Middle East Press On: Gaza, Palestine, Genocide, Hamas, Warfare, Ceasefire: New Age Islam's Selection, 11 October 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
11 October 2025
So That What Happened In Gaza Never Happens Again
‘Gaza’s Pablo Escobar’ – Yasser Abu Shabab’s Ascent to the Abyss
Towards A Settlement In Gaza
The UK Recognizing Palestine Opens The Door To Lawsuits Over Crimes During The Mandate
Could Silence Be Mistaken For Peace? The Grammar Of Accountability In Gaza
Gaza Genocide and the Destruction of the World We Used to Live in
Israeli Psychological Warfare and Bombing after The Ceasefire
Did Hamas Have A Secret Army On October 7?
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So That What Happened In Gaza Never Happens Again
Faisal J. Abbas
October 10, 2025
By any measure, the recent developments in Gaza mark a pivotal moment in the region’s long and painful history. And while cynics may scoff and skeptics may roll their eyes, it is time to acknowledge what must be said plainly: US President Donald Trump deserves credit for his bold and determined efforts to broker peace in Gaza.
Two years after countless failed initiatives, the current US-led push — chaired personally by the president as head of the newly formed Board of Peace — seems to be not just another diplomatic gesture with a fancy name. It has all the attributes of a serious, high-stakes undertaking that, if supported and sustained, could finally begin to reverse the devastation that has plagued the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian people.
Is the plan perfect? Far from it. Could it fail? There is definitely a high risk, given the many spoilers. With an extremist, trigger-happy Israeli government still in power, and a not-so-encouraging track record of Hamas, the road ahead is treacherous. But perfection is not the measure of progress. And repeating the same failed UN mechanisms while expecting different results is, as the famous quote says, the definition of insanity. I say this while fully and wholeheartedly wishing that the reality was otherwise. The reality is, unfortunately, that this is more a case of the Arabic proverb which says “and so cure it with what caused the illness to start with.”
In other words, this is a matter of resorting to America precisely because President Trump is the dealmaker that he is, Washington has the leverage and the trust of Israel, and that everything else has failed so far.
My point is having a plan, with all its faults, is far better than allowing the killing to continue as a result of having no plan. Besides, pleasing everyone is an illusion and a recipe for failure in itself.
Even within the same political camps, reactions are and will continue to be divided. In Israel, some see the initiative as a lifeline for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — a way to climb down from a tree he has been perched on for far too long. Others argue it unjustly rewards Hamas, whose refusal to surrender has come at the expense of thousands of innocent lives and the near-total destruction of Gaza.
On the Palestinian side, the sentiment is understandably bitter. For many, this effort feels like “too little, too late.” After tens of thousands of deaths, widespread famine and what a UN agency has now labeled genocide, the scars are deep and trust is thin. Yet among Hamas ranks, the narrative is spun as a victory — proof that they have not capitulated. This, of course, ignores the staggering human toll of their obstinance.
But these debates, while important, must not distract from the larger truth: Trump is not just paying lip service, but is now fully invested as the chairperson of this peace initiative. That matters. It matters because it places real pressure on all parties, including Israel, to honor commitments. And it matters because it limits Netanyahu’s ability to maneuver or escape accountability under the guise of security concerns.
Arab and Muslim nations have, to their credit, rallied behind the initiative. Their support is both morally necessary and strategically wise. But let us not be lulled into premature celebration. The war is not over. The suffering is not over. And the peace is far from being won.
Labeling this effort as anything less than sincere and serious would be a disservice to the cause of peace. Yes, it is fresh. Yes, it is fragile. But that fragility demands our full support — not just in words, but in action. Humanitarian aid must flow freely. Food, shelter, and medical supplies must reach those in need before winter deepens the crisis.
This is not the time for political posturing or ideological purity tests. It is the time for pragmatism, compassion, and rapid resolve.
If we are truly committed to ensuring that what happened in Gaza never happens again, then talk of a two-state solution must follow immediately. Not eventually. Not “when the time is right.” But now — as that is the only logical and just way to safeguard against another future atrocity.
The horrors of Oct. 7 and the Israeli genocide committed since must serve as a wake-up call. The region cannot afford another cycle of vengeance and victimhood. The international community must push for a viable, just, and enforceable resolution that guarantees security for Israelis and protection, statehood, and dignity for Palestinians.
President Trump’s initiative may not be perfect, but it is a start. And in a region where starts are rare and hope is often fleeting, that alone is worth applauding. The question now is whether Israel and Hamas will rise to meet this moment — or squander it, as they have so many times before.
Let us hope, for the sake of Gaza and for the future of the region, that they choose wisely.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2618437
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‘Gaza’s Pablo Escobar’ – Yasser Abu Shabab’s Ascent to the Abyss
By Ali Saadeh
October 10, 2025
The former spokesperson for the Israeli army officially declared that “the militias collaborating with the Israeli army in Gaza will not enter Israel and must face their destiny. The army did not force anyone to fight the movement (Hamas), and they must bear the consequences of their decisions.”
Multiple Israeli official and media sources have engaged in gloating. The Hebrew news site Hadashot Yisrael tweeted sarcastically:
The known details of the Gaza ceasefire and the commencement of the exchange deal suggest that Hamas now has an opportunity to rebuild its strength and reorganize its ranks after two years of intense Israeli military attacks and genocidal war This effectively means the movement will return to managing the Strip’s affairs with relative freedom.
