Broken heart

Palestine, Gaza, the West Bank, Israel

It is with a broken heart that I watch what is happening in the Middle East, the latest iteration of a seemingly endless cycle of violence and destruction that has been occurring for longer than I've been alive. For me, the saddest aspect of this is the huge number of civilians on all sides that have been caught up in these cycles of violence for decades, killed, maimed, displaced.

I absolutely condemn the atrocious act of terrorism perpetrated by Hamas primarily against innocent Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, killing 1,164 and wounding more than 5,000, and by holding more than 250 of them hostage, 100 of whom are still held hostage as I write this. I also condemn that Hamas continues to espouse the goal of destroying Israel.

However, after October 7, 2023 and over the subsequent weeks, months, and now more than a year, I have grown increasingly horrified by Israel's retaliatory war and the way it so blatantly disregards the lives and welfare of Palestinian civilians in attacks that killed more than 40,000 in the first year alone, likely many more, and that have displaced as much as 90% of the more than two million people living in Gaza.

Most civilians in Gaza are without adequate clean water, food, sanitation, and medical care. Israel continuously directs them to leave certain areas into other areas that are supposed to be safe zones, but then has bombed those areas, killing displaced civilians. In one year, more than 60% of Gaza's buildings have been damaged or destroyed, including most of its hospitals, universities, and schools.

I also am appalled by the way the Israeli so-called "settlers" are killing and displacing Palestinians in the West Bank, and the way the Israeli government is forcibly displacing Palestinians from East Jerusalem.

Of course, the roots of this current war go back more than a century. For details, jump down to Alternative timeline ∨.

This must end. We must find a path forward towards peaceful coexistence.

My heart is with the ordinary civilians who all deserve dignified and safe lives.

Update, December 21, 2025

It's obvious that Israel has no intention to honor any ceasefire or any internationally recognized rights of the Palestinian people. It's simply horrifying. My heart is broken and broken and broken again, day after day.

In early October 2023, I grieved for the 1,200 Israelis, mostly innocent civilians including children, who were brutally murdered by Hamas, the more than 5,000 Israelis who were wounded, the 250 Israelis who were taken hostage.

But every day since then I've been grieving for the tens of thousands of Palestinians (more than 70,000 by the end of 2025}, mostly innocent civilians including so many children, who have been killed by Israel, bombed and shot in their homes, schools, hospitals, shelters, and even in their ragged tents in the awful refugee camps, and who are hungry, some even starving to death, and who are dealing with miserable cold, wet weather in inadequate shelters, some even dying from hypothermia.

When will we begin to move forward towards a better future?

Yesterday (Dec 20, 2025), I read this: Israeli troops kill six Palestinians sheltering in Gaza school, say hospital chiefs: Attack brings total number of Palestinians killed by Israel to 401 since October ceasefire took effect⩘  by William Christou, The Guardian. Ceasefire? Really? Israel has broken the ceasefire hundreds of times already.

Two days ago, I read this: Israel bombs Gaza wedding as mediators hold ceasefire talks in US: Israeli attack kills at least six Palestinians attending wedding party at school-turned-shelter in Gaza City.⩘  by Al Jazeera Staff and news agencies, Dec 19, 2025.

Last week I read about Israel's ongoing ill treatment of Palestinians living in the West Bank: An ancient Palestinian town in the West Bank may soon no longer exist – because Israel plans on stealing it⩘  by Felix Nobes, Mondoweiss.

The ancient Palestinian town of Sebastia in the northern West Bank is a testament to 5,000 years of Palestinian history. Israel announced that it plans to seize the village and its archaeological sites.

This morning, I read this: Israeli Cabinet approves 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank⩘  by Melanie Lidman, The Associated Press.

Settlements are widely considered illegal under international law. The approval comes as the U.S. is pushing Israel and Hamas to move ahead with the new phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which took effect Oct. 10. The U.S.-brokered plan calls for a possible “pathway” to a Palestinian state – something the settlements are aimed at preventing.

Almost every day I read about Palestinians in Gaza suffering from hunger and malnutrition even as Israel continues to limit the amount of food aid that gets into Gaza. Right now, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living in substandard tents in the cold of winter with torrential rains soaking everything and turning the ground into a muddy morass because Israel destroyed almost all the housing in Gaza and yet still obstructs aid agencies from even delivering adequate amounts of better quality tents.

When will we begin to move forward towards a better future?

Something different, something better is possible

'We've got more in common than what divides us': a Muslim-Jewish kitchen in Nottingham counters hate and hunger⩘  by Lucy Knight, The Guardian, Dec 21, 2025.

As antisemitism and Islamophobia rise, a community centre brings people together over shared meals, offering an antidote to food poverty, social isolation and division.…

This is the Salaam Shalom kitchen, known as SaSh, a joint Muslim-Jewish project set up in 2015, and based on one of the core tenets of both faith groups: bringing people together through food.…

Although at leadership level Muslims and Jews had been working together on interfaith projects for years, when it came to "the congregations, the community groups, families, parents, children, our communities were not connected," the charity leader explains. It just so happened that Himmah had already been considering setting up a hot meal provision in Hyson Green, home to Nottingham's largest ethnic minority population – and also home to a historic Jewish cemetery. It seemed like the perfect project with which to bring both faith communities together, with Mohammed recruiting in volunteers from Himmah, and Sakhnovich from the synagogue, to provide a service that "demonstrates our shared values of dignity, justice and service to our communities," he says.…

Of all the projects that Himmah runs, Mohammed hopes if he is remembered for anything it will be SaSh. "It's a project of immense hope," he says. "And we live in some dark, dark times. Times that many of us, people of colour, the Jewish and Muslim communities, had thought we would never see again in this country." As both Islamophobia and antisemitism continue to rise, it has been helpful that "even through the trauma of everything going on, that we have people who are from similar and different backgrounds to share the experience with," Chipman adds. The strong relationships and the conversations between the Jewish and Muslim communities "never stop" even "when everything's feeling a bit hopeless," she says. It's "a very local hands-on way where you can make a difference".

The Future Is Peace⩘  by Aziz Abu Sarah & Maoz Inon, 2026.

   While our friendship is unusual, we are not unique. The two of us are part of a growing coalition of Israelis and Palestinians, working locally and globally to build a bridge to a shared future. Together, we are creating a new story. We do not see ourselves as Palestinians and Israelis, or as Jews and Arabs, but as human beings who believe in fostering a culture of dialogue, a culture of forgiveness, a culture of peace. To those who see only division lines, we say: If you must divide us, let it be as those who believe in peace and equality and those who don't … yet.

Jump to:

• Ongoing reflections: Year 3 ∨
• Ongoing reflections: < Year 1 · < Year 2
• Related: Wikipedia articles, historical perspective, legal perspective, books & films, and additional notes ∨

Ongoing reflections – Year 3

A note about the timeline

Each entry in these ongoing reflections is introduced with the date the item was published, followed by the number of days since Hamas carried out its act of terrorism on October 7, 2023 and Israel retaliated with its full-scale war on Gaza. However, it would be reasonable to list alternate dates for the start of this ongoing war that, counting from October 7, 2023, would add between 16 and 141 years (adapted from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict⩘  article in Wikipedia).

For details, jump down to: Alternative timeline ∨ 

See also: Before October 7th: Understanding the Long History of Israel's Assault on Gaza⩘  by Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV), Sep 27, 2024. IJV is "a grassroots organization grounded in Jewish tradition that opposes all forms of racism and advocates for justice and peace for all in Israel-Palestine".

Ongoing reflections

• May 20, 2026 (day 957): Israeli security minister stirs diplomatic outrage with flotilla activist abuse video: Far-right figure Itamar Ben-Gvir shares footage of himself taunting bound international detainees⩘  by Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem, The Guardian. Such shameful behavior.
  
  • "There was a rapid and furious response from countries whose citizens were onboard the boats, including the UK, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Ireland, in many cases delivered in person from the top of government.
  • "The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, one of the country's staunchest allies, described Ben-Gvir's behaviour as 'despicable' and said the minister had 'betrayed the dignity of his nation'."
• May 15, 2026 (day 952): Palestinians in Gaza mark anniversary of 1948 mass expulsion and say today's catastrophe is worse⩘  by Julia Frankel and Wafaa Shurafa, The Associated Press.
  
  • "More than six months after an October ceasefire, Gaza's more than 2 million people are now crammed into less than half of the 25-mile-long strip along the Mediterranean coast, surrounded by the Israeli-controlled zone.
  • " 'There is no country left,' Abu Hamam said, speaking next to his home, which was heavily damaged by Israeli shelling earlier in the war. 'A square kilometer and a half extending from the sea, this is what we are living in … It's indescribable, unbearable.' "
• May 9, 2026 (day 946): 'They have screwed each other pretty badly': tensions emerge in Netanyahu-Trump alliance⩘  by Julian Borger in Jerusalem, The Guardian.
  
  • "The US president and the Israeli prime minister have long presented mirror images of each other. They have both pioneered populist methods to dominate domestic politics, cutting away at the constitutional underpinning of the very systems that brought them to power, with little regard for past norms or constraints."
• May 2, 2026 (day 939): 'Go inside, he will kill you': Israeli militants step up West Bank school attacks⩘  by Emma Graham-Harrison, Sufian Taha and Quique Kierszenbaum in Mughayyir, The Guardian.
  
  • "Education is being targeted across Palestine, with the murder of 14-year-old Aws al-Naasan only the latest in a spree of violence."
• May 1, 2026 (day 938): 'Absolutely horrendous.' Why has the world lost sight of the suffering of Palestinians?⩘  by Annie Kelly, speaking with the Guardian's chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison.
  
