza, for instance, were broadcast as fact, sourced from UN bureaucrats and "aid agencies" with long records of anti-Israel bias and, in some cases, open sympathy for Hamas. This isn't journalism: it's agenda-driven activism disguised as news. For Hamas, the Western media is the battlefield - no less important to its survival than its rockets and tunnels. Even before Israeli troops had entered Gaza, Hamas sympathizers in the West were shouting about "genocide" and "famine." Why were Hamas's inflated casualty figures reported as facts? Why were incorrect claims of Israel bombing hospitals repeated without scrutiny - while confirmed cases of Hamas rockets hitting Israeli hospitals in Ashkelon and Beersheba were ignored? The Guardian, London Times and New York Times ran a photo of a skeletal child as evidence of famine on their front pages, inflaming the emotions of millions of readers. In reality, the child wasn't malnourished due to famine. He had cerebral palsy, hypoxemia and other genetic conditions. Other widely shared images of "starvation in Gaza" were from Yemen.

(Telegraph-UK) Tom Slater - "Pro-Palestine" protesters stormed a lecture last week at the University of London by economics professor Michael Ben-Gad for no other reason than he is an Israeli Jew. They branded him a war criminal. They chanted "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," a call for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from their homeland. They even threatened to behead him. They were all masked, naturally. This came after days of agitation, in which leaflets and posters and social-media screeds had called Ben-Gad a "terrorist" and demanded he be sacked. His crime? He did what most Israeli citizens are required to do by law. He served in the IDF. Singling out Ben-Gad for serving in the army is like singling out a Briton for paying his TV license. It is a justification for targeting practically any Israeli Jew. That he completed his service in the 1980s, long before the protesters were born, hasn't dented the activists' ire. Where have all the anti-racists gone? They are deadly silent as a tiny, embattled minority is menaced on campus. Academics, students, administrators - now is the time to stand with your Jewish friends and colleagues. This is Jew-hatred draped in a keffiyeh. Time to confront it.

(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs) Mehrdad Marty Youssefiani - We must acknowledge a sobering reality: If regime change in Iran was ever a viable policy instrument in the post-1979 context, its prospects have probably been materially diminished. Economic sanctions, a humiliating military defeat, spectacular proxy setbacks in Syria and Lebanon, and growing internal dissent have left Iran exposed, vulnerable, and profoundly isolated on the global stage. President Trump's halting Israeli jets en route to "take out" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - framed as a deliberate pivot away from escalation and final regime collapse - reflected a calculated aversion to the chaos of Iraq, Afghanistan, or Libya. Absent a viable alternative ready to govern 90 million people, any forced collapse might fracture Iran into sectarian fiefdoms, destabilize the region's oil arteries, and invite opportunistic intrusions by all sorts of rogue elements. Neither Washington nor Jerusalem nor the Sunni Arab states harbor the appetite for that. The exiled opposition remains vocal, but lacks the inclusive, pluralist leadership capable of galvanizing Iran's fragmented society. In this void, policymakers in Washington, Jerusalem, and most European capitals have reached a tacit consensus that containment, rather than collapse, may now be the preferred operative paradigm. Karim Sajadpour's recent Foreign Affairs analysis amplifies this recalibration. He portrays Iran's regime as brittle yet durable, exposed abroad, but still commanding repressive might at home. President Trump's approach substitutes pressure for confrontation - a formula that combines military encirclement, financial strangulation, and diplomatic isolation with calibrated outreach. In Trump's view, this isn't appeasement. The new containment doctrine seeks to freeze the battlefield - a status quo deterrence that extracts verifiable concessions on missiles, proxies, and enrichment without plunging the region into chaos. Yet for ordinary Iranians, this policy extends economic suffocation and postpones dreams of liberation; for the opposition in exile, it will feel like betrayal. Still, no foreign actor can midwife Iran's transformation. Only Iranians themselves possess the agency and collective will to reshape their political destiny. Sustainable transformation in Iran will not come from bombardments or sanctions, but from the soil of indigenous resolve. The writer is an international strategic communications professional.

(JNS) Yaakov Lappin - A flood of weapons-smuggling drones are entering Israel over the Egyptian border. Oded Ailam, a former head of the Counterterrorism Division in the Mossad and currently a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, said, "The scope of the phenomenon is severe and constitutes a real security threat. The quantities are large and there is almost no interdiction, and the intelligence is also poor." Ailam called for the immediate establishment of a "dedicated interdisciplinary body to deal with the phenomenon, which will concentrate all intelligence and coordinate the implementation." Additionally, Israel must "invest in technological developments that allow monitoring and treatment of drones, including 'masking' [jamming] possibilities in vulnerable areas." He noted that the smuggling drones are limited in range, meaning that a dedicated patrol force equipped with sensors and cameras must be established to locate the smugglers on the Israeli side who are collecting the smuggled goods. Ailam called for Israel to specifically link the issue to the reconstruction of Gaza. "The Egyptians have a great interest in taking an active part in the rehabilitation of Gaza, this is about billions [of dollars]. Therefore, Israel must firmly demand that the Egyptians deal with the phenomenon in their territory and stipulate this as part of the 'rehabilitation' of Gaza."

(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh - Hamas officials have repeatedly emphasized that they have no intention of laying down their weapons. Hamas sees Trump's plan as another temporary ceasefire with Israel that will allow it to rearm and regroup. Hamas does not believe in any peace process with Israel. Its primary goal is to kill as many Jews as possible and destroy Israel. Anyone who believes that Hamas will voluntarily give up its weapons is living in a dream world. For the terror group, this would be tantamount to suicide. And anyone who believes that Qatar and Turkey will force Hamas to dismantle its military infrastructure is also living in fantasy land. The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.