Amidst rapid developments on the ground in Gaza and the wider region, Abu Shabab’s past is now less relevant than his unknown future following the ceasefire announcement. Multiple journalistic comparisons suggest he played a role similar to that of Saad Haddad and Antoine Lahad – Lebanese militia leaders who collaborated with Israel – in South Lebanon.
Israel’s internal security service (Shin Bet) viewed Abu Shabab as instrumental in protecting soldiers and reducing the Israeli army’s human losses. Abu Shabab, nicknamed “Gaza’s Pablo Escobar,” and his gangs effectively served as human shields and substitutes for deploying Israeli troops.
These gangs’ primary mission was to loot aid trucks, obstruct their distribution, and fire upon civilians to sow chaos, deepening the collapse of civil life in Gaza and systematically destroying any possibility of reconstruction. Their actions were meant to dismantle the civilian support system and render the Strip unlivable.
A Shin Bet Project
Yasser Abu Shabab, leader of the Israeli-backed “Popular Forces” in Gaza, claims to have ties with the Palestinian Authority (PA), alleging they are “partners in the security vetting of arrivals” to the area under his control east of Rafah. The PA has not confirmed these claims.
In an interview with Israeli military correspondent Doron Kadosh, Abu Shabab claimed this vetting is conducted through the Palestinian Intelligence Service in Ramallah, which cooperates to ensure no “terrorist elements enter and impede the project of liberating Gaza from Hamas,” according to his allegations.
This corroborates a report by the Israeli channel “i24NEWS,” which, through its Arab affairs correspondent Baruch Yedid, claimed an unnamed Arab country is supervising the training of this gang. Furthermore, Mahmoud Habbash, advisor to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, allegedly manages direct communication channels with Abu Shabab. The channel cited a senior political source in Ramallah as confirming that “everything is coordinated with President Abbas,” as per the Israeli channel’s claims.
The Shin Bet “designed” the project to support armed gangs in Gaza as an alternative force against resistance factions. This plan was approved by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, and Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir.
Arming and Functional Role
The arming process was carried out in complete secrecy under Shin Bet’s leadership, involving the transfer of dozens, possibly hundreds, of light weapons such as pistols and Kalashnikov rifles — mostly seized by the Israeli army from Gaza — to these groups.
Israeli officials admit that these gangs are involved in drug trafficking, extortion, and looting aid trucks, having no connection to the Palestinian national struggle. They also concede that the groups lack the necessary qualifications to administer the city of Rafah “the day after the war.”
The consensus in Israeli media is that these groups are merely collaborators serving a functional role for the occupation. The Israeli army will not sacrifice a single soldier to protect them when the day of Palestinian retribution comes, just as it abandoned the South Lebanon Army.
Weapons from the Israeli Army
The issue is not limited to Abu Shabab’s group. Occupation authorities have acknowledged the existence of at least three such groups, supplied with weapons and funding to “fill the security and political vacuum,” pursue armed elements from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but in ways that obscure direct Israeli military involvement.
These militias are not supplied with standard Israeli weapons. Instead, they receive arms seized by the army from resistance faction caches in Gaza and from weapons captured from Hezbollah in South Lebanon, making their combat gear appear to be “war spoils” rather than direct Israeli military equipment. They receive monthly salaries and weapon permits from the Israeli army, essentially turning them into local mercenaries serving the occupation’s goals under a Palestinian guise.
According to Israeli sources, their tasks include gathering intelligence, monitoring areas cleared of Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, and helping maintain security in areas densely populated by displaced civilians in the southern Strip, as reported by Haaretz. These groups train openly near Israeli forces, moving freely in small formations near units that have infiltrated the area. To avoid confusion, the Israeli army recently began coding the locations of these militia members within its command-and-control system, integrating them into the military field plan.
Al-Astal’s Gang in Khuza’a al-Najjar
A new figure has recently surfaced: Hussam Al-Astal, a former member of the PA security services. He announced the formation of an armed group in the Khuza’a al-Najjar area southeast of Khan Younis, which was completely evacuated.
Al-Astal called on residents to move to his controlled areas, offering food, water, and shelter. He told the Times of Israel that his group would welcome anyone hostile to Hamas and had enough resources for everyone, planning to receive about 400 Palestinians after security vetting. Like Abu Shabab, who is in charge of areas east of Rafah and parts of east Khan Younis, Al-Astal claimed responsibility for his area, confirming contact with Abu Shabab but operating independently.
Al-Astal also spoke of coordination with the occupation, claiming, “Soon we will rely on Israel to supply us with electricity and water,” and that he receives support from various sources, including the US, Europe, and unspecified Arab countries.
Al-Astal had previously been arrested by the Hamas government’s security services, which successfully lured him back into Gaza. He was interrogated for collaboration with the occupation regarding his alleged involvement in the 2018 assassination of engineer Fadi Al-Batsh in Malaysia. In 2022, a military court in Gaza sentenced him to death for the murder.
After the war broke out, Al-Astal escaped prison and attempted to flee toward Israel. However, following the emergence of Yasser Abu Shabab’s group in Rafah, he joined and fought with them before establishing his new group alongside other gunmen, most of whom are also accused of cooperating with Israel and were previously incarcerated in Gaza prisons.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/gazas-pablo-escobar-yasser-abu-shababs-ascent-to-the-abyss/
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Towards A Settlement In Gaza
By Prof. Daniel Friedmann
October 11, 2025
Israel must begin seriously advancing its core national interests: ending the war and returning the hostages, restoring its international standing, achieving an arrangement with the Palestinians, and expanding peace agreements with the Muslim world.
