Levant developments — 1 November 2026
Three checks carried from last week were answered this week, and none ends the question it answers. In Lebanon, the government commissioner to the Military Court charged 13 people over the seized explosives on 30 October, two in custody and eleven in absentia. Lebanese television named two of them as Hezbollah security officials, but the charge sheet was not read and no state text read names the explosives' owner. In Gaza, OCHA counted 343 commercial truckloads in the week that began with Israel's 19 October announcement. It did not say which crossing they used or how many came from Israel, so the count does not show that the shipments from Israel resumed. Most of the bakeries that had closed for lack of flour were working again by 26 October. In Hebron, OCHA's account adds about 3,000 people displaced, a municipal figure it is still verifying. All main entrances to the city were still closed on 29 October. No source read reports a lockdown of the whole West Bank. OCHA also recorded more settler attacks in October than in any month since 2006. None of the ten standing questions met an observable.
The developments
Lebanon's Military Court prosecutor charges 13 people over the seized explosives, eleven of them in absentia, and the case stays out of the Judicial Council
On 30 October Judge Claude Ghanem, the government commissioner to the Military Court, charged 13 people in the Dahr al-Baidar explosives case, according to the state-run National News Agency (via Naharnet). The charges include crimes against internal state security, possession of weapons and explosives, and forming illegal associations aimed at undermining state authority. Two defendants, the men detained in the truck, are in custody. The other eleven were charged in absentia, five of them known only by noms de guerre. MTV, via Naharnet, named two of the defendants as Hezbollah security officials. A judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat on 29 October that one was suspected of handing over the explosives in Baalbek and the other was to receive them in Beirut's southern suburbs. It also said warrants had been issued for some suspects. Judicial officials put the consignment at 780 kg. Justice Minister Adel Nassar still wants the case referred to the Judicial Council, and the cabinet has not referred it. Political sources told al-Akhbar that Hezbollah would not escalate over the charges. Hezbollah MP Hussein al-Hajj Hassan called the indictment "unfair and unjust".
Why it matters. Last week's brief named a charge as one of the steps that would change the reading, and this is that step, in the slower forum. The state prosecutor has put party members, including two described as security officials, under charges of crimes against state security. This is the first judicial act under the March 2026 ban that is known to target the organisation's own officials. It does not show the ban being enforced more widely. Eleven defendants are at large, nothing was seized beyond the truck, and the Judicial Council referral is still deferred. The supply question also stays open. The charge text was not read. The Hezbollah affiliation comes from television, and the delivery and receiving roles come from an unnamed source. No text read ties the consignment to Iran, so the interdiction marker, which needs the state's own attribution, is not met. The steps that would settle it are the indictment's text, an arrest of the officials named, or a cabinet referral.
OCHA counts 343 commercial truckloads in the week of Israel's resumption announcement, without saying where they entered or where they came from
OCHA's situation report of 29 October says the private sector collected 343 commercial truckloads into Gaza between 19 and 25 October, 9 per cent more than the 315 counted for 12–18 October. Of these, 129 carried food, 73 solid fuel, 68 shelter materials, 38 hygiene items and 25 cooking gas, and seven carried non-essential items. The report names no crossing for them and does not say how many came from Israel and how many from Egypt. On the humanitarian side, 586 of 651 UN and partner trucks manifested for entry were offloaded at Kerem Shalom. As of 26 October, 16 of the 17 commercial bakeries supported on a "fuel-only" model were operational, three days after 14 of them had closed for lack of flour. OCHA reported flour and fresh-food prices more than 70 per cent higher than in 12–18 October. Partners prepared 586,000 cooked meals a day as of 22 October, and some changed their menus. Gisha's page is still dated 8 October and still lists Kerem Shalom as the only crossing for goods.
Why it matters. The count answers the carried check only in part. Commercial trucks were counted entering in the week Israel said shipments would resume, and the bakeries reopened within days. But the halt announced on 14 October applied to goods from Israel. Commercial goods from Egypt kept moving, and OCHA's 315 for the week of the halt shows that the commercial channel never fell to zero. Without a breakdown by origin, a 9 per cent rise does not show that the Israeli channel reopened. The count measures how much moved, not who may deliver it. No crossing opened, no item rule was published and no NGO list was issued, so the access regime's markers are unchanged. A count by origin or crossing, from OCHA, COGAT or the Chamber of Commerce, would settle whether the shipments from Israel resumed. The price rise is the other thing to watch, because volume can recover while prices stay high.
OCHA's account of the Hebron operation adds a displacement figure it is still verifying, and the city's entrances stay closed a week on
OCHA's situation report of 29 October describes a "large-scale operation" in Hebron city since the attack of 23 October, with extensive movement restrictions, searches and raids. It reports about 3,000 Palestinians displaced from an area of some 350 dunums. The figure comes from the Hebron Municipality, and OCHA says it is "under verification". As of 29 October all main entrances to the city were still closed, with limited openings for fuel, commercial goods and waste vehicles. On 25–26 October, 691 schools in the governorate serving more than 251,000 students moved to remote learning. On 27 October Israeli forces kept displaced families from returning to the closed neighbourhoods. On 30 October forces blew up the homes of the two men accused of the attack (Al Jazeera). The municipality has given other figures: 4,969 people from 780 families displaced, it said on 27 October (via Al Jazeera). Al Jazeera's correspondent counted at least 120 people arrested since the operation began.
Why it matters. Last week's brief said an OCHA count would settle the displacement figures. OCHA has now published one, but it attributes the figure to the municipality and says it is under verification. The record carries it on those terms, and the municipality's later figures are not adopted. The closure has lasted a week. The military first called the operation "limited" and said it would last several days. No source read reports the West Bank-wide lockdown, which was ordered prepared on 23 October, in force, and OCHA describes restrictions on Hebron city only. The question on the three northern camps does not cover Hebron. The question on land administration reads legal and planning acts. Neither covers a West Bank operation of this kind, and this is the second week that the gap has been noted. The steps that would settle the operation's extent are OCHA's verified figure, the reopening of the city's entrances, and residents returning to the closed neighbourhoods.
OCHA records more settler attacks in October than in any month since its records began in 2006
OCHA recorded 62 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage across 49 communities between 20 and 26 October, against a 2026 weekly average of 53. It counted 397 such incidents between 1 and 26 October, which it says is already the highest monthly number since its documentation began in 2006. In the same week it recorded 38 olive-harvest-related attacks causing casualties or damage. OCHA counted 57 Palestinians injured across the West Bank, 18 of them in harvest-related incidents. Coordinated harvest access was suspended until further notice in parts of the Jenin and Nablus governorates. This report gives no season-to-date harvest total. The latest cumulative on record is OCHA's 272 attacks for 1 September to 19 October.
Why it matters. OCHA's own category has carried this lane in every recent review. This week the count set a record against OCHA's own two-decade series, not just against earlier weeks. The figure enters the module's displacement block on OCHA's terms. Other counters use other categories and are not added. The weekly harvest count is not added to the earlier cumulative, because OCHA has not published a new season total. None of the module's standing questions reads settler violence, which this item states for the fourth week.
Where this fits
This is one conflict's dated review for the week. The cross-conflict edition for the same week carries the most consequential findings from every conflict Vigil covers. The standing picture this review updates is the Levant coverage. How Vigil grades, dates and sources its claims is set out in the methodology, and anything later found wrong is recorded in the corrections log.
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