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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Thursday, February 19, 2026

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US President Donald Trump (R) speaks during a signing ceremony at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on February 19, 2026. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Live updates (closed)

Feb. 19: Trump says Gaza war over, Hamas will be met ‘harshly’ if it doesn’t disarm

US commander says Gaza stabilization force to include 20,000 soldiers, 12,000 police officers * 59% of Israelis support joining US-led attack on Iran, TV poll finds

9:55 pm

Trump told Congress Saudi nuclear pact won't include safeguards against bomb, document shows
8:45 pm

Chief rabbis slam High Court for telling government to advance Western Wall egalitarian plaza upgrade
8:38 pm

Trump: Iran has '10, 15 days' to make nuclear deal, 'or it's going to be unfortunate for them'

This image provided Feb. 19, 2026, by the Iranian military and dated Feb. 17, 2025, shows navy ships conducting operations during a joint drill by Iranian and Russian forces in the Indian Ocean. (Masoud Nazari Mehrabi/Iranian Army via AP)

Iran insists on ‘right’ to enrichment as US builds biggest Mideast force since 2003

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Wall Street Journal says accumulation of US air power is largest in region since invasion of Iraq, but is ‘fraction’ of 2003 force; Poland tells citizens to ‘immediately’ leave Iran

A combination picture of satellite images show the Parchin military complex under reconstruction in 2024-2026. (Planet Labs PBC and Vantor/Handout via Reuters)

Satellite images show Iran repairing and fortifying sites amid tensions with US

By Reuters and ToI Staff

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 18, 2026. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Trump: Iran could attack UK, other friendly nations if no deal

White House: There are many arguments for striking Iran, they’d be wise to make a deal

By Lazar Berman, Jacob Magid, ToI Staff and Agencies

Trump is reportedly told military ready to launch assault as soon as Saturday, with talks making little progress; Israel on high alert, as Iran said pushing Hezbollah to join if war erupts

Demonstrators wave Iranian and Hezbollah flags as one holds a poster of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. strike in Iraq in 2020, during the Muslim Shiite holiday of Eid al-Ghadir, which commemorates the Prophet Muhammad naming Ali, revered as the first Shiite imam, as his successor, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Feb. 19 – Amid talks and saber-rattling, how close is the US to striking Iran?

By Jessica Steinberg and Lazar Berman

Promoted Content

Iran on the brink: The Axis of Aggressors and a Middle East in flux

Expert Jonathan Schanzer on the “axis of aggressors” and how Iran’s turmoil, regional shifts, and U.S. strategic choices could reshape Middle East power dynamics and alliances.

Dr. Nir Asch, a doctor and researcher in the psychiatric department of Rambam Health Care Campus. (Courtesy/Rambam Spokesperson's Office)

In breakthrough, Israeli scientists use deep-brain stimulation to counter schizophrenia

By Diana Bletter

Novel study by researchers at the Rambam Health Care Campus could help 21 million people worldwide suffering from the severe lifelong mental disorder

Nearly 50 countries sending reps to Thurs. fundraising confab

Trump’s Board of Peace convening for 1st time, as US bullish on disarmament prospects

US official claims no illusions about challenges ahead, says administration encouraged by what mediators in touch with Hamas are reporting; Trump to address event, sign resolutions on Gaza

President Donald Trump holds the charter during a signing ceremony on his Board of Peace initiative at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

General view of a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Iran at the United Nations headquarters in New York on January 15, 2026. (ANGELA WEISS / AFP)

UN Security Council discusses Gaza, West Bank moves ahead of Board of Peace meeting

By AP and ToI Staff

ExclusivePA hopes committee announced before Board of Peace meet

US approves formal communication channel between PA and Board of Peace — officials

Coordination committee falls short of membership on board overseeing Gaza rebuild, but formalizes initiative’s ties to Ramallah amid Israeli objections

Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh (second from right) meets with Board of Peace High Representative Nickolay Mladenov (third from left) in Ramallah on January 9, 2026. (Hussein al-Sheikh/X)

Terror group 'taking over all economic aspects of life'

Hamas tightens grip in Gaza, increasing skepticism of Trump’s peace plan

By Reuters and ToI Staff

Terror group seeks to be part of postwar government and police, IDF tells PM; inside source says US-backed technocrat panel ‘may have key to the car, but it’s a Hamas car’