  • "In the six months since a ceasefire was announced in Gaza, more than 800 civilians have been killed and living conditions have remained dire. Meanwhile, Palestinians in the West Bank face a surge in violence from Israeli settlers and soldiers. While the world's attention has turned to the war in Iran, is there any end to the suffering in sight?
  • " 'What is life like for people inside Gaza at that moment?'
  • " 'Living conditions are still absolutely horrendous. There's still widespread shortages of food for many people. There's a lack of access to clean water and sanitation. People don't have enough water to drink, to wash themselves, to make food safely. Sewage isn't being taken away. So we're seeing tent camps being flooded repeatedly, particularly when it rains. The latest horror is a rat infestation. We're hearing that rats are biting people as they sleep, particularly children. They're gnawing through the sort of few possessions that people have managed to save from, you know, over two years of war, multiple displacements. People who can't get the medical help they need inside Gaza because of the situation also can't get out, you know, there's not much access to medical evacuation. So, it's really, in humanitarian terms, a terrible crisis. And the thing that's particularly frustrating for humanitarians when you talk to them is that this isn't really a logistical issue. It's simply that there are Israeli restrictions on what can get in, whether that's food, the spare parts they need to mend the water system, medical aid.' "
• Apr 21, 2026 (day 928): What went wrong in Israel? A genocide scholar examines ‘what Zionism became': In his new book, Omer Bartov tracks how a liberatory strand of Zionism transformed into an extremist ideology that he sees as responsible for genocide in Gaza⩘  by Aaron Gell, The Guardian.
  
  • "Speaking on a video call from his home in Providence, Bartov is reserved and unassuming, his white hair and scholarly demeanor offering a sober counterpoint to his fitted black T-shirt and stylish gray hoodie. Bartov's insistence that Zionism, as originally conceived, was essentially a movement of liberation helps explain his refusal to identify as an anti-Zionist. 'I don't even know what that means,' he said, emphasizing that he believes that Jews have a right to self-determination as long as they don't "trample over other people's rights'. Accordingly, he does declare himself 'completely, vehemently opposed to the kind of Zionism that exists today in Israel'.…
  • "Additionally, the charge of antisemitism has grown hollow, Bartov said, due to its flagrant 'weaponization' as 'a tool to shut people up' as the state wreaks destruction on its neighbors. 'Having claimed to be the definitive answer to antisemitism,' he writes in What Went Wrong?, 'Israel is now the best excuse for antisemites everywhere, a nation whose addiction to violence and oppression, reliance on great powers and financial clout, and constant harping on the horrors of the Holocaust as an excuse for untethered violence against Palestinians are making even some of its erstwhile supporters shrink from it in discomfort, or horror and disgust.' "
• Apr 21, 2026 (day 928): Israeli soldiers using sexual assault to force Palestinians out of West Bank, report says⩘  by Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem, The Guardian.
  
  • "Israeli soldiers and settlers are using gendered violence and sexual assault and harassment to force Palestinians from their homes in the occupied West Bank, human rights and legal experts say.
  • "Palestinian women, men and children have reported attacks, forced nudity, invasive and painful body cavity searches, Israelis exposing their genitals, including to minors, and threats of sexual violence.
  • "Sixteen cases of conflict-related sexual violence were recorded by researchers for the West Bank Protection Consortium over the last three years, a figure that is likely an under-reporting because of the shame and stigma faced by survivors."
• Apr 20, 2026 (day 927): EU hosts Palestinian leader in conference about security and peace in Gaza and the West Bank⩘  by Sam McNeil, The Independent.
  
  • "More than 60 nations are sending representatives to Brussels to discuss with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa stability, security and long-term peace in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, as global attention largely remains focused in the Middle East on the ongoing crises in Iran and Lebanon.…
  • "Outrage in Europe over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza drove many EU leaders to condemn Israel's war conduct and to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. With the recent ouster of long-serving Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ally of Netanyahu, there might now be enough political support within the bloc for stronger actions like targeted sanctions on Israeli settlers or even the suspension of some ties to Israel."
• Apr 18, 2026 (day 925): 'Whatever life throws at us, we don't walk alone': how a London synagogue attack birthed an act of solidarity⩘  by Esther Addley, The Guardian. Related: The Future Is Peace by Aziz Abu Sarah & Maoz Inon⩘ .
• Apr 17, 2026 (day 924): Slump in voters' support for Israel shakes US consensus over military aid: Bipartisan backing for special relationship is fraying as Middle East conflicts turn public opinion⩘  by Andrew Roth in Washington, The Guardian.
  
  • "Israel's conflicts in the Middle East have driven a sea change in US public opinion, threatening a bipartisan consensus of support for military aid for Israel that has been the status quo for decades.…
  • "In a significant shift this week, the liberal thinktank J Street which positions itself as 'pro-Israel, pro-peace' announced that it would change its stance for the first time to oppose direct US funding for arms sales to Israel even of defensive weapons, including Iron Dome missiles, in what its leadership said was a 'fundamental reassessment of the U.S.-Israel security relationship'. Instead, the US should treat Israel 'as it does other wealthy US allies' to purchase US arms without subsidies.
  • " 'It's really important for Israel to stop this financial subsidy and take this out of the equation,' Jeremy Ben-Ami, the founder of J Street, in an interview. 'It is really causing a whole additional level of anger that the things that this government of Israel is doing are being financed by American taxpayer dollars.'
  • "Aggravating factors for the relationship included the 'war in Gaza, rising extremist Jewish terror in the West Bank and the US-Israel war with Iran', he said.
  • " 'We've actually been kicking this around now for many months,' he said by telephone. 'And you know, there's never a good moment for it. But you know, the more that things go on on the West Bank, the more the Gaza continues to suffer, the war in Iran… you add up all these things, and you've got to say it out loud, that it's time for this to stop, and it's time for us to stop paying for it.'."
• Apr 15, 2026 (day 922): Opinion – No more US military aid to Israel: The time is long overdue for members of Congress to listen to the American people and end US military aid to the extremist Netanyahu government⩘  by Senator Bernie Sanders, The Guardian. Here's his entire editorial, which I think is too important to only share excerpts:
  
  • I am a proud Jewish American. My father fled Poland in 1921 to escape poverty and antisemitism. Those in his family who stayed were murdered by the Nazis. Since childhood, I have known very well where antisemitism, racism, fanaticism and demagoguery lead.
  • So let me be clear. Speaking out against the horrific and inhumane actions of Israel, and its extremist leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, is not antisemitic. Speaking out about the dangerous and destructive role that Israel plays in shaping US foreign and military policy is not antisemitic. It is, in fact, what every member of Congress and every American should be doing.
  • On 7 October 2023, Hamas, a terrorist organization, attacked Israel. They killed more than 1,200 innocent men, women and children and took hundreds of hostages. Like any other country, Israel had the absolute right to respond to the Hamas attack. But they did not have the right to violate international law and wage an all-out war of enormous destruction against the entire Palestinian people – in what experts have correctly concluded is a genocide.
  • They did not have the right, out of a population of 2.2 million, to kill more than 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wound over 170,000 – the majority of whom are women, children and the elderly. They did not have the right to destroy almost all of Gaza's infrastructure, including its water and sewer systems and its supply of electricity.
  • They did not have the right to demolish every one of Gaza's 12 universities, along with hundreds of schools – dismantling their entire educational system. They did not have the right to damage or destroy over 90% of the housing units in Gaza, resulting in the vast majority of the population now sleeping in tents.
  • They did not have the right to damage or destroy 94% of the hospitals in Gaza and kill 1,700 healthcare workers. They did not have the right to impose a blockade, which prevented food, water, fuel and medicine from entering Gaza – resulting in thousands of Palestinians being diagnosed with malnutrition and hundreds actually starving to death.
  • That carnage has not stopped. Despite the so-called "ceasefire", humanitarian aid is still far below what is needed and Israel continues to kill civilians.
  • But it's not just Gaza. In the West Bank, in direct violation of international law that protects Palestinian territory, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed 1,071 Palestinians, including 233 children, since October 2023. During that period, they have demolished more than 6,000 Palestinian homes and established more than 200 new illegal settlements and outposts in Palestinian territory.
  • This is not just the action of extremist settlers. This is government policy. Netanyahu's security cabinet has approved the most sweeping changes to the West Bank's legal status since 1967 – removing nearly all constraints on settlement expansion. Netanyahu himself declared: "There will never be a Palestinian state." His finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, bragged that new settlement construction would "bury" the idea of a Palestinian state.
  • Further, we now know that Netanyahu convinced Trump to start an unprovoked and unconstitutional war on Iran. This war, in violation of international law, has already resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians, including hundreds of children in Iran and Lebanon, 26 Israeli civilians and 13 American soldiers. All over the world, billions of innocent people are suffering the economic consequences of this war, with higher prices and scarcity of basic goods.
  • But for Netanyahu, Gaza was not enough. Iran was not enough. He is now waging a full-blown war of expansion against Lebanon. That war has not only killed more than 2,000 people, but has resulted in Israel occupying 14% of Lebanese territory.
  • The Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, has announced that all Lebanese border villages will be demolished – his exact words – following the "model in Gaza". Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, has warned that Dahiyeh, a suburb of south Beirut, "will look like Khan Younis" – a city in Gaza that Israel reduced to rubble.
  • These are not threats. They are promises.
  • Given the horrific and illegal behavior of the Netanyahu government over the last three years, the American people have had enough.
  • Support for Israel in this country has plummeted. Today, according to a recent Pew poll, 80% of Democrats now have an unfavorable opinion of Israel and 41% of Republicans share that view – and the numbers among young people are even higher. A recent Quinnipiac poll also found that 60% – including three-quarters of Democrats and two-thirds of independents – oppose the US sending arms to Israel.
  • That is why this Wednesday, I will be forcing the Senate to vote on two Joint Resolutions of Disapproval – the only formal mechanism Congress has to block an arms sale. The first would block the sale of $151.8m in 1,000-pound bombs.
  • The second would block $295m in bulldozers – the machines used to demolish homes in the West Bank and Gaza and make a Palestinian state physically impossible. These are not defensive weapons. They are the instruments of ethnic cleansing.
  • The time is long overdue for members of Congress to listen to the American people and end US military aid to the extremist Netanyahu government.
  • I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting these resolutions.
  • – Bernie Sanders is a US senator, and ranking member of the health, education, labor and pensions committee. He represents the state of Vermont.
• Apr 14, 2026 (day 921): 'My life has become a rollercoaster': Francesca Albanese on death threats, danger and dread after accusing Israel of genocide⩘ , interview by Julian Borger in Geneva, The Guardian.
  
