I’m writing to share important updates from the region as well as J Street’s statements and resources from this past week. As a reminder, you can always find our most recent statements here.

I invite you to reach out to your J Street Public Affairs staff with any questions.

All the best,
Lily

—
Lily Adelstein
She/Her
Deputy Director of Government Affairs, J Street
Cell: 202-699-2701

This week on j street

Expert Analysis

The Iran War Spreads to the Gulf Region

Webinar

War Spreads Across the Middle East featuring Ali Vaez, Jen Gavito and Nadav Tamir

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Word on the Street with Jeremy Ben-Ami

When Loving Israel Means Saying What Israelis Don’t Want to Hear

Israel and Iran attack gas facilities in a major escalation that rattles markets

Iran attacked the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas complex in Qatar, targeted a gas field and facility in the United Arab Emirates, fired missiles and launched drones on a Saudi Arabian oil refinery and on two Kuwaiti gas units on Thursday, following Israel’s bombing of Iran’s South Pars gas field a day earlier. The attacks marked a major escalation as the war with Iran approached its third week. The strikes sent shockwaves across the global energy market, which was already reeling from the consequences of Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a key conduit of the world’s oil supply. Brent crude oil, the international standard, was above $110 a barrel in Thursday morning trading, an increase of over 50% since the start of the war on Feb. 28.

Gaza Aid Reduced by 80 Percent Since Start of Iran War as Food Prices Surge

According to figures held by the American-run Civil Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat, the number of trucks entering the Gaza Strip has fallen by 80 percent since the war against Iran began, as the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt opened for the first time on Thursday since the start of Israel’s war with Iran for patients in need of medical treatment to evacuate. Before the war, the average number of trucks entering the enclave weekly was 4,200. In the first week of the war, this number fell to only 590. In the second week, 1,137 trucks went in and between Sunday and Tuesday, fewer than 400 entered.

IDF Says It’s Expanding Ground Offensive Against Hezbollah in Lebanon

The Israeli army said Monday that it is deepening its ground offensive in southern Lebanon and sending additional troops to the northern border, in a move that could signal a broader campaign against Hezbollah than previously expected. According to the IDF, two additional divisions are expected to join the fighting, on top of the three already operating across the border, with the stated goal of preventing Hezbollah from firing anti-tank missiles and rockets toward Israel. The advance will be supplemented by air and artillery strikes, the IDF said… A report by the U.S. news site Axios cited Israeli and American officials as saying Israel is considering a broader operation aimed at taking control of territory south of the Litani River, a buffer zone long seen by Israel as key to preventing Hezbollah attacks.

Palestinian man in the West Bank says he was sexually assaulted by Israeli settlers

Israeli settlers have increasingly used violence against Palestinians in a bid to drive them from their homes in the occupied West Bank. But sexual assault appears to be a new weapon in these settlers’ arsenal of intimidation, pointing to a troubling new level of violence… Israeli authorities said they were investigating the alleged assault and settlers’ alleged theft of hundreds of Abu al-Kebash’s sheep, and on Thursday, told CNN that “seven suspects were arrested several days ago on suspicion of involvement in the incident.” Police also said they were under “a court-issued gag order,” as part of the investigation.

Iranian cluster bombs kill foreign worker in Israel, 4 Palestinian women in West Bank

A foreign worker was killed in central Israel on Wednesday night and four Palestinian women were killed in the southern West Bank as the country faced multiple barrages of ballistic missiles from Iran. Missile sirens sounded in Israel six times between midnight and 8 a.m., with the country’s north suffering the brunt of the attacks… They were the first West Bank Palestinians killed by Iran in the current war.

Pentagon seeks $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war, AP source says

The Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war, a sizable amount that is certain to be met with questions from Congress, which would need to approve any new money. The department sent the request to the White House, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information. Asked about the figure at a press conference Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not directly confirm the amount, saying it could change. “It takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth said. But he said “we’re going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we’re properly funded.”

Opinion | Joe Kent’s Resignation Letter Is Dangerous Because It’s Half True

“Given Israel’s deep involvement in almost every aspect of this war, it takes care and subtlety — both in short supply in our politics — to tease out the difference between reality and conspiracy theory. A major distortion in Kent’s letter is that it presents Trump as a naïve victim of the Israelis rather than an eager collaborator. Trump has always been more hawkish than the isolationists in his orbit admit; he ordered more drone strikes in his first two years in office than Barack Obama launched in eight. It wasn’t Netanyahu who made Trump abduct the president of Venezuela — an operation that seems to have both whetted his appetite for foreign adventure and convinced him that war can be easy. This week he boasted that he could “take” Cuba and “do anything I want with it.” Long obsessed with military might and displays of masculine aggression, Trump was enamored of the idea that he could rid the world of the anti-American regimes that bedeviled his predecessors. He went to war in Iran for his ego, not for Israel.”

Opinion | I Wargamed Iran for Obama. This Is the Worst-Case Scenario

“Earlier this week, Donald Trump was asked whether he was surprised that no one briefed him in advance that Iran might respond to an American attack by targeting Gulf countries. His response? “Nobody. Nobody. No no no.” That is evidence that either Trump is lying or his administration has so cut itself off from experts that no one briefed him on what was essentially common wisdom amongst US experts – that major strikes on Iran could prompt Tehran to respond by targeting oil infrastructure and US bases across the Middle East and closing the Strait of Hormuz. For the past 15 years, I’ve participated in and helped run scenario exercises and war games on Iran both at the Pentagon and then outside of government. These exercises are not about predicting the future with certainty. They are about understanding the possible consequences of choices. And on Iran, the lessons from these exercises were remarkably consistent and quite similar to what we’ve seen play out over the past two weeks.”

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | March 20, 2026