It has been a tense yet eventful week, with the ceasefire in Gaza enabling displaced residents to return to what remains of their neighborhoods in the north. Families are finding their homes in ruins or severely damaged, uncertain whether this pause in violence will last long enough for them to rebuild. Though the ceasefire relieved some immediate suffering, many Palestinians in Gaza remain skeptical, aware that previous truces have crumbled under Israeli military escalation or political jockeying by leaders who are interested in removing Palestinians from Gaza altogether.
Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu spent his visit to Washington D.C. touting the “unbreakable bond” between Israel and the United States, courting the Trump administration’s hawkish support for continuing settlements and stifling Palestinian aspirations. Netanyahu, embattled at home by right-wing factions demanding a return to all-out war on Gaza, appeared emboldened by his reception in the U.S. By all indications, the human cost of Israel’s policies—now gaining more visibility—does not trouble him or his allies in Washington.
Donald Trump proposed that the U.S. “take control” of Gaza to turn it into a “riviera of the Middle East” where the “world’s people” could live. Many observers rightly condemned the remark as reckless and imperialistic, especially coming amidst his other stated interest in acquiring new territory for the United States. If the administration truly wanted stability in the region, it would prioritize respecting Palestinian rights, supporting reconstruction, and working to end Israeli apartheid and occupation.
Trump also announced new sanctions on the International Criminal Court in response to its issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli leaders for war crimes. This is a brazen effort to shield allies from legal accountability and signals a blatant disregard for any institution that attempts to hold Israel to basic international standards. These sanctions will further undermine the rule of law and set a dangerous precedent, emboldening leaders in Israel and elsewhere to dismiss legal checks on state violence as mere obstacles to their ambitions.
There has been a narrow window of relief for some Palestinians in Gaza who managed to cross checkpoints back to their homes, but every indication points to the fragility of the ceasefire. The stakes are high: real people’s lives hang in the balance, while cynical power plays and attempts to dodge accountability shape the headlines. Our coverage this week underscores one central if sobering, truth: any talk of peace means little when leaders continue to pursue policies that refuse to treat Palestinians as human beings entitled to freedom, security, and justice.
In solidarity,
Dave Reed, Publisher
Must-read: As part of West Bank offensive, Israel conducts largest demolition in years
Qassam Muaddi: The Israeli army is expanding its offensive in the northern West Bank and employing some of the same tactics that it has used in Gaza over the past 15 months, including the mass expulsion of residents, airstrikes, and large-scale demolitions.
Catch-up
🚧 Muhannad Ayyash: The U.S. and Israel are preventing Gaza reconstruction in order to prevent Palestinian return. The only way to stop this is to commence the full reconstruction of the Gaza Strip immediately, regardless of what Israel and the U.S. have to say.
🇵🇸 Noor Alyacoubi: As Palestinians return to what remains of their homes, they find that they are no longer the places they left behind because the ones they love the most are gone.
🇺🇳 Qassam Muaddi: Israel’s ban on UNRWA would leave hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees without education, jobs, or essential services. But the real reason it is going after the UN agency lies in Israel’s political and territorial ambitions.
✊🏽 Abdaljawad Omar: Trump’s call to ethnically cleanse Gaza is an affirmation of an ascendant global movement, with Israel in the vanguard, seeking to overturn long-standing international norms. Palestinian ties to the land stand in direct resistance to this project. [Read Mitchell Plitnick’s take here.]
🏛️ Michael Arria: Three Columbia University students filed a lawsuit against the school, citing dozens of instances where the school targeted the plaintiffs over their pro-Palestine activism, including suspension and housing eviction.
🇵🇸 Tareq S. Hajjaj: Palestinians returning to their homes in northern Gaza are finding nothing but piles of rubble. But residents who spoke to Mondoweiss said they would not trade it for Donald Trump’s plan to resettle them outside Palestine.
🇺🇸 Michael Arria: Lost in the uproar over Donald Trump’s Gaza comments was another bombshell: the White House will soon announce its position on annexation of the West Bank. Signs indicate it will fully support expanding Israeli control over the occupied territory.