  • "The Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people, provoked a ferocious Israeli response that has killed more than 75,000 Palestinians in Gaza, displaced more than 90% of its population and reduced the overwhelming bulk of the territory to ruins.
  • "Albanese was not the first person to describe the Israeli military campaign as a genocide, but she was the first person with the initials UN in her title to do so. She has used her megaphone consistently over the past two years not just to condemn the Israeli government and its military, but also the constellation of western states and corporations that have abetted them. Her message, delivered emphatically in person and in a series of UN reports, is that we are living in an interlocking system that has shown itself capable of mass killing.
  • "For her public stance, Albanese's life has been threatened and her family put in danger. She has faced the prospect of arrest in Germany for her choice of words. Donald Trump's administration has named her a 'specially designated national', a term usually reserved for terrorists, drug traffickers and the occasional murderous dictator. She is the first UN official to have received the designation.
  • " 'It was bad. That sort of puts you together with mass murderers and drug dealers of international proportions,' Albanese says. 'It was a paradox of facing one of the harshest forms of punishment without due process, because I've not even been afforded the possibility to defend myself. I've just been sanctioned without trial.'…
  • "She describes the period after Anatomy of a Genocide [was published] as 'brutal'. 'That is when I started wondering: is it worth it? I have two kids. What if they harm them? I cannot take this responsibility,' she says. She describes the dilemma as an 'unresolved question', although what she says next suggests she has resolved it for the time being: 'There is a lot that I'm putting on the line, but, at the same time, I don't have any alternative. I still need to continue to throw water on the fire and I have a bigger bucket right now … and strong arms.'…
  • "Another woman [attending a talk by Albanese at the University of Geneva] asks about how to find political courage, hinting that she has lost a job for speaking out about Gaza. Albanese's counsel is never to concede: 'My life has become a rollercoaster,' she says in reference to the death threats and sanctions. 'I never imagined living without a bank card, but I do. People help me. My freedom is stronger than my fear. You are defeated the moment you stop fighting.' "
• Apr 13, 2026 (day 920): Israeli forces fire teargas at schoolchildren holding West Bank sit-in⩘  by Agence France-Presse in Umm al-Khair, The Guardian.
  
  • "Israeli forces have fired teargas at Palestinian schoolchildren who were staging a sit-in in the occupied West Bank after settlers blocked access to their school.…
  • "Settler violence has also surged across the West Bank since the outbreak of the Iran war. Excluding East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis now live there in settlements that are illegal under international law, among about 3 million Palestinians."
• Apr 10, 2026 (day 917): Palestinian shot dead during Israeli settler attack on occupied West Bank village⩘  by Daniel De Simone, Malak Hassounehand Kristina Völk, Jerusalem, BBC News.
  
  • "In a letter published in the Israeli media this week, former heads of the Shin Bet and Mossad security services, and former IDF chiefs of staff, told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that 'government-sponsored Jewish terrorism' was running wild in the West Bank, which they described as 'not only a moral disgrace but a fatal strategic blow to Israel's national security in a time of war'.
  • " 'We must not allow an extremist group backed by irresponsible ministers and a silent prime minister' to sacrifice Israel's security, they said."
• Apr 8, 2026 (day 915): In a war with no winners, Netanyahu looks like the biggest loser: As Iran and US agree fragile ceasefire, Israel's conflict has turned out to be a bust and, say opponents, 'a political disaster'⩘  by Peter Beaumont, Senior international correspondent, The Guardian.
  
  • "The reality is that Netanyahu gambled everything on his war and in his failure to secure the fall of the theocratic regime, the seizure of Tehran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, or meaningful state degradation, Israel's global standing – already massively tarnished by its actions in Gaza, where it has been accused of committing a genocide – has been damaged.…
  • "The fallout in terms of public opinion and diplomacy is likely to be even more serious for Netanyahu and Israel. In America, in particular, a political consensus dating back to the 1960s is visibly crumbling. Israel's role in pushing Trump to war in Iran has been assailed by both progressives and Maga's far right, while support for Israel more broadly is at historic lows even among Jewish voters."
• Apr 5, 2026 (day 912): Gaza Farmland Is Destroyed, But Some Are Growing Food Even While Displaced⩘  by Ghada Abu Muaileq, Truthout.
  
  • "By late 2025 and into early 2026, satellite analyses from the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Satellite Center show that up to 98 percent of fruit-bearing tree cropland – including olives and pomegranates – has been destroyed, while more than 87 percent of overall cropland and more than 80 percent of greenhouses have been damaged or wiped out. Only a tiny fraction of Gaza's agricultural land – somewhere between 1.5 percent and 4 percent – remains both accessible and undamaged, mostly in limited southern areas, leaving the north largely off-limits due to restrictions, contamination, and military zones. This was not merely collateral damage. It was a direct assault on food security and livelihoods that continues to unfold even after the fragile ceasefire began in October 2025.…
  • "In Gaza, war is no longer measured only by the number of airstrikes, but by the number of trees that no longer bear fruit and the number of fields that can no longer be planted. It is a war on the very conditions of life."
• Apr 3, 2026 (day 910): Why I BANNED A Subscriber from Let's Address This: My commitment to human rights doesn't come with an asterisk, and I ask you to embrace the same principle⩘  by Qasim Rashid, Esq., Let's Address This.
  
  • "The Israeli government's genocide against Palestinians is not being 'carried out in the name of Jewish people' and it is indefensible to make such a claim. Corrupt politicians, the military-industrial complex, and war criminals are carrying out this genocide. Moreover, to conflate the dehumanizing discrimination of Jewish people in the United States with the genocide the Israeli government is committing on Palestinians is not only foolish, it is also dangerous and morally reprehensible. In fact, the only morally consistent standard is to condemn the dehumanization of people in every part of the world because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And none of us are free until all of us are free. I center the critical need to counter Jewish persecution in this piece, because Jewish persecution has no place in our society. This is not a controversial statement, or at least not to people who center justice and humanity."
• Apr 2, 2026 (day 909): 'Weak and pathetic': why is the EU not using its leverage to stop Israel? Deep divisions on Israel mean the union has failed to act over Lebanon, Gaza, or settler violence in the West Bank⩘  by Jennifer Rankin in Brussels, The Guardian.
• Mar 26, 2026 (day 902): Pro-Israel Democrats decry settler violence in West Bank amid attacks on Palestinians⩘  by Alice Speri, The Guardian.
  
  • "As Israeli settlers ramp up violent attacks on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, often as Israeli forces stand by, denunciations are mounting in the US, even from Democratic legislators and public figures who are typically staunch defenders of Israel."
• Mar 24, 2026 (day 900): Opinion: Trump's sanctions against a UN human rights expert show free speech is dying⩘  by Sandra L Babcock, Susan M Akram, Asli Bali, Thomas Becker and James Cavallaro, The Guardian.
  
  • "In January 2024, the international court of justice ordered Israel to take 'all measures within its power⩘ ' to prevent acts of genocide. Israel ignored that order. Since then, leading international and Israeli human rights organizations and experts–including the International Association of Genocide Scholars⩘ , Amnesty International⩘ , B'Tselem⩘ , the UN commission of inquiry⩘ , and the authors of this essay⩘  – have concluded that Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinian people.…
  • "Today the target is a UN expert. Tomorrow it could be journalists, scholars, peaceful protesters – or any citizen who challenges those in power. When a government claims the authority to police ideas, everyone's liberty is on the line."
  • Sandra L Babcock is a clinical professor and director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Cornell Law School. Susan M Akram is clinical professor and director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Boston University School of Law. Asli Bali is a Professor at Yale Law School and is the past President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America. Thomas Becker is the Legal and Policy Director at the University Network for Human Rights and teaches human rights at Columbia Law School. James Cavallaro is the Executive Director of the University Network for Human Rights and a visiting professor at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs.
• Mar 23, 2026 (day 899): 'There's no ceasefire': Gaza paramedic and father of two killed as civilian death toll since October passes 650 ⩘  by Hoda Osman, The Guardian.
  
  • "[Volunteer ambulance driver Abed Elrahman] Hamdouna, a 31-year-old father of two, was killed in a reported drone strike west of Gaza City two weeks ago, as he was on his way to a family Ramadan iftar, to break fast with his brothers.
  • "His death is a shocking reality check on the large numbers of civilians that continue to die in Gaza. Since the ceasefire was announced on 10 October last year, Israel has killed 677 and injured a further 1,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. Israeli strikes in Gaza have averaged about 10 a day across the territory over the past five months.
  • " 'There's no ceasefire,' says Hamdouna's father. 'It's all talk, for the media. In reality, there's no ceasefire.' "
• Mar 22, 2026 (day 898): Israeli settlers carry out series of West Bank attacks as security forces stand by⩘  by Lorenzo Tondo in Jerusalem and agencies, The Guardian.
  
  • "The leader of Israel's centre-left Democrats, Yair Golan, condemned the violence on Sunday and accused the government of enabling lawlessness in the occupied West Bank. He wrote on X: 'While we are fighting in Iran and on the northern border, under missile attacks and with many seriously wounded, this government is encouraging total anarchy.'
  • " 'Jewish terrorism is spreading, exploiting the war, with the backing of extremist ministers and dangerous encouragement from the prime minister and the defence minister. This is a failure of responsibility for Israel's security.' "
• Mar 22, 2026 (day 898): 'Forever live by the sword': Understanding Israelis' massive support for Iran war⩘  by Jonathan Ofir, Mondoweiss.
  
  • "A recent poll registered Israeli support for the war on Iran at a whopping 93%. Between the genocide, the ethnic cleansing, and the annexations, Israelis think this is how it's meant to be. Constant war to sustain our constant expansion."
• Mar 22, 2026 (day 898): Israeli settlers smash cars and set fires in attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank⩘  by Sam Metz, The Associated Press.
• Mar 21, 2026 (day 897): Israel deliberately targeting medical facilities in south Lebanon, say health workers: Medics and officials say there is systematic use of double-tap strikes in campaign to make the south uninhabitable⩘  by William Christou, and Abbas Abdelkarim in south Lebanon, The Guardian.
  