Personal and national interests
Shalom Aleichem once wrote of Motl, son of Peysi the Cantor, who proudly declared: “Happy am I—an orphan!” In the same vein, one might say: happy is the State of Israel, which has become a protectorate of the United States; happy are we that Donald Trump, rather than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is conducting Israel’s foreign policy.
Trump acts according to his personal interests and those of the United States, as he perceives them. Fortunately for Israel, at this particular moment, several of those major interests coincide with its own.
Netanyahu, by contrast, conducts Israel’s foreign and security policy according to his personal interests, even when they run counter to those of the state. His interest lies in prolonging the war that began with the October 7, 2023 disaster, for as long as possible.
The longer the war lasts, the more distant that dark day becomes, and the longer he can remain in power.
Israel’s interest, however, was and remains to end the war swiftly. The clash between Netanyahu’s private interest and the nation’s true interest is sharp and clear. It has overshadowed the war’s conduct and damaged its outcome throughout the two long years since it began.
Twelve days that ended a war
The Israel–Iran war lasted only twelve days. Netanyahu wanted to continue; Israel’s interest was to stop. Iran’s nuclear facilities had already been damaged as much as possible, and its missile program had suffered heavy blows. Yet Iran retained the ability to launch missiles toward Israel, which had already caused severe damage to the Haifa refineries, the Weizmann Institute, Soroka Hospital, and hundreds of residential apartments.
Continuing the fighting would have brought little additional benefit to Israel, while the potential harm from further missile barrages was immense. On the twelfth day of the war, as Israeli planes headed to strike Iranian targets, an action that would have triggered another wave of Iranian missiles on Israel, Trump ordered an immediate halt to the operation and the return of the planes.
Israel owes him thanks for stopping Netanyahu from continuing the war, escalating the Israeli losses, and for bringing the military aspect of this conflict to an end.
Two years in Gaza
The war in Gaza, by contrast, has dragged on for two years. Israel’s clear national interest dictates that if war is unavoidable, it must be as short as possible. The needless prolongation of this war has caused enormous damage to Israel and to the Jewish diaspora, damage from which recovery will not be easy.
Israel has become a pariah state, facing growing economic, academic, and cultural boycotts. Yet Netanyahu’s personal interest runs opposite to that of Israel, and lies in continuing the war, which allows him to remain in power.
Fortunately, Trump’s current interest, and that of the United States, aligns with Israel’s. He has ordered Netanyahu to end the Gaza war and reach an agreement.
Israel should be grateful for this, too, and hope that the war will indeed end, the hostages will return, and the country can begin to heal.
A Diplomatic Collapse
We must also consider the day after the war and what awaits Gaza. This question should have been addressed from the very start of the war, but Netanyahu showed no interest, and so it was ignored. Now we have to face it.
Militarily, Israel’s situation has improved: Hezbollah has been weakened and faces pressure to disarm; Hamas has suffered devastating losses; Syria has collapsed; and Iran has been pushed further from its nuclear ambitions.
Yet diplomatically, Israel has suffered a collapse of historic proportions. This political disaster largely offsets the battlefield gains. It has also become clear that Israel will not be able to annex territory in Gaza or the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Qatar has secured a US defense agreement, its legal standing questionable, yet sufficient to prevent any future Israeli strike there. Terrorists residing in Qatar may now enjoy de facto immunity. Qatar is the great victor of this war, and Turkey the lesser one, both hostile to Israel yet close allies of Washington.
Gaza’s Next Chapter
A new regime will arise in Gaza, almost certainly a Palestinian one. Israel can only hope to influence it to become a reformed authority, ending incitement against Israel and halting children’s education toward terror.
The international status of this new authority remains uncertain. The answer is not fully in Israel’s hands. Gaza’s land borders are controlled by Israel and Egypt. After Hamas violently seized power in Gaza, Israel, under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, imposed a naval blockade on the strip. The blockade was entirely lawful, given that Gaza was ruled by a terrorist regime.
The legality of the blockade was examined in 2010 in the Mavi Marmara incident. The issue was handled excellently by retired Justice Jacob Turkel and Dr. Yosef Ciechanover, Israel’s representative to the UN committee that investigated the case.
The committee, by majority vote against the Turkish member, recognized the legality of Israel’s naval blockade. Sadly, both Turkel and Ciechanover have since passed away, yet the legal protection they secured for Israel remains valid as long as Hamas governs Gaza.
However, once a new, internationally recognized authority takes over, that legal shield will vanish. This brings us back to the Oslo Accords, which were never formally revoked but are now in partial collapse. Under those agreements, Palestinian imports and exports pass through Israel, which collects customs and VAT for the Palestinian Authority (and in any case controls entry and exit from the West Bank).
But a new governing entity in Gaza, whose adherence to the Oslo framework is uncertain, might establish direct maritime links with the world, perhaps even build an airport, and develop foreign relations. Some countries might open diplomatic missions in Gaza. Such moves could lay the foundation for a Palestinian state. In view of Israel’s current weak international position, it will most probably be unable to prevent this.
Restoring Israel’s standing
Amid this tangled reality, Israel must focus on its essential interests. First, it must restore its international standing, which has deteriorated to the point of existential concern. Second, it must renew and expand peace agreements with the Muslim world. These goals align with a third, equally crucial aim: achieving an arrangement with the Palestinians.
Admittedly, the current war hampers such an effort - feelings of revenge, hatred, and suspicion run deep on both sides. Israel will find it difficult to accept the establishment of a Palestinian state, even a demilitarized one, yet it is unclear whether we can prevent it.
