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Fighting Terrorism

Spotlight on Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (December 23-30, 2025)

IDF forces continued operating within the area of the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip and eliminated terrorists who posed a threat; an IDF officer was wounded by an explosive device. Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed they did not know the exact location of the body of the last murdered Israeli hostage; Hamas officially reported the deaths of the former head of its military wing, Muhammad al-Sinwar; the former military wing spokesperson, Abu Obeida; and three others, and announced the appointment of a new spokesperson; Hamas continues governing areas under its control in the Gaza Strip: its security forces said they were pursuing Israel's "mercenaries," and the police spokesperson claimed police forces had returned to full activity; According to reports, Hamas will choose a new political bureau head, with Khalil al-Hayya and Khaled Mashal as the leading candidates. Members of the new leadership in the Gaza Strip have reportedly been elected but their identities have not been disclosed; Hamas continued to accuse Israel of delaying the transition to the second phase of the ceasefire agreement and reiterated that the "resistance" would not disarm. Hamas called on the Palestinian Authority to take responsibility for the Gaza Strip; Hamas issued a document to "justify" the October 7, 2023 attack and massacre as part of its propaganda to promote the narrative of the "achievements" of "al-Aqsa Flood."; The authorities in Italy arrested nine Hamas operatives who were engaged in fundraising for Hamas through fictitious associations, including one considered the most senior Hamas operative in the country.
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Spotlight on Terrorism: Hezbollah and Lebanon (December 22-29, 2025)

The IDF continued its activity to enforce the ceasefire agreement and to prevent Hezbollah’s renewed military buildup, and struck targets in south Lebanon and in the northern Beqa'a Valley, including Radwan Force training facilities and launch sites. The forces eliminated four Hezbollah operatives, one of them a soldier on active duty in the Lebanese army, and a terrorist operative in the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; Hezbollah secretary general Na’im Qassem said they were not afraid of a new war and accused the Lebanese government of making "free concessions" without Israel's fulfilling its commitments under the ceasefire agreement; Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he hoped the "cloud of war" was receding from Lebanon, after allegedly receiving American guarantees that Israel would not launch a new large-scale campaign; European countries are reportedly working to maintain a presence of their forces in south Lebanon to assist the Lebanese army after the end of UNIFIL’s mandate; Given the [alleged] completion of the first phase of Hezbollah’s disarmament south of the Litani River in accordance with the declaration from the Lebanese government, and Hezbollah’s opposition to further surrender of weapons, it was reported that the Lebanese government had still not made a decision regarding the transition to the second phase of demilitarizing the area between the Litani and Awali Rivers, and that the army commander would not give an order to collect weapons, citing a threat to civil peace in the country; Hezbollah is having difficulty financing housing allowances for tens of thousands of displaced families among its supporters following the intensified blockade of its funding sources.
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How Hamas perceived Israel’s rounds of deterrence, according to a document found in the Gaza Strip

A document prepared by the center for military and strategic studies of Hamas' military wing, dated September 9, 2023, which was brought back from the Gaza Strip by the IDF during the war, analyzed Israeli policy regarding the rounds of fighting in the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized control in 2006; According to the document, for many years Israel relied on a strategy of preemptive strike, but the strengthening of the "resistance" movements led by Hamas and Hezbollah, which could obstruct Israeli capabilities, led Israel to shift to short rounds of fighting of limited intensity; In the assessment of the document's authors, since Israel failed to achieve its objectives in Operation Cast Lead, foremost of which was overthrowing Hamas rule, it moved to presenting vague objectives alongside a focus on managing the conflict and preserving deterrence, with the objective of weakening Hamas without defeating it; Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021 is defined as a formative event in which Hamas deviated from the pattern of the previous rounds by linking the Gaza Strip to events in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and by rousing Israeli Arabs to "resistance."; In the authors' assessment, Israel did not abandon the idea of a preemptive strike, particularly given the failure of Operation Guardian of the Walls, but was not in a position to build a new equation of deterrence. Therefore, it focused on conflict management, risk management and neutralizing threats. Accordingly, the recommendation to the Hamas leadership was to prepare for a new opening strike which would trigger another round of fighting, but also to initiate an unexpected confrontation that would break the recurring pattern and make Israel's leadership uncertain; In ITIC assessment, the study is part of the effort by Hamas' intelligence apparatuses to provide the movement's top decision-makers with a full strategic understanding of Israel's perception and conduct, at a time when they were in the final stages of planning the decisive attack against Israel. The picture emerging from the study, according to which Israel is not interested in overthrowing Hamas rule and is focused on limited rounds with known outcomes, together with the recommendation by the document's authors to act in an unexpected manner, confirmed al-Sinwar and Deif's confidence that the attack and massacre would be successful, and which were carried out on October 7, 2023, less than a month after the document was written.
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Spotlight on Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (December 16-23, 2025)