  • "Since the war began on 2 March, Israel has struck at least 128 medical facilities and ambulances across south Lebanon, killing 40 healthcare workers and wounding 107, according to the Lebanese ministry of health.…
  • "Most of the strikes on medics happened while they were sitting in ambulances or at first aid centres, several of which have been destroyed in south Lebanon. Israel has also carried out at least five double-tap strikes, a tactic in which an initial strike is followed by a pause, allowing medical workers to arrive before the area is bombed for a second time.
  • "Medical workers and hospitals are protected under international law and deliberately targeting them could constitute a war crime. Amnesty International said on Thursday that, regardless of political affiliation, medical workers are considered civilians and targeting them is unlawful."
• Mar 20, 2026 (day 896): Undaunted in Illinois: Standing up to dark money isn't easy⩘  by Jennifer Rubin, The Contrarian. A valuable reflection on supporting Jewish people and Israel's right to exist while still calling out the appalling conduct of the current Israeli government as it violates international law.
• Mar 17, 2026 (day 893): 'My mother cried out one last time': Palestinian boy, 12, describes how Israeli forces killed his family in car⩘  by Lucy Williamson, Middle East correspondent, Tammun, occupied West Bank, BBC News.
  
  • "In the few moments of silence after the shootings, before he was dragged from the family car, 12-year-old Khaled Bani Odeh thought he was the only member of his family left alive.
  • "Seconds before, his parents and two youngest brothers had been shot dead through the windscreen by Israeli forces, as they drove home after a family shopping trip in the occupied West Bank.…
  • "Najah Bani Odeh told me the killing of her son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren was part of a pattern of rising violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, by both Israeli soldiers and settlers, which has risen sharply since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.…
  • " 'They want to strip us out of our lands. They are now building walls around the lands they have seized and firing at will at anyone approaching.' "
• Mar 2, 2026 (day 878): 'We'll run out of food this week': Israel's Iran war brings new Gaza siege: Israel has closed all crossings into Gaza, threatening to plunge 2 million people into a new hunger crisis⩘  by Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem and Seham Tantesh in Gaza, The Guardian.
• Feb 27, 2026 (day 875): Americans' sympathies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have shifted dramatically, new poll shows⩘  by Linley Sanders, The Associated Press.
  
  • "American sympathies in the Middle East have shifted dramatically toward the Palestinians, according to new Gallup polling, after decades of overwhelming support for the Israelis.
  • "That shift accelerated during the war in Gaza. Three years ago, 54% of Americans sympathized more with the Israelis, compared to 31% for the Palestinians.
  • "Now, their support is about evenly balanced, with 41% saying their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, and only 36% saying the same about the Israelis."
• Feb 17 & Feb 26, 2026 (day 865 & 874): In search of Palestine⩘ , The Guardian. "Reporter Matthew Cassel travels through the West Bank to document what daily life looks like under deepening Israeli occupation, and meets people across generations to ask: what does the idea of a 'Palestinian stat'' mean today?"
• Feb 10, 2026 (day 858): 'A step in the wrong direction': Israel's West Bank plans prompt global backlash⩘  by Julian Borger in Jerusalem, The Guardian. "US, Britain, EU and Arab nations condemn plans that Israeli ministers say will 'kill the idea of a Palestinian state'."
• Feb 2, 2026 (day 850): 'A violation of our history': Palestinian uproar over Israel's plan to seize historic West Bank site⩘  by Jason Burke and Sufian Taha in Sebastia, The Guardian.g
• Jan 30, 2026 (day 847): Israel accepts health authorities' Gaza death toll is broadly accurate, saying 70,000 have died⩘  by Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem, The Guardian.
  
  • "Israel's military has accepted the death toll compiled by health authorities in Gaza is broadly accurate, marking a U-turn after years of official attacks on the data.
  • "A senior security official briefed Israeli journalists, saying about 70,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks on the territory since October 2023, excluding those missing.
  • "It is the first time Israel has publicly estimated the toll from the war in Gaza. Previously the government and military had only provided figures for militants Israel claimed to have killed.
  • "Gaza health authorities said the direct toll from Israeli attacks had exceeded 71,660 people, with at least 10,000 presumed buried in the rubble of bombed buildings.
  • "For more than two years, Israeli officials and media had attacked the Palestinian figures as 'Hamas propaganda' and dismissed them as 'not accurate'.
  • "The abrupt shift in stance raises broader questions about Israel's defence of its campaign in Gaza. A UN commission, rights groups and scholars have accused Israel of committing genocide in the territory⩘ ".
• Jan 30, 2026 (day 847): Settler-only IDF units functioning as 'vigilante militias' in West Bank⩘  by Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum in Jerusalem, The Guardian.
  
  • " 'Regional defence' settler units are escalating violent displacement of Palestinians, Israeli reservists and activists say."
• Jan 23, 2026 (day 840): People in Gaza dig through garbage for things to burn to keep warm – a far cry from Trump's vision⩘  by Toqa Ezzidin and Julia Frankel, The Associated Press.
• Jan 20, 2026 (day 837): Israeli crews target UN facilities for Palestinian refugees in east Jerusalem⩘  by Sam Metz, The Associated Press.
  
  • "Israeli forces on Tuesday targeted at least two United Nations facilities, pushing forward with its crackdown against the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees tasked with delivering humanitarian services to millions of people across the region.
  • "Crews began bulldozing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency's offices in Sheikh Jarrah and fired tear gas at a vocational school in Qalandia, marking Israel's latest and most dramatic step against UNRWA."
• Jan 12, 2026 (day 829): Dozens of artists call for end to Israel's 'systematic attacks' on Gaza hospitals: Actors, doctors and human rights leaders sign letter calling for restoration of medical care to 'collapsed' system⩘  by Cate Brown, The Guardian.
  
  • "The UN Human Rights Office estimates that 94% of Gaza's hospitals have been damaged or destroyed since Israel's assault on Gaza began in 2023. At least 1,722 healthcare workers have been killed by the Israeli military over two years of war, the group said. Many medical items, including wheelchairs and walkers, have been barred entry.
  • "A panel of UN experts determined that Israel's attacks on the sector and its workers amounted to 'medicide' – the systematic destruction of Gaza's healthcare system and a component of Israel's larger campaign against Palestinians that legal experts have called genocide."
• Jan 10, 2026 (day 827): Video shows masked, armed men beating a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank⩘  by Sam Mednick and Samy Magdy, The Associated Press. Absolutely shameful!
  
  • "Dozens of masked men armed with sticks attacked a plant nursery and beat and injured a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, according to people who saw the attack and video footage obtained by The Associated Press.
  • "Video filmed by security cameras shows men dressed mostly in black, faces covered, with several hitting and kicking a man on the ground.
  • "Two people who witnessed the attack and are members of the family that own the facility said Israeli settlers beat 67-year-old Basim Saleh Yassin as he was trying to flee the nursery located in the northern West Bank village of Deir Sharaf. Both spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
  • "They said Yassin is in the hospital and has broken bones in his hand and other injuries on his face, chest and back. Four cars were burned and destroyed at the nursery.…
  • "When workers saw the settlers coming on Thursday, they fled, but as Yassin is deaf he couldn't hear people warning him to leave, said the family member.
  • "In the video, Yassin runs from a group of masked people before falling to the ground.
  • "One man kicks him and another hits him twice with what appears to be a stick. Yassin stays on his knees as he's struck again and then places his hands on the ground on all fours. As the men are leaving, one kicks him in the head while others strike him again until he's seen lying on the pavement."
• Jan 6, 2026 (day 823): Israel pushes ahead with vast illegal settlement in heart of West Bank⩘  by Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum in Jerusalem, The Guardian.
  
  • "Israel is moving to start construction on a vast illegal settlement in the heart of the West Bank, designed to 'bury the idea of a Palestinian state'.
  • "The Israel Land Authority in mid-December quietly posted a tender for construction of 3,401 homes in the 'E1' project, which will effectively sever the north and south of the occupied West Bank for Palestinians, and further cut off East Jerusalem.
  • " 'Construction in E1 is intended to create irreversible facts on the ground leading to a one-state reality, which all indications suggest would take the form of an apartheid regime,' said [Yonatan Mizrachi, a co-director of Settlement Watch with the advocacy group Peace Now]."
• Jan 3, 2026 (day 820): Tents supplied to displaced Palestinians 'inadequate for Gaza winter': Thousands have blown down in storms and tents from China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia found to be not waterproof⩘  by Jason Burke in Jerusalem and Seham Tantesh in Gaza, The Guardian.
• Jan 2, 2026 (day 819): Editorial: The Guardian view on Gaza's winter: the world must take heed as Palestinian suffering deepens again⩘ .
  
  • "As Gaza enters the bleakest period of winter, children are dying of hypothermia, drowning in flooded camps⩘  and burning to death⩘  as their families try to cook in flimsy tents. Israel destroyed nine out of 10 homes over more than two years of war. Camped amid the ruins, Palestinians struggle against strong winds, heavy rain and freezing temperatures⩘ . Aid deliveries resumed following the ceasefire, staving off the famine that had taken hold in parts of the territory, but remain wholly insufficient: 1.6 million people face acute food insecurity. The sanitation infrastructure has collapsed."
• Dec 30, 2025 (day 816): Israel to ban dozens of aid agencies from Gaza as 10 nations warn about suffering⩘  by Jason Burke in Jerusalem, The Guardian.
  