From Israel’s standpoint, it would be preferable to propose, at least as a first stage, autonomy for the Palestinians, the same arrangement once signed by Menachem Begin as part of the peace agreement with Egypt. It is also worth recalling that Trump removed from the agenda both the idea of annexing the West Bank or Gaza territories and of applying Israeli sovereignty there. It is hard to believe he will change his position, and any future US president will certainly not be more accommodating.
In any case, an agreement with the Palestinians, one that includes effective guarantees for Israel’s security—could mark a dramatic step toward restoring Israel’s global standing and easing the strain on Jewish communities abroad. Combined with expanded peace accords with the Muslim world, such a move could rehabilitate and even elevate Israel’s position, while helping to push the Iranian threat further away.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-870053
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The UK Recognizing Palestine Opens The Door To Lawsuits Over Crimes During The Mandate
By David Ben-Basat
October 10, 2025
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s declaration recognizing a Palestinian state was, in his words, intended to preserve the two-state solution and promote peace in the Middle East.
Among Palestinians, however, the move was perceived not only as a diplomatic victory but also as fertile ground for reviving old demands. Just days later, calls emerged to put Britain on trial for “historic crimes” committed during the Mandate period and to demand astronomical reparations amounting to trillions of pounds.
Britain has joined a group of Western nations – including Canada, Spain, and Australia – that support the idea of a Palestinian state against the backdrop of the war in Gaza and increased focus on settlements in Judea and Samaria. The Starmer government insists this is not a step against Israel but a pragmatic move to preserve what it calls the only viable political option: a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel.
In practice, however, Britain’s recognition carries far-reaching consequences. It grants legitimacy to the Palestinian narrative despite its historical inconsistencies and could serve as a legal and diplomatic lever for new claims against Britain by a “state” built on a flimsy historical fiction.
The lawsuits that could follow from Palestinian statehood recognition
In parallel with the announcement, Palestinian initiatives resurfaced demanding that Britain take responsibility for the “wrongs of the Mandate” (1920-1948). The Palestinian Authority’s prime minister has called for a formal apology and massive financial compensation. The claims range from “land theft” and human rights violations to accusations that Britain laid an illegal foundation for the establishment of the State of Israel.
The historical facts, however, are clear: Britain, along with most of the international community, recognized the Jewish people’s historic right to a national home in the Land of Israel. From a legal standpoint, the Palestinian claims have little chance of success due to state immunity, statutes of limitation, and – above all – the near impossibility of proving ownership a century later.
The concept of a Palestinian people is a modern political construct that emerged in the mid-20th century as part of the struggle against Zionism. For thousands of years, no Palestinian political entity existed in this land. After falling out of Jewish hands, it was ruled successively by Romans, Byzantines, Muslims, Crusaders, Ottomans, and the British, but never by Palestinians. During the British Mandate, all residents of the land, both Jews and Arabs, were referred to as “Palestinians.”
Only after the establishment of the State of Israel – and even more so after the Six Day War – was an artificial national narrative built to present a people supposedly uprooted from its land. In reality, many of the Arabs living here in the 19th and 20th centuries had migrated from Egypt, Syria, and the Arabian Peninsula.
Paradoxically, the Western world embraced this false narrative almost without question. Universities, international media outlets, and governments began referring to an “ancient Palestinian people,” when in fact this identity was invented for political struggle.
The oft-heard slogan at demonstrations in London, Amsterdam, and New York, “From the river to the sea,” is not a call for peace but an explicit call for the destruction of the Jewish state.
British recognition of a Palestinian state, while ignoring these facts, legitimizes a falsehood rather than confronting it. It is no surprise that Palestinian Authority officials hailed the move as a “historic step,” viewing it as a springboard for compensation demands. Even if such lawsuits have virtually no legal chance, the very act of raising them reinforces a victimhood narrative and strengthens claims to a national identity that never historically existed.
Even if they never receive a single pound, the Palestinians gain by perpetuating this falsehood in the global consciousness, while Israel is forced to defend itself against a historical fabrication.
Jerusalem must respond through strategic public diplomacy: exposing the falsehoods of the Palestinian narrative, emphasizing that such a people never existed, and warning that recognition of a Palestinian state is a reward for deceit and terror.
Britain’s declaration is not an isolated act but another link in a chain of Western adoption of historical falsehoods, accompanied by fantastical demands. It is becoming clear that the struggle is not only over “statehood” but also over money – and lots of it.
The historical truth is singular: There has only ever been one people with an ancient sovereign bond to this land – the Jewish people.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-869979
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Could Silence Be Mistaken For Peace? The Grammar Of Accountability In Gaza
by Tatiana Svorou
October 10, 2025
The announcement of the Gaza ceasefire on 9 October 2025 followed months of US-brokered negotiations between Israel and Hamas, culminating in a “first-phase” agreement mediated by Qatar and Egypt and endorsed by the United Nations. Under the terms publicly outlined, Israel agreed to withdraw its forces from central and southern Gaza in stages, permit the return of displaced civilians to the north, and increase humanitarian aid deliveries through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings, while Hamas committed to the release of remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for the phased liberation of Palestinian prisoners. Nevertheless, despite its scope, the ceasefire has elicited cautious acknowledgement rather than relief among humanitarian agencies and local residents, as more than 1.9 million Gazans remain displaced and critical infrastructure destruction has rendered large parts of the Strip uninhabitable even amid the truce. The agreement’s structure, described diplomatically as a “first phase” pending further political negotiations, reproduces the same asymmetry that has governed Gaza for decades, prioritizing security arrangements and controlled aid flows over political restitution or accountability for alleged war crimes.
International humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, clearly prohibits collective punishment, the targeting of civilians, and the destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure. Furthermore, collective punishment is expressly forbidden under Geneva Convention IV, Article 33. Consequently, intentionally directing attacks at civilians or civilian objects (including medical facilities) is a war crime under Rome Statute Article 8 and customary IHL. Yet enforcement remains absent, and violations have persisted since October 2023, under the vocabulary of “self-defence” and “security.” At the same time, the International Court of Justice, in its provisional measures order of January 2024, ordered Israel to take steps to prevent acts under the Genocide Convention and to enable humanitarian assistance separately, while urging that all States Parties carry a duty under the Genocide Convention to prevent genocide. That these findings produced no substantive shift in policy exposes a crisis of compliance and belief in the relevance of law itself, highlighting that the foundations of the modern international legal order were shaped by imperial and colonial encounters, producing a system that presents itself as universal, yet was historically structured to govern and discipline non-European societies. In Gaza, this legacy endures. Law becomes an instrument for administering subjugation instead of dismantling it.
For many Gazans confronting the daily realities of displacement, famine and destroyed housing, the ceasefire represents a temporary suspension of violence instead of a meaningful transformation, or simply a fragile pause within a continuing regime of deprivation. Empirical data makes what was once abstract brutally concrete with about 90% of Gaza’s population having been displaced, and over 82% of the territory has been under evacuation orders and/or within militarized zones. Critical infrastructure has been devastated, with direct physical damage estimated at approximately USD 30 billion in a joint World Bank–UN interim damage assessment covering damage up to February 2025 and more than half a million people in Gaza were classified as experiencing famine in August 2025. Genocide, therefore, is not limited to the act of killing and should not be interpreted only as such. For the past two years, it has encompassed the systematic destruction of the social, cultural, and material foundations that allow a community to exist. Viewed through this lens, the devastation in Gaza represents a sustained assault on the conditions that sustain collective life, on infrastructure, health systems, and the social networks that make recovery possible. A ceasefire that leaves these structures in ruin instead of ending the process simply alters its tempo.
Humanitarian discourse, meanwhile, is now called to fill the void left by political paralysis. Aid deliveries and medical interventions become forms of moral compensation, offering care without confronting the political conditions that necessitate it. We see it as before, empathy substitutes for justice, and relief becomes a way to normalize structural harm, while leaving its structural causes untouched. In Gaza, this dynamic is especially stark. The humanitarian frame allows international actors to appear engaged while avoiding confrontation with the political reality of occupation and apartheid. Palestinians are recognized as victims in need of relief instead of political subjects with agency, entitled to sovereignty and the result is what one might call administrative empathy.
Indeed, the physical violence may slow, but the conditions that make it possible remain intact, the siege, the dispossession, the systematic denial of life’s essentials. The question, then, is not whether genocide has ceased, but whether it can ever “end” while its architecture of domination stands unbroken. The structures of power governing Gaza reveal a regime in which the capacity to decide who may live and who must die is exercised through blockade and bombardment. The territory has been transformed into an uninhabitable, managed space, where life is maintained only at the edge of extinction. And as it seems, the law functions as intended by legitimizing hierarchy, naming domination as order, and rendering resistance a form of criminality.
The international community’s response reveals a deeper disorder with the disintegration of the idea of law as a restraint on power. The ICJ’s finding of plausible rights at risk under the Genocide Convention and the resulting provisional measures produced statements of “concern,” but not sanctions; humanitarian airdrops coexisted with continued arms transfers by some states. It is clear that the Genocide Convention requires states not only to refrain from participation but to prevent such acts. Therefore, this selective application of law undermines the very notion of a rules-based order and confirms what post-colonial theorists have long argued: that legality has always been differentially distributed, extended to some and suspended for others- and the Gaza case makes visible this asymmetry in its most brutal form.
The repeated invocation of “peace process” and “de-escalation” obscures the reality that peace, as conventionally framed, has long been a managerial concept rather than a transformative one. The Oslo paradigm institutionalized an indefinite interim-administered peace without liberation. The current ceasefire risks doing the same, presenting the suspension of violence as a solution while leaving the underlying system of domination untouched. Peace that is detached from justice risks reproducing domination under another name. Any genuine cessation of violence must therefore move beyond the management of conflict toward its transformation, the restoration of sovereignty, the pursuit of accountability for systemic crimes, the dismantling of apartheid structures, and the affirmation of Palestinian self-determination as a non-negotiable political and legal principle.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20251010-could-silence-be-mistaken-for-peace-the-grammar-of-accountability-in-gaza/
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Gaza Genocide and the Destruction of the World We Used to Live in
By Jeremy Salt
October 10, 2025
Chaos abounds. In the US, the army is set into the streets of Chicago for no other reason than that Trump wants it to be there. He is picking out his enemies in the FBI and the judiciary and trying to destroy them, one by one. Masked ICE vigilantes roam the streets, beating and dragging poverty-stricken ‘aliens’ into the nearest dungeon.
The administration drowns in debt it can never repay, except by invading other countries and stealing their resources, as the US has always done to create the land of the brave and home of the free. Now, Trump has added bullying by raising tariffs to the level of highway robbery.
On September 30, the government actually ran out of money. In a country said to be the richest country in the world, more than 11 percent of the population – 37 million people – live in poverty.
Yet, since October 2023, it has delivered $21.7 billion in military aid to Israel, on top of the hundreds of billions it has delivered since 1948. It funds genocide, while remaining unable to meet the basic living costs of its own people. Can there be any argument that its priorities are not completely screwed up?