Hamas members search for the remains of an Israeli hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Hamas terrorists are seen in the Home Front Command's Southern District base near Urim, on October 7, 2023. (Screenshot: Channel 12 news)

October 7 terrorists to be tried in special military tribunal, Attorney General’s Office agrees

By Jeremy Sharon

Analysis

Expansion of West Bank rule appears to shift ‘creeping annexation’ into higher gear

As government makes it easier to purchase property and for state to take control of lands, both critics and boosters say the idea of Israel’s control being temporary is a thing of the past

A general view of the newly established Jewish settlement of Yatziv in the Gush Etzion area of the West Bank, January 19, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Palestinians shop at the Zawiya market in Gaza City ahead of Ramadan, February 17, 2026. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)

UN says Israeli actions raise fear of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Gaza, West Bank; Israel rejects claims

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Illustrative: IDF soldiers guard a tour of the West Bank city of Hebron, on February 14, 2026. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

Israeli troops raid Hebron, nab suspects for questioning after reports of gunfire

By Emanuel Fabian and Noam Lehmann

Gary Rosenblatt

‘And the Oscar for best Palestinian propaganda goes to…’

A 5-year-old Gazan girl has become a martyred symbol of Israeli brutality in one of 3 pro-Palestinian films short-listed for an Academy Award

Deni Avdija took the court. Politics should have been out of bounds

The Israeli player’s historic showing in the NBA All Stars could have been a moment of pure joy. Instead, it was marred by Palestinian solidarity gestures

Room B in the 101 Building at Tel 'Eton, in the southeastern part of Israel's Judean Shephelah. A study published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal in January 2026 suggests it was used by the grandparents of the household. (Sky View / Tel 'Eton Archaeological Expedition)

'They could see the whole courtyard, whatever came in or out'

Forget the granny flat: Study of Israelite home shows elders ruled the Iron Age roost

By Rossella Tercatin

Finds at Tel ‘Eton preserved by fire amid Assyrian conquest 2,700 years ago offer evidence that matriarch and patriarch got biggest and best room of multi-generational household

UK police arrest former prince Andrew on suspicion of misconduct amid Epstein probes

By AFP

Released files raised suspicions former royal sent late sex offender confidential government documents during his time as trade envoy

Britain's then-prince Andrew arrives to attend a Requiem Mass, a Catholic funeral service, for the late Katharine, Duchess of Kent, at Westminster Cathedral in London on September 16, 2025. (Jordan Pettitt / POOL / AFP)

Documents included in the US Justice Department release of files related to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are photographed on January 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

Epstein tried to build powerful ties across Mideast, push Qatar to recognize Israel

By Jana Choukeir, Andrew Mills and Maha El Dahan

Retail mogul Leslie Wexner seen at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, September 19, 2014. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)

Les Wexner tells US Congress he was ‘duped’ by Epstein, ‘a world-class con man’

By JULIE CARR SMYTH

Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman looks on during a meeting with US President Donald Trump (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on November 18, 2025. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

From the blogs

Michael Ratney and Bernard Haykel

Saudi Arabia has not pivoted back toward extremism

The kingdom is still on its long, self-interested road to moderation, and the ‘embrace of Islamism’ narrative collapses under the facts

What Matters Now podcast

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: NGO admits Hamas controls Gaza’s hospitals. Why now?

By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib

The head of Realign for Palestine weighs in on the sudden statement from Doctors Without Borders that it has suspended activities at Nasser Hospital due to the presence of armed men

Palestinians hang decorations beside the rubble of destroyed homes as they prepare for the holy month of Ramadan in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, February 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Ex-PM Bennett slams Carlson as 'a chickenshit' and 'a phony'

Israel, US envoy reject Tucker Carlson’s claim he was detained and interrogated at airport

By Lazar Berman

Popular anti-Israel conservative commentator briefly visits country to interview Huckabee; friend of the two who was present for interview says Carlson told her that Trump wants GOP infighting over Israel reined in

Tucker Carlson attends a meeting with US President Donald Trump and oil executives in the East Room of the White House, January 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

'Babies don't need to eat meat to grow'

Vegetarian and vegan babies develop at same rate as meat-eating peers – Israeli study

By Diana Bletter

Big-data study by Ben-Gurion University researchers and the Health Ministry tracks 1.2 million infants over 10 years, dispels meat mythology

Illustrative. Baby. (Shutterstock)

Police at the scene where two people were shot dead in Haifa, February 18, 2026. (Flash90)