  • "The list of groups hit by the ban include some of the world's best known humanitarian organisations such as ActionAid, International Rescue Committee and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
  • "Tuesday's announcement by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs comes amid fierce storms that in recent days have destroyed thousands of tents in Gaza, exacerbating an already acute humanitarian crisis.
  • "Foreign ministers of 10 nations expressed 'serious concerns' about a 'renewed deterioration of the humanitarian situation' in the devastated territory, saying the situation was 'catastrophic'.
  • " 'As winter draws in, civilians in Gaza are facing appalling conditions with heavy rainfall and temperatures dropping,' the ministers of Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland said in a joint statement released by the UK's Foreign Office on Tuesday.
  • "The statement added that '1.3 million people still require urgent shelter support. More than half of health facilities are only partially functional and face shortages of essential medical equipment and supplies. The total collapse of sanitation infrastructure has left 740,000 people vulnerable to toxic flooding'."
• Dec 30, 2025 (day 816): During a fierce storm I could hear the panicked screams of children in tents outside. This is Christmas in Gaza⩘  by Ahmed Kamal Junina, The Guardian.
  
  • "In the middle of the night, the storm intensified. Outside, plastic sheeting on shattered windows sagged and flapped violently, while corrugated metal tore loose and crashed to the ground. Above it all came the sharp, panicked screams of children, cutting through the darkness.…
  • "Over the past two weeks, the rain has been relentless. Cold, heavy, and driven by strong winds, it has soaked tents, flooded makeshift camps and turned open ground into mud. Elsewhere, this might be called 'bad weather'. In Gaza, it is lived with exposure and abandonment.…
  • "This is not an unforeseen disaster. Winter comes every year. People in Gaza understand this failure not as misfortune, but as abandonment. People speak of how tarpaulins, timber, insulation materials and prefabricated shelter units are restricted or delayed, while attempts to repair damaged homes or reinforce tents are repeatedly obstructed. Local initiatives and humanitarian actors have tried to improvise, to distribute plastic sheeting, strengthen shelters, or provide winterisation kits, yet they remain limited by what is allowed to enter. The failure is political and humanitarian. Solutions exist, but are kept out."
• Dec 27, 2025 (day 813): More countries reject Israel's recognition of Somaliland⩘  by The Associated Press.
  
  • "The joint statement also noted 'the full rejection of any potential link between such measure and any attempts to forcibly expel the Palestinian people out of their land.' Syria in a separate statement also rejected Israel's recognition.
  • "Earlier this year, U.S. and Israeli officials told The Associated Press that Israel had approached Somaliland about taking in Palestinians from Gaza as part of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan at the time to resettle the territory's population. The United States has since abandoned that plan."
• Dec 26, 2025 (day 812): Palestinian doctors graduate in ruins of Gaza's destroyed al-Shifa Hospital⩘  by Faisal Ali and News Agencies, Al Jazerra.
  
  • "A cohort of 168 Palestinian doctors have received their advanced medical certifications in Gaza amid the rubble of what was once the Palestinian territory's largest hospital.
  • "The graduation took place in front of the destroyed facade of the al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City on Thursday. It was a symbolic act of resilience as the doctors, calling themselves the 'Humanity Cohort', completed their Palestinian Board certifications under extraordinary circumstances after two years of Israel's war.…
  • "Al-Shifa Medical Complex has been repeatedly targeted since Israel's genocidal war began in October 2023.
  • "The facility was invaded twice, first in November 2023, when Abu Salmiya himself was arrested and detained for seven months, and again in March 2024, when the complex suffered catastrophic destruction.…
  • "The destruction of al-Shifa exemplifies a broader systematic campaign against Gaza's healthcare system.
  • "Of the territory's 36 hospitals, only 18 remain even partially functional as of mid-December, with all but three field hospitals operating under severe limitations."
• Dec 24, 2025 (day 810): I did not understand I grew up in a concentration camp until I left Gaza⩘  by Abdalrahim Abuwarda, Mondoweiss.
  
  • "Growing up in Gaza, I didn't realize that the siege I was living under was unique or that others didn't face a constant threat of death. It was only after I left that I understood I had grown up in a concentration camp, and that it shaped my life."
• Dec 24, 2025 (day 810): UK, Canada and Germany condemn Israel for 19 new West Bank settlements⩘  by Nadeem Badshah, The Guardian. As do I.
  
  • "Fourteen countries, also including France, Italy, Ireland and Spain, say actions 'violate international law and risk fuelling instability'."
• Dec 23, 2025 (day 809): "Out for Blood": Writer Jasper Nathaniel on Surviving Israeli Settler Attack on West Bank Olive Farmers⩘ , interview by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
  
  • "We speak to independent journalist Jasper Nathaniel, who has recently returned from documenting Israeli settler and state violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Nathaniel describes being ambushed by settlers in October, on the first day of the olive harvest, in an attack that left one middle-aged Palestinian woman with a brain hemorrhage. 'It was clear that this was a planned ambush,' says Nathaniel. 'They were out for blood.' Earlier this week, the Israeli Cabinet approved 19 more settlements in the occupied West Bank. 'What's happening right now is these really violent settlers are going out into the fields. They're stealing land from Palestinians,' explains Nathaniel. '[Then the government will] retroactively legalize the land that was stolen, and basically reward the violent settlers by giving them the stamp of state legitimacy.' "
• Dec 23, 2025 (day 809): Ex-aide says Netanyahu tasked him with making a plan to evade responsibility for Oct. 7 attack⩘  by Julia Frankel, The Associated Press.
• Dec 20, 2025 (day 806): Israel Is Preparing for a Permanent Presence in Gaza, Satellite Images Reveal⩘  by Forensic Architecture and Drop Site News.
  
  • 
    Israel is currently maintaining 48 military outposts east of the yellow line.
    Image by Forensic Architecture.
  • "Since the so-called ceasefire came into effect in Gaza on October 10, Israel has been consolidating its control of over 50% of Gaza and—according to new research by Forensic Architecture—physically altering the geography of the land. Through a combination of the construction of military infrastructure alongside the destruction of existing buildings, Israel appears to be laying the groundwork to establish a permanent presence in the majority of the Gaza Strip.
  • "Israel has constructed at least 13 new military outposts inside Gaza since the ceasefire—primarily located along the yellow line, in eastern Khan Younis, and near the border with Israel, according to analysis of satellite imagery by Forensic Architecture."
• Dec 11, 2025 (day 797): I used to report from the West Bank. Twenty years after my last visit, I was shocked by how much worse it is today⩘  by Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian.
  
  • "I had not planned to write anything about my trip to the West Bank last month. But I changed my mind when I witnessed how much daily life for Palestinians had deteriorated, how dispirited they have become and how much control Israel and its settlers now exercise over the Palestinian population. I had expected conditions for Palestinians would be worse, but not this much worse."
• Dec 9, 2025 (day 795): More than 9,000 children in Gaza hospitalised for acute malnutrition in October, UN says⩘  by Julian Borger in Jerusalem, The Guardian.
  
  • "Aid agencies say Israel is still restricting their aid shipments despite ceasefire announced two months ago."
• Dec 8, 2025 (day 794): 'Yellow line' that divides Gaza under Trump plan is 'new border' for Israel, says military chief⩘  by Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem, The Guardian.
  
  • "The 'yellow line' that divides Gaza under Donald Trump's ceasefire plan is a 'new border' for Israel, the country's military chief told soldiers deployed in the territory.
  • "The chief of the general staff, Eyal Zamir, said Israel would hold on to its current military positions. These give Israel control of more than half of Gaza, including most agricultural land and the border crossing with Egypt.
  • " 'The 'yellow line' is a new border line, serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity,' Zamir said during a visit to meet Israeli reservists in northern Gaza, where he also visited the ruins of the Palestinian towns of Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya.
  • " 'We have operational control over extensive parts of the Gaza Strip and we will remain on those defence lines,' Zamir said, according to an English-language transcript of his remarks provided by a military spokesperson.
  • "Palestinians were forced out of this eastern portion of Gaza by Israeli attacks and evacuation orders. Almost all the surviving population, over 2 million people, are now crowded into a narrow zone of coastal sand dunes that is smaller than Washington DC.
  • "Zamir's commitment to keep troops in Gaza appears to contradict the ceasefire agreement signed in October, which specifies that 'Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza'."
  • 
    Guardian graphic; Source: IDF.
• Dec 6, 2025 (day 792): 'Bloodshed was supposed to stop': no sign of normal life as Gaza's killing and misery grind on⩘  by Seham Tantesh in Gaza, Julian Borger and Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem, The Guardian.
  
  • "When Jumaa and Fadi Abu Assi went to look for firewood their parents thought they would be safe. They were just young boys, aged nine and 10 and, after all, a ceasefire had been declared in Gaza.
  • "Their mother, Hala Abu Assi, was making tea in the family's tent in Khan Younis when she heard an explosion, a missile fired by an Israeli drone. She ran to the scene – but it was too late.
  • "Since the US-brokered ceasefire was announced on 10 October, Israeli forces have killed more than 360 Palestinians in Gaza; according to a UN official, at least 70 are children – like Jumaa and Fadi.
  • "They were killed, their mother said, at 'a time when bloodshed was supposed to stop'.
  • " 'After the ceasefire was announced, I felt a bit of safety and believed that nothing would harm my children any more,' Abu Assi said. 'But fate had another plan.'
  • "She is focused now on keeping her two surviving daughters alive. 'I still hear explosions and gunfire,' she said. 'I do not feel that the war has ended.'
  • "The toll from Israeli attacks in Gaza has fallen significantly compared with the preceding two years of war, when on average 90 Palestinians were killed each day, but significant numbers of civilians are still losing their lives.
  • "On average, Israeli weapons now kill seven people a day. That rate of violent death would be considered an active conflict in many other contexts, raising questions about how accurately 'ceasefire' describes the new status quo."
• Dec 6, 2025 (day 792): Opinion: In my homeland, I'm trapped by bombs. Outside, I'm trapped by identity. The world is shrinking for Gazans⩘  by Plestia Alaqad, award-winning journalist and author, The Guardian.
  