Trump and his cohort are clearly bent on the destruction of the old world and construction of a new one, in which more oligarchs will buy more yachts and more people will starve at home and abroad. Executive orders that once trickled out of the White House will turn into a flood as Trump decides what is best for the country.
‘The storm whispers to the warrior,’ deputy White House chief of staff, Stephen Miller, intoned recently. This would be more accurately expressed as the stormtrooper whispering to the vigilantes roaming American cities on the orders of the President.
The same kind of violent thugs set loose by the state roamed the streets of Berlin and Munich in the 1930s. They were not wearing masks, but they were wearing brown uniforms and armbands, so easy to see them coming.
Trump is now sending the army into cities as well. He is going to take all the trash away. America is going to be cleaned up. The gloves are off. There are no rules any longer, not domestically and not in foreign policy as Trump, Hegseth, Miller and others have made clear.
A rule is what they will decide when they want to decide it. Their rules float like paper boats on a pond, drifting this way and that, according to where the whispering wind blowing from the White House takes them.
The strictures extend to the country’s most senior commanders, whom Hegseth, striding up and down with the oiled confidence of the Fox News host he used to be, told them what they had to do.
They had been summoned at short notice from all over the world. They were not told what to expect. Was the US about to launch a surprise attack on Iran? Was an attack on the US imminent?
Something serious was up and Hegseth was about to tell them what it was: they had to lose weight. Fat troops, fat generals and fat admirals were unacceptable and all of them would have to take a physical fitness test and meet height and weight measurements twice a year to hold down their jobs. That was pretty much the serious content of what he had to say.
For those who disagree with the edicts streaming out of Trump’s social media account, violence, arbitrary arrest and prosecution is now the way, more openly than ever. No more playing around with evildoers, bad guys and illegals sleeping under railway bridges. Do not ask why they are here, do not give them a court hearing – just round them up and send them to where decent people will never have to see them.
In a country historically committed to its Constitution, this will lead to rising civil conflict and must surely end in impeachment of the President and grand jury prosecutions of others, if a ‘united’ United States is to survive.
The chaos extends from the national government to state governments, all the way down to even middle-class households trying to meet their bills. Yet, the oligarchs have vast, preposterous, offensive wealth because in this ‘democratic’ country, there has never been a rule book for them.
They have the freedom to accumulate veritable mountains of money, and too bad for hospitals and those living in rusting, decaying cities where the money is really needed.
The oligarchs’ wealth gives them unelected power.
Through the funding of political parties and individual politicians, they can dictate domestic and foreign policies. Their control extends to the mainstream media and now the social media. The main social platforms are all falling into their hands, adding to Google’s algorithmic exclusion zone.
Most recently, after Congressional legislation closed down TikTok to take it out of Chinese-owned (ByteDance) hands, it was sold to a consortium of US oligarchs that included Larry Ellison, Rupert Murdoch and Michael Dell.
Soon thereafter, Ellison bankrolled the purchase by his son, David, of the Paramount Global media conglomerate (CBS, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures) and, soon after that, David Ellison appointed Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News.
Ellison, Murdoch and Dell are all enthusiastic ‘supporters’ of Israel, which, nowadays, is code for supporting genocide. Ellison and Dell also contribute directly to the Israeli military.
‘Loyalty’ to Israel is a prerequisite for employment at Oracle, Ellison’s company, and it is not much different at Dell or in the Murdoch stable. Bari Weiss is an uncompromising hard-line Zionist whose appointment was naturally welcomed by Netanyahu, with the acquisition of X/Twitter now on his mind.
Having lost the American public, all these recent moves are signs of Israel’s determination to take back control of the narrative through the oligarchs’ billions.
The alleged connections of ByteDance to the Chinese government, feeding into alleged political censorship within TikTok, were the reason for the company being intimidated into selling to American investors.
Handing TikTok over to third-party control by Israel – not alleged but out in the open – is no different. The oligarchs will use TikTok in an attempt to restore Israel’s shattered image in the eyes of the American and global reading and viewing public. Weiss will have the same mission at CBS News.
The Soviet Union’s ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ has now been replaced in the US by the ‘dictatorship of the oligarchs.’
If the US is in a mess, Europe is not much better. Old political parties are collapsing under the weight of their own weaknesses. There is virtually no left remaining in the mainstream, and the extreme ‘patriotic’ right is rapidly filling the vacuum.
On the question of Palestine, a gulf as wide as the sea separating continents lies between the people and their politicians. Mainstream ‘liberal’, centrist, and right-wing parties continue to stand by Israel against the wishes of the people. Money, power, and not love have to be the reason for this.
In the past year, masses of people have taken to the streets around the world to let their governments know where they stand on Palestine. In Milan, police told to control the demonstrators ended up marching with them.
In London, police clearly do not like being told to break up demonstrations against genocide by a government supporting it. Hundreds have been arrested every time. This is not police work but political suppression and the police are justified in asking why they are being told to do Netanyahu’s dirty work through Starmer.
In Amsterdam, 250,000 demonstrators packed the streets. They looked more like Sana’a after Friday prayers, and, were they ever to meet, the natural human bond between demonstrators in Yemen and the Netherlands would be clear. It does not matter where they are; kinship among people responding to the greatest atrocities they have ever seen is the same. The differences of language, culture, and geography all fall away besides this deepest connection of all.
