An American initiative to “encourage Hezbollah to disarm” has been shelved, and officials in Washington now conclude that “preserving the status quo will leave Lebanon a failed state.”

After more than a week without any deceased hostages being returned, the Red Cross transferred the caskets of Cooper and Baruch to Israeli territory. Their identities were officially confirmed by the National Center of Forensic Medicine. Eleven other hostages who are known to have been killed remain in Hamas captivity.

Washington plans to deploy a multinational force in Gaza, including Palestinian "police" units trained abroad, yet Arab states refuse to join without Hamas’ full disarmament.

Friedrich Merz visited Ankara in an effort to strengthen relations with Turkey, hoping it would pressure Syria to take back refugees. Merz refused to define the war in Gaza as genocide and criticized Hamas, saying, “Hamas should have released the hostages earlier and laid down its weapons.” Erdogan fired back, saying, “Israel has always sought to oppress Gaza through starvation and genocide.”

The Spanish bank Sabadell required Israeli customers to declare that their funds were not from Judea and Samaria, submit translated tax reports, and confirm they were not violating a Spanish decree related to "genocide in Gaza." As a result, Israelis faced difficulty transferring funds and paying mortgages.