Four killed in separate shootings, one by cops, as deadly crime surges in Arab society

By Charlie Summers

Two killed near corner store in Haifa, another in Lakiya; police fatally shoot 18-year-old motorcyclist fleeing authorities in northern town ‘who didn’t heed calls to stop’

Lt. Cdr. 'Resh' in an undated photo published by the military on February 18, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

In first, IDF says female officer to command Navy warship

By Emanuel Fabian

Lt. Cdr. ‘Resh’ will lead Sa’ar 4.5-class missile boat, in move military says ‘constitutes significant milestone’ amid calls against women serving in combat roles

Rabbi Yosef Paryzer, who was convicted of of using the alias "Jack Segal" to deceive up to 12 women into having sexual relations with him (Israel Police)

Jerusalem rabbi gets 20 months for using fake ID to dupe 12 women into sleeping with him

By Jeremy Sharon and ToI Staff

Married father used alias ‘Jack Segal’ on dating sites between 2016 and 2023, posing as secular and single; also ordered to pay up to $4,800 compensation per victim

Leo Coen and Raquel Rogoff present the Jewish Youth Assembly resolution at the BBYO International Convention on February 14, 2026. (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

'We are not the Jewish people's future, we are its present'

At the BBYO International Convention, Jewish teens demand a seat at the table

By Grace Gilson

From a global youth resolution to calls for boardroom inclusion, 3,400 teens from 52 countries converge in Philadelphia to make their opinions heard on the future of Jewish life

More Headlines

Olive and Cypress trees surround the Dome of the Rock Shrine on the Temple Mount, on the first day of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, in the old city of Jerusalem on February 18, 2026. (Photo by ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP)

Jewish worshipers get extended visiting hours on Temple Mount during Ramadan

By Charlie Summers, Emanuel Fabian and AFP

Yesh Atid chief Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on February 9, 2026.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Lapid threatens to boycott Modi’s Knesset visit if High Court president not invited

Protesters chant slogans and hold banners as they take part in a demonstration against Israel's campaign in Gaza, in Athens on September 20, 2025. (Angelos TZORTZINIS / AFP)

After weeks of debate, world social workers group won’t expel Israeli union

By Grace Gilson

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, also known as the Ramchal, is depicted in a wall painting in Acre, Israel. (Yuval Y/Wikimedia Commons)

Letter by famed Jewish mystic sells for nearly $400,000 at auction

By Asaf Elia-Shalev

An outer wall of the abandoned Beth Israel synagogue in Mahanoy City collapsed on February 12, 2026. (WFMZ, via YouTube/ via JTA)

Defunct synagogue from once-proud community collapses in Pennsylvania coal region

By Andrew Silow-Carroll

Ultra-Orthodox children in their classroom at a Heder in Jerusalem, August 25, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

State budget set to increase spending on Haredi education by NIS 1 billion

US soldiers patrol in Syria's northeastern city Qamishli, in the Hasakeh province, then mostly controlled by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), on January 9, 2025. (Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

US said planning to withdraw all American troops from Syria over next two months

By AFP

Family and supporters of Lindsay and Craig Foreman, a British couple detained in Iran, march in London on January 3, 2026, to raise national awareness of the couple's ongoing detention and the need for urgent intervention. (Brook Mitchell / AFP)

Iran sentences British couple to 10 years in prison on espionage claims

By AFP

Tom Kelly (with microphone) and Billy Steinberg perform onstage at the 42nd Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards in New York, June 16, 2011. (AP/Charles Sykes)

ObituaryUS Jewish songwriter Billy Steinberg, who penned lyrics for ‘Like a Virgin,’ dies at 75

By AFP and ToI Staff

A man walks through a memorial site at the Kaisariani Shooting Range in the Kaisariani suburb of Athens, February 16, 2026, where 200 Greek communist political prisoners were executed by Nazi forces on May 1, 1944. (AP/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece to claim possession of Nazi atrocity photos found on eBay, minister says

By AFP

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for a landmark trial over whether social media platforms deliberately addict and harm children, February 18, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Zuckerberg grilled over accusations social media geared to addict and harm kids

By KAITLYN HUAMANI and Barbara Ortutay

Dana Eden attends Apple TV+'s 'Tehran' Season 2 Premiere at The Robin Williams Center on May 4, 2022, in New York City. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images/AFP)

Annual TV award nominees announced after delay caused by death of ‘Tehran’ producer

By Jessica Steinberg

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