Governments that have betrayed their people are now moving away from their complicity in genocide to a ‘peace plan’ imposed on the Palestinians that will work only until Netanyahu sabotages it. Hamas has negotiated carefully and, in the short term, at least the flow of aid into Gaza will be resumed, and prisoners starved, beaten, tortured and raped in Israeli hell-holes will be released.
In the meantime, the US and Israel prepare for the next attack on Iran. In Europe, drone attacks across the Polish and Danish borders are an attempt to frighten Europeans into thinking that they are the first indications of a Russian attempt to take over the entire continent.
Crazed European and UK politicians may want war with Russia. Their governments are not equipped to fight it and their people do not want it, but that does not stop them from talking tough. They seemed to have lost their minds. No surprise that the spruikers of war with Russia and Israel’s genocide are one and the same.
As was the case in the 1930s, people in their mass demonstrations are doing their best to blunt this madness, but politicians, blind to the cataclysmic consequences, are forging ahead with their false flag ‘Russian’ missile attack on Poland and drone flights over Russia’s Nordic neighbors, Norway, Denmark and Sweden.
The interests of a genocidal state are a driving force in this mix. Against the total horror of what Israel has done in the past two years, why are governments still sticking with Israel when, against the atrocities it has committed over the last 80 years, it should have been abandoned long ago?
Put aside emotional support for the suffering Jewish people. That was the sales pitch as far back as Balfour. The real reason has always been self-interest. A ‘Jewish state’ at the heart of the Middle East was seen for a long time as a strategic asset, despite misgivings expressed by policymakers and military commanders.
Now, it is clearly a liability, domestically as well as in foreign policy. Palestine has become an electoral issue. The voters have let governments know what they want and political parties that refuse to respond are going to be kicked out of office.
Many of the answers as to why the entire ‘West’ got entangled in Zionism in the first place are already clear. They will be thrashed out endlessly by future historians. In the meantime, Israel’s erstwhile ‘allies’ and ‘friends’ now have the choice of sticking with this lawless enterprise or bailing out in their own self-interest before it drags them into even deeper waters.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/gaza-genocide-and-the-destruction-of-the-world-we-used-to-live-in/
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Israeli Psychological Warfare and Bombing after The Ceasefire
By Robert Inlakesh
October 10, 2025
Upon the announcement that a ceasefire agreement had been reached, the Israeli military decided to carry out more airstrikes against civilian targets, while repeatedly delaying the deal’s implementation. This occurred as Palestinians attempted to celebrate the developments, in some cases, losing their loved ones with whom they hoped to console at the end of the war.
On Thursday, at around 2 AM (Palestine time), the news of a ceasefire agreement broke. According to what was first published, the end of the war was supposed to come at 12 PM that day, leading to a surge in celebrations across the Gaza Strip.
Almost immediately, Israeli media outlets began complaining about the deal, with Yediot Ahronoth even positioning that “Israel lost the war”. Even on social media, Israelis began to express their outrage, with the negative response emojis on some Hebrew telegram channels outwaying the positive ones on posts specifically talking about the return of all Israeli captives.
Evidently, when midday in occupied Palestine came, the bombs kept falling. Israel committed a series of civilian massacres, including the bombing of tents and populated buildings, burying dozens under the rubble. These airstrikes even murdered the young son of prominent Palestinian journalist, Motassem al-Dalloul.
Instead of abiding by the original deadline that everyone in Gaza had prepared for, the Israeli leadership decided instead to kick the can down the road. It didn’t just delay the implementation of the ceasefire agreement once, instead opting to change the time frame hour after hour, toying with the population it is committing genocide against, as it killed dozens more civilians in each interval.
Over a week ago, when US President Donald Trump announced that Hamas had accepted his ceasefire proposal, he called upon his Israeli allies to “immediately” stop dropping bombs on the Gaza Strip. Yet, the Israeli military and political leadership openly defied the American President’s orders, continuing their operations as usual and murdering hundreds of civilians.
This is not new, of course, as when the Gaza ceasefire that came into effect this January, the Israelis played a very similar game. At the time, the Israeli military even allowed for the official deadline of the ceasefire to pass, halting all their military operations temporarily and even removing their drones from the territory’s skies.
For around 15 minutes, the people of Gaza were left to celebrate. Al-Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif was hoisted up onto the shoulders of locals as they celebrated the end of the war together.
Then, Israel began launching airstrikes throughout Gaza and committed a series of civilian massacres. The drones returned, and the military spokesperson announced that operations will continue until Hamas’ hands over a list of Israeli captives.
This was a totally unnecessary violation of the ceasefire, yet it was clearly calculated to inflict a psychological blow on the already tormented and traumatized civilian population of Gaza. Why? Because the Israeli public was outraged at the celebrations in Gaza, and the military wanted to inflict pain on the people for daring to express their joy that the killing was over.
Historically, the Israelis have always used tactics like these, often by bringing in the most force right before implementing a ceasefire as to inflict a lasting impression on the minds of the civilian population. It is a petty tactic that is calculated as a means of psychological warfare and not random; we know this as the brutality they display has no military value whatsoever.
As phase one of the new ceasefire agreement approached, so did the realization that Israel’s so-called “Operation Gideon’s Chariots 2” was a flop and had failed.
In other words, the Israeli military had sold its people on the lie that they were intent on occupying Gaza City, an operation that would have required a minimum of 200,000 soldiers and at least two years to complete.
Instead, from the get-go, the Israelis barely managed to mobilize an additional 60,000 troops for their operation, many of whom they now claim are headed to the occupied West Bank instead.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/israeli-psychological-warfare-and-bombing-after-the-ceasefire-analysis/
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Did Hamas Have A Secret Army On October 7?