  • "Sometimes I feel like the only version of Palestinians the world is willing to recognise is the one under the rubble. People mourn us when we die, but fear us when we live. They repost our tragedies, but hesitate to open their borders. It is heartbreaking to realise that our humanity becomes visible only when we are suffering, not when we are simply trying to move, to work and to simply exist.…
  • "Sometimes I feel like the world is more afraid of me as a refugee than it is afraid of the genocide and wars that create refugees in the first place. In my homeland, I'm trapped by borders and bombs. Outside Gaza, I'm trapped by identity."
• Dec 2, 2025 (day 788): UK criticises Gaza aid delays as tents take year to arrive⩘  by Jennifer McKiernan and Nick Eardley, BBC News.
• Dec 1, 2025 (day 787): Opinion: It's not just Gaza. From the West Bank to Syria and Lebanon, Israel's onslaught continues⩘  by Nesrine Malik, The Guardian. "Broken ceasefires, bombing, ground incursions and mounting deaths: Israeli imperialism is now expanding across the region."
  
  • "A 'dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal', is how Amnesty International's secretary general, Agnès Callamard, described this post-ceasefire period. Israeli authorities have reduced attacks and allowed some aid into Gaza, she said, but 'the world must not be fooled. Israel's genocide is not over.' Not a single hospital in Gaza has returned to being fully operational. The onset of rain and cooling weather has left thousands exposed in dilapidated tents. Since the ceasefire on 10 October, almost 6,500 tonnes of UN-coordinated relief materials have been denied entry into Gaza by Israeli authorities. According to Oxfam, in the two weeks after the ceasefire alone, shipments of water, food, tents and medical supplies from 17 international NGOs were denied.
  • "The result is that a population whose homes, livelihoods and stable shelter have been eliminated still are not allowed to secure safer tents or adequate food. Israeli authorities hold people in Gaza in a painful purgatory, continuing collective punishment, preventing the conditions for a normal life from emerging and establishing Israel as sole unaccountable overlord, with unlimited power over the people of the territory."
• Nov 20, 2025 (day 776): Israel announces plan to seize historical site in the West Bank as a new settlement appears⩘  by Julia Frankel, The Associated Press. Shameful.
• Nov 20, 2025 (day 776): Shelter and food in desperately short supply as Gaza braces for harsh winter: Palestinians living in tent cities on shore of southern Gaza fear disease, cold and hunger following first storm of season⩘  by Jason Burke in Jerusalem and Seham Tantesh in Gaza, The Guardian and Israeli airstrikes kill 33 people in Gaza in escalation of post-ceasefire attacks⩘  by Jason Burke in Jerusalem, The Guardian. How can this be called a ceasefire? I am so ashamed of the role of the U.S. in this.
  
  • "Officials at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said they received the bodies of 17 people, including five women and five children, after four Israeli airstrikes targeted tents sheltering displaced people. In Gaza City, medical officials said two airstrikes killed 16 people, including seven children and three women.
  • "Israel said it launched the attacks after its soldiers came under fire in Khan Younis on Wednesday, though they suffered no reported casualties. Hamas condemned the Israeli strikes as a 'shocking massacre' and denied firing toward Israeli troops.
  • "Palestinians in Gaza said they felt as if the two-year war had never stopped. Officials in the territory say more than 300 people have been killed by Israeli strikes since the ceasefire."
• Nov 18, 2025 (day 774): Israel needs to face accountability for our genocide. And so does the US⩘ , opinion by Yuli Novak, executive director of the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, The Guardian.
  
  • "The origin of this genocide didn't begin on 7 October 2023, nor did it end with the ceasefire deal. Its roots lie in decades of Israeli military rule over Palestinians, apartheid, impunity, and dehumanization, driven by a system built to ensure Jewish supremacy over the entire land. That doesn't mean this genocide was inevitable. Every genocide depends on enabling conditions and on events that move it forward.
  • "The 7 October attack was horrifying for every Israeli, including me. It allowed the Israeli system to begin a large-scale, coordinated destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza, under the banner of self-defense. This was merely a continuation of more than half a century of military occupation,15 years of siege and blockade, and repeated military campaigns that killed thousands of Palestinians.
  • "The international community, in particular the US and other western governments, allowed all of this to happen. This is what genocide looks like in the 21st century: not only in scale or method, but in how it's normalized. How governments and leaders, especially in the US and Europe, watch the devastation and say nothing. Or worse, support and enable it.
  • "But despite Israel's propaganda, people in the US and around the world have recognized what's happening. A growing movement of citizens is rising, not only against the genocide, but against the system that enables it. That system must be named: a regime of violent control over millions marked as inferior. An apartheid regime, led by an Israeli government that embraces racism, empowers settler militias to terrorize West Bank communities, runs torture camps holding thousands of Palestinians without trial, and carries out daily war crimes."
• Nov 17, 2025 (day 773): Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody have surged. A prison guard describes rampant abuse⩘  by Sam Mednick, The Associated Press.
  
  • "AP spoke with a former guard and a former nurse at one prison, an Israeli doctor who treated malnourished prisoners brought to his hospital, former detainees and their relatives, and lawyers representing them and rights groups.
  • "The former guard at a military prison notorious for its harsh treatment of Palestinians told the AP detainees were routinely shackled with chains and kicked and hit with batons, and that the facility had been dubbed a 'graveyard' because so many prisoners were dying there. He agreed to talk to AP to raise awareness of violence in Israeli prisons and spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal."
• Nov 15, 2025 (day 771): Israel breaching international law by limiting Gaza aid, says Unrwa official⩘  by Jennifer Rankin in Brussels, The Guardian. "Natalie Boucly says supplies are ready but only about half of what is needed is getting into territory."
• Nov 14, 2025 (day 770): Guardian's former Gaza correspondent named young journalist of the year in UK awards⩘  by Julian Borger, Senior international correspondent, The Guardian.
  
  • "Malak A Tantesh, 20, 'showed immense talent and bravery', said judges at Media Freedom awards in London."
  • See also: 'Gateway to hell': young reporter's harrowing two years in besieged Gaza⩘  by Malak A Tantesh in Gaza; photographs by Enas Tantesh, The Guardian, Oct 11, 2025.
    
    • "Malak A Tantesh's grim experience of living with perpetual fear and uncertainty amid Israel's war after 2023 Hamas attack."
• Nov 12, 2025 (day 768): Israeli settlers attack villages in West Bank as violent incidents increase⩘  by William Christou in Beirut, The Guardian.
  
  • "Dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, injuring four Palestinians and attacking Israeli soldiers in the latest incident of rising settler violence.
  • "The settlers attacked the Palestinian villages of Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf, setting vehicles on fire and damaging property belonging to a Bedouin community, with charred remains of cars left behind the next day.
  • "The al-Juneidi dairy factory, a big employer in the area, was also damaged in the attacks, and four of its trucks laden with products were set alight.
  • "Israeli settler violence has surged since the war in Gaza started two years ago, with at least 1,001 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem by settlers and Israeli soldiers. According to the UN, 260 attacks took place in October, the deadliest month for settler violence since it started keeping track in 2006.
  • "Human rights groups and the UN have warned that settler violence is taking place in a 'permissive environment' and with the backing of key Israeli ministers. The UN human rights office said settlers were seeking to 'accelerate displacement of Palestinians from their land, raising concerns of forcible transfer'."
• Nov 11, 2025 (day 767): Israel attacked Palestinian water sources over 250 times in five years, data reveals⩘  by Nina Lakhani, The Guardian.
  
  • "An estimated 90% of water and sanitation facilities in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged by direct attacks as military targets, or are inaccessible to Palestinians as they are located in areas blocked by the Israeli army. These actions have contributed to a public health catastrophe, according to Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation."
• Nov 10, 2025 (day 766): Israeli soldiers speak out on killings of Gaza civilians ⩘  by Julian Borger, Senior international correspondent, The Guardian.
  
  • "Israeli soldiers have described a free-for-all in Gaza and a breakdown in norms and legal constraints, with civilians killed at the whim of individual officers, according to testimony in a TV documentary.
  • " 'If you want to shoot without restraint, you can,' Daniel, the commander of an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank unit, says in Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel's War, due to be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Monday evening.
  • "Some of the IDF soldiers who talked to the programme requested anonymity while others spoke on the record. All pointed to the evaporation of the official code of conduct concerning civilians.
  • "The soldiers who agreed to talk confirmed the IDF's routine use of human shields, contradicting official denials, and gave details of Israeli troops opening fire unprovoked on civilians racing to reach food handouts at the militarised distribution points set up by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF)."
  • Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel's War⩘ , ITV Exposure, 2025, via Daily Motion.
  • 
    Screen capture from the documentary.
• Nov 3, 2025 (day 759): World must fight Israel's genocide in Gaza like it did apartheid, pioneering South African judge says⩘  by Ben Doherty, The Guardian. "Former UN inquiry chair Navi Pillay says 'whats' 'so unusual about this genocide' is that 'we are all witnesses to it'."
  
  • "The reports issued by the commission have forensically recounted – in unflinchingly precise detail – the prosecution of the conflict in Gaza. They have detailed war crimes committed by Hamas, the effects of bombardment on Palestinian children, and the targeting of Gaza's fragile healthcare and education systems.
  • "The most recent report – [former chair of the UN's Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Territory of Palestine and Israel] Pillay's last as she resigned from the commission in July – found Israel had committed genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza.
  • " 'The international community cannot stay silent on the genocidal campaign launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza,' she said, launching the report in Geneva. 'When clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity.'
  • "But the report has not brought the response she expected, nor hoped for. Inaction, she says, still rules.
  • " 'It is the responsibility of all states, they have a legal obligation to stop the commission of genocide, to prevent the commission of genocide, and to protect against genocide happening. Why have states not responded to this legal obligation? They should be telling us the steps they've taken or the laws they passed to address this. It's such a serious, huge crime.'
  • "International law is unyielding, Pillay says. There is no justification of self-defence, or necessity, to genocide. It is always unlawful.
  • " 'The prohibition on genocide is absolute.' "
• Nov 3, 2025 (day 759): 'Olives are everything for us': West Bank farmers prevented from harvesting by settler violence⩘  by , The Guardian. "About 70% of town's olives are inaccessible without risking a potentially fatal clash with Israeli settlers."
• Oct 31, 2025 (day 756): Gaza risks sliding into deadly limbo of 'no war, no peace', top Qatari diplomat warns⩘  by Emma Graham-Harrison, The Guardian.
  
