HEADLINES
Caribbean Narcoterror Vessel Strike Kills Two
Iran Closes Hormuz Tanker Traffic Plummets
Four Israeli Soldiers Killed by Hezbollah

The time is now 11:01 PM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.

In US Military Role, according to a release from US Southern Command, at the direction of SOUTHCOM Commander General Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a strike on a vessel operated by a designated terrorist organization in the Caribbean. The vessel was operating in known narco-trafficking routes. The release says two narco-terrorists were killed in the strike and six narco-terrorists survived the strike. Following the strike, SOUTHCOM coordinated with the US Coast Guard to begin search and rescue operations for the remaining six.

In Regional Impacts, data from analytics firm Kpler show a sharp drop in Strait of Hormuz traffic after Iran re-closed the waterway. Five vessels passed the strait on Sunday, down from 26 ships spotted a day earlier. Among the vessels were three Very Large Crude Carriers carrying about 2 million barrels of Saudi crude and fuel oil each, with one heading to Japan. The data may exclude vessels that switch off transponders while traveling in the Gulf. Iran's actions came after it had lifted an earlier blockade last week to extend an April ceasefire for 60 days to allow for negotiations, but Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday declared the waterway shut again in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon. The US military said commercial vessels were still operating. Earlier on Saturday, three VLCCs exiting the strait carried crude from the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Iraq, along with three tankers carrying various oil products. Meanwhile, Egypt and Turkey concluded a joint Air Force drill in Egypt amid deepening ties between Cairo and Ankara.

In the Conflict with Iran and its Regional Proxies, Israel’s security cannot hinge on unfinished US-Iran diplomacy - editorial notes that four IDF soldiers were killed over the weekend when a Hezbollah strike hit their tank near Tebnit in southern Lebanon. The piece argues that the deaths illustrate a gap between the White House’s description of its memorandum of understanding with Iran and the threat Israel still faces on its northern border. It says the agreement’s ambition to limit escalation and restore commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is understandable, but a framework that requires Israel to stop operating against Hezbollah before its threats are credibly reduced does not fully address Israel’s security needs. The four soldiers killed in the tank incident, alongside the soldier killed and 13 wounded in a separate Hezbollah barrage, reflect that the northern front remains active.

In US Policy Concerning Israel, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee opened a speech in Jerusalem on Sunday with a lighthearted joke about President Donald Trump’s penchant for making personnel announcements on social media. “I checked the president's social media accounts this morning to make sure this was not my last speech in Israel,” Huckabee told attendees at the JNS International Policy Summit, joking that Trump has been known to fire people “in the middle of the night” through social media posts. “So far, so good,” he added.

In Israeli Domestic Politics, Israel’s unholy alliance between religion and politics must end - opinion outlines how wartime unity is frayed as ultra-Orthodox draft exemptions fuel a deepening political crisis and public backlash. Rabbi Dov Lando, a leading figure in the ultra-Orthodox yeshiva world, warned that the government could fall over its failure to pass draft-exemption legislation promised to the Haredi parties. A wartime government is described as being at risk not over the Iran-US deal or the economy, but over delivering a law to keep more than 100,000 young men out of uniform while non-Haredi peers fight on multiple fronts. The Haredi community argues Torah study is a form of national service, while some diaspora Jews have long watched Israel’s internal debates with keen interest.

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
https://t.me/DefenderDome/21655
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-900090
https://t.me/JewishNews24/56097
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-900082
https://t.me/JewishNews24/56098
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-899820