By Gil Hoffman
October 10, 2025
When Israel has surprised its enemies, the Jewish state has emerged victorious. Examples include destroying the Egyptian Air Force at the start of the 1967 Six Day War, the 1976 Entebbe Operation, and the pager attacks last year in Lebanon.
When Israel was taken by surprise, however, during the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, it suffered devastating consequences.
One reason the terror tunnels have given Hamas such an advantage is that it has the element of surprise when its terrorists emerge from a shaft – something Israel lacks.
Israel’s military, intelligence, and political leadership were all taken by surprise two years ago on Oct. 7. Hamas’s sponsors in Iran and Qatar and allies in Hezbollah have all claimed they were unaware of the timing of the attack.
So who might have known? And who may not have been taken by surprise?
An investigation by internationally acclaimed photojournalist and imagery adviser David Katz suggests that as many as 14 well-known, elite Gazan photojournalists happened to be on Gaza rooftops well before 6:30 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 7, ready to document the initial missile attacks that provided cover for Hamas’s surprise infiltration into Israel.
The timing of the photos has been verified by independent experts, who analyzed the weather and light conditions.
From meteorological and photometric evidence, the lighting corresponds to a narrow pre-sunrise window confirming the photographer was already staged and prepared before the attacks began. The image validates the timing claims made in the article, though it does not itself prove intent or prior knowledge.
Although the photographers' suspiciously good timing and Hamas connections suggest that they were forewarned of the attack, more information is still required to conclusively establish that they definitely were informed.
All 14 photojournalists published impressive photos of rocket fire via wire services like Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Getty Images, and the Turkish state-run agency Anadolu.
The timing of the unobstructed images seemed to indicate that they knew exactly when the firing would take place. Some of them, like Mahmoud Issa of Reuters, posted photos on Instagram of the sunrise during the attacks.
Some continued taking pictures all day at key sites, such as Shifa Hospital when hostages arrived, and the border fence where Capt. Omer Neutra’s tank went up in flames. All the photographers suspiciously kept showing up at the right place at the right time.
The only female photographer among the 14 was Fatima Shbair of the Associated Press, who was honored in 2021 at Hamas’s “Day of Loyalty to the Palestinian Journalist.” This is an annual event hosted by the terror group’s Government Media Office, with the stated aim of aligning the media with Hamas’s agenda. Shbair spoke in a promotional video for the event.
That same year, the Hamas Media Office also honored photographer Mohammed Abed al-Baba, who praised the media office in a video shown at the event and who, on Oct. 7, was on a roof in Gaza.
The following year, Hamas honored Reuters cameraman Fadi Shana’a, who was also on a roof on Oct. 7. He donned an official scarf of the Hamas Government Media Office at the ceremony.
Katz believes his investigation proves that the 14 Gaza-based photographers were told by Hamas when the rocket attacks were happening, which he said would make them complicit in the attacks on Israeli civilians.
“At a time when truth in journalism is under unprecedented scrutiny, the findings point to a disturbing collapse of journalistic responsibility – and an uncomfortable blurring of the line between observer and participant,” Katz said.
“The 14 Gaza-based photographers were ready as history began to unfold – alongside the terrorists who set the events in motion.”
Katz questioned why Reuters, AP, AFP, Getty, and even The New York Times ran photos submitted on Oct. 7 without publicly questioning the photographers’ access, affiliations, or the ethics of distribution.
The images became the world’s first – and most enduring – visual accounts of the massacre.
The same photographers were later granted access to every major media-focused event in Gaza that followed: hospitals, morgues, hostage releases, funerals, and highly orchestrated scenes of destruction.
“While foreign journalists were barred entry on safety grounds, this select group effectively monopolized the visual narrative,” said Katz.
“The consequence is staggering: The global audience has seen Gaza almost entirely through the images of a group with overlapping ties to the perpetrators of the Oct. 7 attack.
“Those images – unquestioned and unfiltered – have been recycled endlessly in newspapers, television broadcasts, and digital platforms, shaping perceptions and policy debates far beyond the battlefield.”
A line was crossed; journalism has become propaganda
Katz believes a line was crossed in journalism in Gaza that day. He said the findings raise questions about ethics, sourcing, and accountability in global media.
“When global outlets rely on individuals with foreknowledge of terrorism, and possibly with direct affiliations to its organizers, they abandon their own standards of sourcing, independence, and integrity,” he warned.
“Journalism ceases to be a watchdog of power and becomes, instead, a courier for propaganda.” At the very least, media outlets should have done their due diligence, but it is not too late, he said.
“If journalism’s first duty is to the truth, then Oct. 7 marks a crisis point. The press must confront how it allowed imagery born of collaboration with terrorists to become the foundation of the global record.
“Without transparency, accountability, and reform, the credibility of international reporting will continue to erode – at precisely the moment when the world most needs clarity.”
While the study focused on the 14 journalists who were on the roofs before dawn on Oct. 7, it also examined the work of a total of 45 photojournalists whose pictures have graced top wire services and newspapers since then.
Despite charges that Israel has purposely targeted journalists in Gaza, only one of the 45 was killed in the war: Oct. 7 infiltrator Hassan Eslaiah, whose Hamas ties were revealed by media watchdog HonestReporting.
The IDF later published official Hamas documents proving he was a terrorist in Hamas’s Khan Yunis Brigade.
So has the IDF actually purposely avoided killing Gazan journalists? For anyone who believes Hamas’s narrative, this may be the biggest surprise.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-869869
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