(Israel Hayom) Amnon Lord - The U.S. is committed to advancing toward the primary goal of dismantling Hamas or, at the very least, disarming it. What media commentators interpret as a growing Israeli dependence on the U.S. is, in fact, an unprecedented wartime partnership. We're simply not used to seeing two countries operate as allies in a multifront war. One is a massive logistical and diplomatic powerhouse. The other is bearing the brunt of combat on multiple fronts. As the dust settles, the facts on the ground become clearer. The IDF now controls 53% of Gaza, while the population remains crushed under Hamas's murderous tyranny. While discussions have centered around reconstruction in the Israeli-controlled part of Gaza, Hamas's "Somali-style" enclave will remain stuck unless it is dismantled. Ultimately, transforming Gaza without Israel taking on direct governance of its population is a novel concept - one that hinges entirely on the commitment and tenacity of Trump and Netanyahu.

(Wall Street Journal) Editorial - President Trump told TIME that the key to unlocking the Gaza ceasefire deal was the attack on Iran - a joint achievement of Netanyahu and Trump. "We took the bully out of play. Without that, you couldn't have done this," meaning the Gaza deal. "It would have been impossible. The Arab countries wouldn't have done it." Threats from Iran could have neutered them at any time. "Now, because you don't have that threat, everybody's open to peace." The final impetus for the Gaza deal was Israel's strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar. "This was one of the things that brought us all together...it sort of got everybody to do what they have to do. If you took that away, we might not be talking about this subject [the Gaza ceasefire] right now."

(Fox News) Rachel Wolf - Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked during a visit to Israel on Friday whether UNRWA would assist in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. He responded, "UNRWA's not going to play any role in it. The United Nations is here. They're on the ground. We're willing to work with them if they can make it work, but not UNRWA. UNRWA became a subsidiary of Hamas."

(Jerusalem Post) Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Saturday instructed the IDF to destroy all of Hamas's underground tunnels in the area of Gaza still controlled by the IDF following the implementation of the first stage of the ceasefire deal. Katz previously told U.S. Vice President JD Vance that "demolishing the tunnels is the most important joint mission in demilitarizing Gaza in accordance with the Trump plan."

(Israel Hayom) Lilach Shoval - Senior Israeli officials said Saturday that President Trump's initiative in Gaza deserves a chance. If it doesn't succeed, they emphasize that the IDF is fully prepared to resume combat at any time. Top Israeli officials remain deeply skeptical about the U.S. ability to establish a mechanism that would lead to the demilitarization of Gaza. As long as that does not happen, the Israeli security establishment recommends keeping IDF forces stationed along what is known as the "yellow line" dividing the areas of Hamas and Israeli control.

(Times of Israel) Emanuel Fabian - As part of the efforts to recover the remaining 13 slain hostages held in Gaza, an Egyptian team has entered the Strip with several engineering vehicles to assist with locating their bodies, an Israeli defense official said Saturday. Israel's Channel 11 reported that top Israeli officials presented U.S. Vice President Vance with the IDF's intelligence assessment that "stated unequivocally" that Hamas is capable of returning at least 10 more bodies of hostages.

(Times of Israel) Michael Bachner - U.S. President Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday, "Hamas is going to have to start returning the bodies of the deceased hostages, including two Americans, quickly, or the other Countries involved in this GREAT PEACE will take action. Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not....Let's see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely."

(Ynet News) Itamar Eichner - 13 bodies of hostages are still believed to be held in Gaza. U.S. officials now believe Hamas is stalling - delaying the return of hostages' remains to prolong the ceasefire and avoid renewed pressure to disarm. Israel has delayed reopening the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt as a form of pressure for the return of the hostages' remains - a move the U.S. has approved. Israel also wants to reduce or halt the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, but U.S. opposition is blocking that move. A senior Israeli cabinet member said: "We know Hamas could release more remains immediately and with minimal effort, but it chooses not to. That's why we are carefully weighing how and when to act, and what tools to use - always in coordination with the Americans. Hamas, as always, is playing for time."

(Institute for Science and International Security) David Albright - New construction activity has been occurring at the former Taleghan 2 site, which was destroyed by an Israeli bombing on October 25, 2024. This location is a former AMAD plan nuclear weapons development site.

(New York Times) Natan Odenheimer - The U.S. military has begun operating surveillance drones over Gaza in recent days to monitor ground activity with the consent of Israel. The surveillance missions were operating to support a new Civil-Military Coordination Center in Israel, established by U.S. Central Command, in part to monitor the ceasefire.

(Daily Mail-UK) Andrew Jehring - More than 150 Hamas terrorists released under the Gaza peace deal are staying in the Marriott's five-star Renaissance Cairo Mirage City Hotel alongside unsuspecting Western tourists. Some may soon move on to Qatar, Turkey and Tunisia. They were considered too dangerous to remain in the West Bank or Gaza, but received a hero's welcome from pro-Palestine groups in Cairo. They spent much of their time posing for selfies with adoring local fans. A former Israeli intelligence officer said, "The first thing these terrorists will do when they reach Turkey or Qatar is contact their associates in Gaza and the West Bank to send money and re-establish their networks. They will quickly regroup and form new terror cells." Many were seen withdrawing wads of cash from ATMs within the hotel as, after decades in prison, they are now rich. Thanks to the Palestinian Authority's "Pay for Slay" policy, under which people who commit terror attacks against Israelis receive up to 33,000 pounds for every year they spend in jail, some have amassed six-figure fortunes.