IDF forces continued operating in the areas of the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip and eliminated militants who posed a threat. An IDF soldier was wounded by a stray bullet; An initiative of experts on hunger determined that no area in the Gaza Strip was "famine-stricken," but warned that 77% of the population was suffering from food insecurity. The Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories accused the report of being biased and based on partial data; Hamas security forces announced the closing of the window for "collaborators" to surrender and threatened to use force against networks of collaborators with Israel; The organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla announced that they would launch a new and larger flotilla to the Gaza Strip in the spring of 2026; A Hamas delegation met with the head of Turkish intelligence to discuss the continuation of negotiations on the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. Representatives of the mediating countries called on all parties to meet their commitments and expressed support for the establishment of a Peace Council; The Palestinian terrorist organizations and the Fatah movement expressed anger with the Palestinian Authority over its suspension of the payments to the families of the shaheeds, the wounded and the prisoners.
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Spotlight on Terrorism: Hezbollah and Lebanon (December 15-22, 2025)

Overview[1] The IDF continued attacking Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon to enforce the ceasefire agreement, which prohibited the organization’s presence south of the Litani. The IDF reported that in the year since the ceasefire, more than 370 terrorist operatives, most of them from Hezbollah, had been eliminated and there had been approximately 1,200 targeted ground
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Spotlight on Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (December 9-16, 2025)

IDF forces continued operations within the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip and eliminated terrorists who posed a threat. Two IDF soldiers were wounded by an explosive device. A senior member of Hamas' military wing, Ra'ad Sa'ad, one of the planners of the October 7, 2023 attack and massacre, was eliminated, and Hamas threatened retaliation; The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) continued to claim that Hamas was holding the body of the last murdered Israeli hostage; Hamas' governing mechanisms in the Gaza Strip claimed that the rainy weather had caused the deaths of 13 civilians, the collapse of buildings and the destruction of thousands of tents; Militias opposed to Hamas claimed responsibility for killing a senior figure in Hamas' security apparatuses in the central Gaza Strip; Hamas continued to promote the "achievements" of the October 7, 2023 attack and massacre. An Amnesty report accused Hamas and the PIJ of committing war crimes during and after the attack, including sexual violence and inhumane detention conditions of hostages; A terrorist was killed after a stabbing attack in Hebron. There were no casualties; The chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, claimed a Palestinian state would be a factor of regional stability.
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Fighting Terrorism

One of the global challenges today is the war on terrorism. There are a variety of means and methods available to the war on terrorism, one of which is conventional military force. There are other approaches to the war on terrorism beyond the military, such as preventing financing, enforcing laws, using political and economic measures to cut organizations off from their supporters, and infiltrating counterterrorism agents into terrorist organizations in order to expose them. In addition, a political and PR struggle against the organizations and the countries sponsoring terrorism is also being waged.
There are a variety of entities involved in the war on terrorism, among them military, internal security, judicial and economic bodies. Many countries have established units especially to fight terrorism, whose duties include preventive counterterrorism measures and fighting in real time.

Science and technology can also help in the war on terrorism because the global terrorism environment is constantly changing and the terrorist organizations become more sophisticated as they exploit technical innovations to increase their threats. The cyber arena is becoming more and more prominent in fighting terrorism, both in defensive as well as offensive terms.

The Anti-Terrorism Law, 5776-2016, was passed in Israel. The purpose of the law is to provide the state authorities with the appropriate tools in the area of criminal and public law to cope with the terrorist threats faced by the State of Israel. The Anti-Terrorism Law stipulates serious penalties for terrorists and members of terrorist organizations. The law also stipulates penalties for persons expressing support for terrorism or affiliated with a terrorist organization.  The law regulates the issue of declaring an organization as a terrorist organization and the use of administrative detention. In addition to making the penalties for terrorist offenses more severe, the law replaces many regulations that were part of the Defense (Emergency) Regulations. The law was passed by the Knesset in June 2016, and entered into effect on November 1, 2016.