⛺ Ethan Eblaghie: As social movements in the U.S. plan ahead for the Trump administration, we should look to the campus Palestine movement for lessons on how to organize under the repressive conditions we will all soon face.
🇵🇸 Reem A. Hamadaqa: Many of us are returning to northern Gaza, gasping for life. We have no choice but to stand up and recover. But what does this mean for our martyrs? Will they go back home too?
Ex-Israeli war chief confirms issuing Hannibal Directive to kill own civilians, soldiers on 7 Oct
Israeli forces used attack helicopters, drones, and tanks to kill their own civilians and soldiers while blaming the deaths on Hamas
FEB 7, 2025
“Former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant has acknowledged ordering the army to use the Hannibal Directive to kill Israeli civilians and soldiers during the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023.
During an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 on 7 February, Gallant admitted to ordering the controversial protocol that involves killing captives along with their captors.
When asked whether an order was given to implement the Hannibal Directive, Gallant responded:
“I think that, tactically, in some places, it was given, and in other places, it was not given, and that is a problem.”
Israel claims Hamas killed roughly 1,100 Israeli civilians and soldiers during its attack on Israeli settlements and military bases on 7 October as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
However, Israeli forces killed large numbers of their own civilians and soldiers during the attack. The army dispatched attack helicopters, drones, and tanks on its own territory to respond to the attack, killing not only Hamas fighters but also Israeli civilians and soldiers that the Palestinian fighters attempted to take as captives back to Gaza.
Israeli helicopters also killed Israeli civilians at the Nova festival, which took place near the Re’im military base.
Gallant also criticized former police security minister Itamar Ben Gvir for his provocative storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, stating that it “was like detonating the situation.”
Gallant made the comments in his first interview since being dismissed as defense minister in November.
The former defense minister said that the current ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza is nearly identical to an earlier proposal that Hamas was willing to agree to in April last year.
Gallant accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet of delaying the ceasefire deal, adding that had he agreed to it at that time, Israel could have brought back more living captives while releasing fewer Palestinian security prisoners, Gallant said.”
https://thecradle.co/articles/ex-israeli-war-chief-confirms-issuing-hannibal-directive-to-kill-own-civilians-soldiers-on-7-oct
“By all indications, the human cost of Israel’s policies…”
Many people by now have observed that Israel’s war goals have nothing to do with eliminating Hamas or freeing the hostages, Hamas and the hostages are a side show. The ;human cost’ is exactly Israel’s goal, namely implementing the Final Solution for Gaza – making it unfit for anyone to live in. In support of that idea, here’s a comment from Yoav Gallant
Former Israel defence minister admits issuing orders to attack Gaza, kill Israeli captives…Gallant shared in an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth and Channel 12: “After the events of 7 October (2023) and before the ground invasion began on 27 October, I received warnings that hostages in Gaza could be killed if we proceeded with the attack.” He added: “But I insisted on fighting and carrying out the ground operation later.”...Gallant stressed that the government, even when he was serving as minister of defence: “Did not do everything it could to free the hostages.”…He noted that they had instructed the army to implement the Hannibal Directive, which involves killing captives along with their captors and stressed the need for a comprehensive government inquiry into Israel’s 7 October failures….Regarding resigned Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, Gallant stated that his repeated raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem were among the factors that raised tensions and contributed to the escalation of the situation before the attack on 7 October, 2023.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250208-former-israel-defence-minister-admits-issuing-orders-to-attack-gaza-kill-israeli-captives/
“every indication points to the fragility of the ceasefire….. any talk of peace means little when leaders continue to pursue policies that refuse to treat Palestinians as human beings entitled to freedom, security, and justice.”
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Trump imposed a ceasefire that Netanyahu is keen to break off. Trump tied him in knots, forcing future compliance, by inserting ego into a successful outcome for Gaza. “Arabists” immediately, hair on fire, loosened the knot. Meantime, Netanyahu, the master of deceit, showed everyone how to massage a giant ego.
Netanyahu then doubled down on his core narrative, Israel’s existence. Thereby reinforcing on what has provided his all powerful, “self-defense” / “get out of jail” card. No one perceives the imperative, or a path, to trump his card or challenge his narrative.
The beat goes on at Mondoweiss.