  • "Gaza risks sliding towards a deadly limbo where a ceasefire is nominally in place but killing continues, a top Qatari diplomat has warned, calling for rapid progress in setting up the international security force and administration to pave the way for full Israeli withdrawal."
• Oct 29, 2025 (day 754): Israel strikes Gaza again after overnight bombardment that killed at least 104⩘  by Lorenzo Tondo in Jerusalem, William Christou in Beirut and Seham Tantesh in Gaza, The Guardian.
  
  • "Israel carried out another strike in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing at least two people, after bombarding the territory overnight and killing at least 104 Palestinians, including children, in the gravest challenge yet to the increasingly fragile US-brokered ceasefire.…
  • "The strikes, some of the bloodiest attacks in the two-year war, killed at least 46 children and 20 women, and injured 200 people, according to Gaza's civil defence agency. They took place hours after Donald Trump said nothing would jeopardise the ceasefire agreement."
• Oct 22, 2025 (day 747): Jewish figures across the globe call on UN and world leaders to sanction Israel⩘  by Joseph Gedeon in Washington, The Guardian.
  
  • "Prominent Jewish figures around the world are calling on the United Nations and world leaders to impose sanctions on Israel over what they describe as 'unconscionable' actions amounting to genocide in Gaza.
  • "Over 450 signatories, including former Israeli officials, Oscar winners, authors and intellectuals have signed an open letter demanding accountability over Israel's conduct in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The letter's release comes as EU leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday amid reports they plan to shelve proposals for sanctions over human rights violations.
  • " 'We do not forget that so many of the laws, charters, and conventions established to safeguard and protect all human life were created in response to the Holocaust,' the signatories write. 'Those safeguards have been relentlessly violated by Israel.'…
  • "The signatories urge world leaders to uphold international court of justice (ICJ) and international criminal court rulings, avoid complicity in international law violations by halting arms transfers and imposing targeted sanctions, ensure adequate humanitarian aid to Gaza, and reject false claims of antisemitism against those advocating for peace and justice.
  • " 'We bow our heads in immeasurable sorrow as the evidence accumulates that Israel's actions will be judged to have met the legal definition of genocide,' the letter reads."
• Oct 21, 2025 (day 746): Palestinian woman in hospital after being clubbed by masked Israeli settler⩘  by Tom Bennettin Jerusalem, and Alaa Daraghme in Ramallah, occupied West Bank, BBC News.
  How is it that Israel has so totally lost its moral compass?
  
  • 
    The masked settler struck Umm Saleh Abu Alia with a stick used as a club.
    Photo credit: Jasper Nathaniel
  • "A 55-year-old Palestinian woman has been taken to hospital after being clubbed over the head by a masked Jewish settler as she was picking olives.
  • "The unprovoked attack, which took place on Sunday morning in the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya in the occupied West Bank, was captured on video by US journalist Jasper Nathaniel.
  • "Mr Nathaniel said the settler knocked the woman unconscious with his stick, before hitting her again as she lay on the ground. She has been named as Afaf Abu Alia, known locally as Umm Saleh.…
  • "The young male attacker is seen in the footage wielding a large wooden stick with a knot at one end, reminiscent of a club, before he swings it overhead and strikes Mrs Abu Alia.
  • " 'It's the most vivid image that's ever been seared in my mind,' Mr Nathaniel told the BBC. 'He swings it one time and I saw her body go completely limp. And then he stood over her and hit her twice more.'
  • "The mother of five is then seen bleeding as she is carried into a vehicle to be taken to hospital."
• Oct 18, 2025 (day 743): 'It's like a nuclear bomb has hit': shocked Palestinians return home to desolation⩘  by Seham Tantesh in Gaza and Julian Borger, The Guardian.
  
  • "Families are going back to Gaza City and surrounds to find their neighbourhoods obliterated, with many forced to camp in the ruins.…
  • " 'I had hoped to return and find my home standing, but what I found was quite the opposite. I couldn't even recognise the area. Everything was levelled to the ground,' Suhair al-Absi, a 50-year-old mother of seven, said on reaching the Sheikh Radwan district on the north side of Gaza City. 'I couldn't identify the remains of my house because the rubble of everyone's homes is all mixed together. The destruction here is beyond imagination, something the mind cannot grasp.' "
• Oct 15, 2025 (day 740): Palestinian bodies returned by Israel show signs of torture and execution, say doctors: Almost all had been blindfolded and had gunshot wounds between the eyes, says medic at Nasser hospital in Gaza⩘  by Julian Borger, Senior international correspondent, The Guardian.
• Oct 15, 2025 (day 740): Greta Thunberg on her days in Israeli captivity: "They kicked me every time the flag touched my face"⩘  by Lisa Röstlund, Aftonbladet.
  
  • "She doesn't want headlines about herself and the torture she says she was subjected to. That was one of the first things she said on the evening she returned home, at a press conference in Sergels Torg together with several of the other Swedes who participated in the large Global Sumud Flotilla that attempted to bring emergency aid to Gaza.
  • "And she stands by that.
  • " 'This is not about me or the others from the flotilla. There are thousands of Palestinians, hundreds of whom are children, who are being held without trial right now, and many of them are most likely being tortured,' says Greta Thunberg.
  • "The story, she emphasizes, is about international solidarity, about people coming together to do the work that governments are not doing.
  • " 'And above all, it's about the people who live in Gaza.'
  • "But there is a lot of public interest, and the way she was treated reflects something.
  • " 'This shows that if Israel, with the whole world watching, can treat a well-known, white person with a Swedish passport this way, just imagine what they do to Palestinians behind closed doors.'
  • "News has just come in that a Palestinian boy from the West Bank, the same age as Greta, has died in Israeli custody.
  • " 'What we have been through is only a small, small part of what Palestinians have experienced. On the walls of our prison cells, we saw bullet holes with bloodstains and messages carved into the walls by Palestinian prisoners who had been there before us.' "
• Oct 11, 2025 (day 736): Boycotting Israel has gone mainstream: 'We've never seen such traction before'⩘  by David Smith in Washington, The Guardian.
  
  • "While criticism of Israeli policy is not new, the war in Gaza has acted as a catalyst, shattering taboos, emboldening dissent and pushing public and political sentiment into uncharted territory. Many observers see a turning point on the horizon – one that recalls the global campaign against apartheid in South Africa.
  • "Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel advocacy group, said: 'It's as big a shift as I've seen in my life regarding attitudes not only in the American Jewish community but the public broadly.'
  • "Ben-Ami added: 'I don't think that this is somehow in any way antisemitic or anti-Israel. It's a rejection of this government and the policies of the Israeli government over not just the last couple of years but going back a few decades at this point.' "
• Oct 10, 2025 (day 735): No family, no stability, no social fabric: the anguish of Gaza's wounded orphans⩘  by Julian Borger, and Seham Tantesh in Gaza, The Guardian.
  
  • "Within a few months, the war in Gaza had already made its own addition to the vocabulary of emergency medical assistance with the world's most heartbreaking acronym: WCNSF, 'wounded child, no surviving family'⩘ .…
  • "The UN's child protection agency, Unicef, cited Gaza health ministry statistics from early September, recording 2,596 children who had lost both parents, and a further 53,724 who had lost either their father (47,804) or mother (5,920).
  • "There is no data on how many parentless children have also been wounded, but, even as the first phase of a ceasefire deal to end the long war was agreed on Thursday, Gaza has the highest rate of child amputations of any modern conflict."
• Oct 10, 2025 (day 735): Palestinians displaced to southern Gaza begin journey home as ceasefire comes into effect: Thousands walk north along coastal road after Israel-Hamas agreement puts stop to fighting for first time in six months⩘  by William Christou in Jerusalem, The Guardian.
• Oct 7, 2025 (day 732): Two years after 7 October and the kidnap of my parents, hate is in fashion. For all our sakes, we need compassion⩘  by Sharone Lifschitz, The Guardian.
  
  • "Not one word of this is written as justification for the war between the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas. I have been consistently against it from the beginning. The people of Gaza have suffered beyond imagination. I am horrified by the decisions of the Israeli government, but I am also insistent that Hamas is not some benign agent of resistance. Because I know what they did that day. Hamas betrayed its own people – they ensured the suffering of them along with the suffering of us, who lost so much because of its murderous ideology.
  • "To share the story of my personal experience with people who continue to defend or justify the actions of Hamas feels to me like betraying my dead. My UK community is facing unprecedented antisemitism, and my community in Israel has fought its government for two years and has been betrayed again and again. Across the fields from my destroyed kibbutz, the devastation in Gaza is visible and visceral. It horrifies me. At the same time, the moral carte blanche so many former friends and colleagues seem to afford Hamas and Islamic Jihad makes me despair.
  • "Yet, I am humbled and encouraged by the faith in humanity I still see in freed hostages like my mum, and in my friend Galit Dan, whose daughter Noya and mother Carmela were brutally murdered holding each other. I cherish new and old friendships across the divide with Palestinians who, like me, want a long-term agreement. They are able to show empathy towards me in a way many British self-proclaimed friends of the Palestinians cannot. For too many of the latter, it seems a zero-sum game in which one side should win and the other must lose. For us, the wish is for a better future for Israelis and Palestinians."
• Oct 7, 2025 (day 732): Israelis gather to mark two years since 7 October Hamas attack that killed 1,200: Commemorations held in kibbutzim whose members were killed or kidnapped as Tel Aviv rally to call for hostages' release⩘  by William Christou in Jerusalem, The Guardian.
  
  • "The memory of the collective trauma of the attack two years ago⩘  – the deadliest single attack in Israel's history – still looms large across the country. The faces of hostages still held in Gaza are plastered on bus stops around the country, and homes that were lit on fire by militants as they marauded through kibbutzim stand charred and abandoned.
  • "The anniversary has been overshadowed by hopes that the war in Gaza may finally be coming to a close. Negotiators from Hamas and Israel gathered on Monday in Egypt, where they began indirect talks⩘  to iron out the details of the release of all hostages held in Gaza and the return of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, as well as the initial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.…
  • "In Gaza, Palestinians are waiting with bated breath to see if a ceasefire materialises. Despite Trump's demands that Israel stop bombing Gaza⩘  in anticipation of a hostage release, strikes on the strip have continued⩘ . Gaza's ministry of health said at least 19 people were killed by Israel over the past 24 hours, including two people seeking aid."
• Oct 7, 2025 (day 732): The ruin of Gaza: how Israel's two-year assault has devastated the territory⩘  by Jason Burke, Paul Scruton and Heidi Wilson, The Guardian.
  
