Israel Today: Ongoing War Report - Update from 2026-07-05 at 09:02

HEADLINES
Iran seeks justice over Khamenei killing
Hamas Hezbollah documents reveal Oct 7 coordination
Houthis reinforce Yemen frontlines near Hodeidah

The time is now 9:01 AM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.

In Iranian Retaliation, Iran will pursue a legal complaint against Israel and the United States for the assassination of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, the Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani told reporters on Sunday during the second day of Khamenei's funeral. The process of filing a complaint after collecting evidence and documentation has begun and is being followed up, she said, according to a report by Iran's Mizan News Agency. The Presidential Legal Office, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is seriously following up on this case, she added. Mohajerani also said that Khamenei's instructions weren't fully followed while he was alive, and blamed this on the current state of Iran, adding that now our most important task is to accurately implement his guidelines and policies. Khamenei was killed back in February, during the opening strikes of Operation Roaring Lion, while his son and the current leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, was wounded during the attack. The second day of Khamenei's funeral opened on Sunday, with Iranians being heard chanting "kill Trump, kill Bibi" in videos shared by Iranian outlets.

In the Conflict with Iran and its Regional Proxies, Iranian-backed Houthis have been reinforcing frontlines in Yemen and preparing possible offensives over the last month. This has now manifested in several incidents over the last 96 hours that may be part of a pattern. The main information on the Houthis’ activities comes from Al-Ain News in the UAE, which has good security sources in Yemen. As a UAE-based source, Al-Ain opposes the Houthis and is sympathetic to the UAE and to some extent to Saudi Arabia’s views of Yemen. A military official of the Yemeni government told Al-Ain that the Houthis had launched an attack on a front in the Hodeidah Governorate. This is a key coastal area. Dozens of members of the National Resistance and Houthi militias were killed and wounded on Saturday in the fiercest battles between the two sides in the southern countryside of Hodeidah Governorate, western Yemen, the report said. The clashes erupted after the Houthi militias brought in their largest reinforcements to the Dabbas Mountains and south of Al-Jarahi and tried to advance to seize strategic positions overlooking the city of Hays, south of Hodeidah on the Red Sea. The Houthi attack was the most intense of its kind, as the militias att...

Previously unpublished Hamas documents released by Army Radio shed new light on the terror group's coordination with Hezbollah in the years leading up to the October 7 massacre, including appeals for the Lebanese terror group to join the attack and details of joint planning with Iran. The documents’ release follows a mid-June report from The Jerusalem Post on secret Hamas internal documents showing the progression of Hamas’s secret plans from 2022 to 2023 to systematically deceive Israel into complacency so as to surprise the IDF during the October 7 massacre. Additionally shown in the documents is Hezbollah’s false promise to join Hamas in its attack on Israel on October 7 due to its fear of Israel’s retaliation, as the Post has previously reported. In 2019, Hamas had already begun to seriously accelerate “the plan to defeat the Gaza Division.” According to the published documents, Ismail Haniyeh, the former top leader of Hamas's political bureau, had written to former Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah saying that his brothers and family in Palestine are confident that you will not disappoint them in their campaign against their enemy, and that you will always be a hel...

In Israeli Domestic Politics, Netanyahu has stated that Gaza will not be rebuilt until it is disarmed.

In Antisemitism and Anti-Jewish Hate, a future pope will welcome us back, according to a priest from the excommunicated Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). The SSPX was excommunicated after four bishops were ordained without the approval of Pope Leo on Wednesday. Priest Georg Kopf told worshippers on Sunday that the breakaway group would be welcomed back to the Church under a different pope, adding, “There will one day be another pope who opens the door and welcomes us back. Just like Pope Benedict.” The group, which practices an old-style Latin Mass and does not believe in formal dialogue with non-Catholics, has endured a rupture with the Vatican before. In the late 1980s its founder, Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four bishops without the approval of Pope John Paul II, leading those involved to be excommunicated; they were welcomed back in 2009 when Pope Benedict XVI sought unification.

In Uplifting News, Israeli author Amir Tibon has won the 2026 Sami Rohr Prize for nonfiction for his book The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Hope in Israel’s Borderlands. The National Library of Israel will host a ceremony on July 28 to honor Tibon and this year's three other finalists, including Laura Hobson Faure, Shaul Kelner, and Jordan Salama. The prize carries a $100,000 award. On Oct. 7, Tibon, his wife, and their two young daughters lived in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, located less than a mile from Gaza City, placing Israel’s border communities among the first victims of the conflict. Israeli communities along the Gaza border faced the war’s initial impact, and the award highlights a year of deeply personal reporting surrounding those events.

The enduring value of Zionism is also explored in an opinion piece that reflects on Zionism as a transformative force, not simply a political ideology. The author argues Zionism helped reshape the Jewish people’s self-understanding and destiny, awakening Jewish national consciousness and uniting Jews from Yemen to New York in a shared homeland. The piece emphasizes Zionism as a practical movement that enabled security, productivity, and fidelity to tradition, grounded in Theodor Herzl’s vision and the broader historical arc that connected diverse Jewish communities to a common future.

Former hostage Alon Ohel performed at a New York Independence Day event aboard the USS Nimitz, accompanying musician John Ondrasik for a rendition of “Superman.” The performance honored hostages taken by Hamas, with the audience including senior military personnel and the US ambassador to the United Nations. Ohel, who spent more than two years in captivity, had recently faced a bureaucratic hiccup that briefly listed him as a hostage in government records, a situation that required clarification with Israeli authorities before his arrival.

Thank you for tuning in to this Israel Today: Ongoing War Report update.
I'm Noa Levi. Stay safe and informed.
Keep in mind that this AI-generated report may contain occasional inaccuracies, so consult multiple sources for a comprehensive view. Find the code and more details in the podcast description.

SOURCES
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https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-901479
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-900902
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