Israel News for 7-21-2026
News Update
Lebanese army forces entered the southern town of Zawtar al-Gharbiya toay after the IDF vacated the area, marking the first stage of a U.S.-brokered pilot arrangement intended to transfer control of parts of southern Lebanon to the Lebanese military. Under the framework, the Lebanese army is also expected to enter the villages of Froun and Srifa. Those villages lie outside the Yellow Line but remain under Israeli observation and fire control, without a permanent IDF ground presence. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is preparing for a historic White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, where he is expected to present a plan for disarming Hezbollah and press for a broader Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
The IDF and Shin Bet announced the elimination of Adham Ibrahim Sha’aban Nasman, a senior Hamas commander who directed the Hamas infiltration from Gaza City during the October 7 massacre and later took part in holding multiple Israeli hostages captive, including Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, Ziv and Gali Berman, Eitan Mor, Matan Angrest and Omri Miran. He was killed in an airstrike in Gaza over the weekend.
According the Wall Street Journal, Israeli intelligence informed the U.S. that Iran transferred thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels deep inside the Pickaxe Mountain site last fall after the 12-day war in June. President Trump has said recently that Pickaxe Mountain was a potential target for U.S. forces.
Responding to comments by NYC Mayor Mamdani about potentially having Prime Minister Netanyahu arrested in NYC for war crimes, President Trump wrote, “Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America. He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American soldiers, and others. The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented spiral of death and destruction.”