  • Dead and wounded
    
    • 67,074 Palestinians have been killed inside Gaza by Israeli attacks. Most are civilians. At least 20,000 are children – about 2% of Gaza's child population.
    • 168,716 Palestinians injured in Gaza.
  • Destruction and displacement
    
    • 436,000 Homes damaged or destroyed (92% of total).
    • 2.1 million Palestinians displaced in Gaza (95% of the population)
  • Schools and education
    
    • 518 Schools damaged or destroyed (90% of schools)
    • 745,000 Children and university-age students out of formal education
  • Hospitals and healthcare
    
    • 654 Attacks on healthcare facilities during the war. None of Gaza's 36 permanent hospitals are fully operational. 6 have been destroyed. 15 are non-functioning. 14 are partially functioning. 1 is unknown.
    • More than 1,700 Health workers killed
  • Hunger and aid shortages
    
    • 400 Malnutrition-related deaths, including those of 101 children
  • Environment
    
    • 1.5% – Proportion of Gaza cropland that can be farmed.
    • Since 2023, the Gaza Strip has lost 97% of its tree crops, 95% of its shrubland and 82% of its annual crops, making food production at scale impossible. The destruction will have long-term impacts on ecosystems, biodiversity, food security and the health of residents, ecologists and academics say.
    • In August, new UN figures showed that only 1.5% of cropland was accessible and suitable for cultivation. Toxic residue from munitions and fires has polluted the soil and water supplies.

Related

• Wikipedia articles v
• Historical perspective v
• Legal perspective v
• Books v
• Films v
• Additional notes v

Wikipedia articles

• Wikipedia: Israeli–Palestinian conflict⩘ 
• Wikipedia: 1948 Palestine war⩘ 
• Wikipedia: Nakba⩘ 
• Wikipedia: Arab Peace Initiative⩘ 
• Wikipedia: The Iron Wall⩘ , 2006 documentary film about the establishment of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Historical perspective

• Israel Gaza war: History of the conflict explained⩘ , BBC News, Nov 15, 2023

Legal perspective

Palestine, Israel and International Law⩘ , written evidence, UK Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Inquiry, 'The Israeli-Palestinian conflict', submitted by Dr Ralph Wilde, Professor of International Law, University College London (IPC0022), dated Dec 25, 2024, published Feb 18, 2025.

Dr Wilde's insightful paper covers twelve points, beginning with:

1. More than century-long denial of self-determination of, and war against, the Palestinian people, on the basis of racism.

The Palestinian people have been denied the exercise of their legal right to self-determination through the more-than century-long violent, colonial, racist effort to establish a nation-state exclusively for the Jewish people in the land of Mandatory Palestine.

When this began in earnest after the First World War, the Jewish population there was 11 per cent. Forcibly implementing Zionism in this demographic context has necessarily involved the extermination, or forced displacement, of some of the non-Jewish Palestinian population; the exercise of domination over, and subjugation, dispossession and immiseration of, remaining non-Jewish Palestinians; the emigration to that land of Jewish people, regardless of any direct personal link; and the denial of Palestinian refugees the right to return. All operating through a racist distinction privileging Jewish people over non-Jewish Palestinian people.

This has necessitated serious violations of all the fundamental rules of international law: the right of self-determination; the prohibitions of aggression, genocide, crimes against humanity, racial discrimination, apartheid, and torture; and the core protections of international humanitarian law.

Dr Wilde's paper goes on to cover the following points:

2. Palestinian self-determination under Article 22 of the League of Nations Covenant
3. Self-determination in international law after the Second World War—an additional right
4. Nakba in 1948—violation of self-determination, and creation of a regime involving an ongoing violation of this right, as well as racial discrimination and apartheid, and a denial of the right to return
5. 1967 Israeli capture of the Palestinian Gaza Strip and West Bank
6. Illegal racial domination—apartheid—from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea
7. Gaza Strip and West Bank as Palestinian territory—consequently, Israel's purported annexation, and attempted colonization, are illegal
8. Self-determination as a right to be self-governing, requiring the occupation to end immediately
9. The occupation as an illegal use of force in the law on the use of force
10. Legal right to resist vested in the Palestinian people
11. Illegal force does not become lawful in response to resistance to it
12. Israel cannot lawfully use force to control the Palestinian territory for security purposes/pending a peace agreement

Books

• Israel: What Went Wrong? by Omer Bartov⩘ 
• The Future Is Peace by Aziz Abu Sarah & Maoz Inon⩘ 
• The General's Son by Miko Peled⩘ 
• Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning by Peter Beinart⩘ 
• The Drone Eats with Me by Atef Abu Saif⩘ 
• Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future by Jason Stanley⩘ 
• Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics by Marc Lamont Hill & Mitchell Plitnick⩘ 
• Going Home by Raja Shehadeh⩘ 
• The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi⩘ 
• The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates⩘ 
• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
• Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter⩘ 
• Palestinian Walks by Raja Shehadeh⩘ 
• What Does Israel Fear From Palestine? by Raja Shehadeh⩘ 
• Where the Line Is Drawn by Raja Shehadeh⩘ 

Films

• The Voice of Hind Rajab⩘ . Based on a devastating true event. "January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A 5-year old girl is trapped under fire in Gaza. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab."
  
  • 
    Photo credit: Rajab Family
  • Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania. Released Dec
  • See also: Related notes from early February 2025⩘ 
• From Ground Zero: Stories from Gaza⩘  is a powerful film, both heartbreaking and uplifting. "From Ground Zero, is a collection of revealing stories from 22 Palestinian filmmakers living through war, who capture their lives in Gaza amidst war. Using a blend of animation, documentary, and fiction, they create a powerful testament to the steadfastness of the human spirit. This film serves as a remarkable reflection of how art can thrive even in the darkest times, showcasing the enduring spirit and creativity that emerge amid ongoing devastation."
• Israelism⩘ , a film by Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsen, is a thought-provoking documentary about young American Jews battling to redefine Judaism's relationship with Israel. "The indoctrination is so severe, it's almost hard to have a conversation about it. It's heartbreaking. It is heartbreaking. Our community right now has to grapple with our complicity."
  See also: Hollywood Star Hannah Einbinder Talks Zionism, Jewish Identity, and Palestinian Liberation⩘ , an episode of Beyond Israelism hosted by Simone Zimmerman, Oct 9, 2025.
• The heartbreaking story of Masafer Yatta⩘ . A powerful documentary that vividly tells an absolutely heartbreaking and infuriating story.

Additional notes

• Foundation for Middle East Peace⩘ . "The Foundation works to ensure a just, secure, and peaceful future for Palestinians and Israelis."
• Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)⩘ , a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity.

A note about the timeline

Each entry in these ongoing reflections is introduced with the date the item was published, followed by the number of days since Hamas carried out its act of terrorism on October 7, 2023 and Israel retaliated with its full-scale war on Gaza. However, it would be reasonable to list alternate dates for the start of this ongoing war that, counting from October 7, 2023, would add between 16 and 141 years (adapted from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict⩘  article in Wikipedia).

Alternative timeline

• 2007 (add 16 years to the start of the war on Oct 7, 2023) - Israel tightened its blockade of the Gaza Strip and made official its policy of isolating it from the West Bank. Since then, Israel has framed its relationship with Gaza in terms of the laws of war rather than in terms of its status as an occupying power. In a July 2024 ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rebuffed Israel's stance, determining that the Palestinian territories constitute one political unit and that Israel continues to illegally occupy the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The ICJ also determined that Israeli policies violate the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Since 2006, Hamas and Israel have fought several wars. Attacks by Hamas-led armed groups in October 2023 in Israel were followed by another war.[41] Israel's actions in Gaza since the start of the war have been described by international law experts, genocide scholars and human rights organizations as genocidal.
• 1967 (add 56 years) - Since the Six-Day War, Israel has been occupying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, known collectively as the Palestinian territories. Two Palestinian uprisings against Israel and its occupation erupted in 1987 and 2000, the first and second intifadas respectively. Israel's occupation, which is now considered to be the longest military occupation in modern history, has seen it constructing illegal settlements there, creating a system of institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians under its occupation called Israeli apartheid. This discrimination includes Israel's denial of Palestinian refugees from their right of return and right to their lost properties. Israel has also drawn international condemnation for violating the human rights of the Palestinians.
• 1948 (add 75 years) - Eventually tensions led to the United Nations adopting a partition plan, triggering a civil war. During the ensuing 1948 Palestine war, more than half of the mandate's predominantly Palestinian Arab population fled or were expelled by Israeli forces. By the end of the war, Israel was established on most of the former mandate's territory, and the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were controlled by Egypt and Jordan respectively.
• 1936 (add 87 years) - An Arab revolt erupted demanding independence and an end to British support for Zionism, which was suppressed by the British.
• 1918 (add 104 years) - Following British occupation of the formerly Ottoman region during World War I, Mandatory Palestine was established as a British mandate. Increasing Jewish immigration led to tensions between Jews and Arabs which grew into intercommunal conflict.
• 1917 (add 105 years) - The Zionist movement garnered the support of an imperial power in the 1917 Balfour Declaration issued by Britain, which promised to support the creation of a "Jewish homeland" in Palestine.
• 1882 (add 141 years) - The first arrival of Jewish settlers to Ottoman Palestine in 1882. The local Arab population increasingly began to oppose Zionism, primarily out of the fear of territorial displacement and dispossession.

See also: Before October 7th: Understanding the Long History of Israel's Assault on Gaza⩘  by Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV), Sep 27, 2024. IJV is "a grassroots organization grounded in Jewish tradition that opposes all forms of racism and advocates for justice and peace for all in Israel-Palestine".