The ceasefire is of course good news, and we hope it will hold out for as long as possible. But it's only a matter of time until the next round of fighting; a question of when, not if. Because as long as we continue holding Palestinians under occupation, violence is inevitable.
We may no longer be dropping bombs on Gaza from the sky—for the time being—but today, like every day for years now, we control who enters/leaves the Strip, imports/exports, airspace & sea access. Gaza is still under our control not only during the operations but between them too.
Israel sees operations in Gaza as a necessary evil—having to periodically "mow the lawn" to keep the 2million people there under control. And every time, the red lines we crossed in the previous operation become the starting point of the next one. An endless spiral of violence.
None of this absolves Hamas of responsibility for attacking civilians. But as an Israeli org & as former soldiers who perpetuated the occupation, we have a responsibility to speak out against it before the next time soldiers are sent to kill and be killed to uphold this reality.
There's a lot to say about Gaza, but the events of the last few days took place in Israel too. Horrific violence between Israeli Jews & Palestinians erupted on the streets, much of it due to the active encouragement & flame-fanning of Kahanist (Jewish Supremacist) politicians.
There were even calls for the military to be brought into Israeli towns, after settlers & Kahanists played a vital role in shaking up the fragile coexistence. Their model: Hebron in the West Bank, where they've largely succeeded in making segregation the norm in the city center.
The international community has shown great interest, solidarity and involvement over the last ten days. Now is the time to take that message one step further and demand that the occupation — of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank — is brought to a full stop.
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A few days ago, we saw the IDF stoop to new lows with the boldness of their attempts to cover up the killing of 15 rescue workers. Now @haaretzcom uncovered new details that show just how deeply flawed and incomplete their alleged “investigation” was. 🧵 haaretz.com/israel-news/20…
Soldiers shot indiscriminately at the rescue workers from close range for 3.5 minutes (!), as they tried to identify themselves. After a short interrogation of the attack's sole survivor by one soldier who doesn't speak Arabic very well, the workers were deemed to be "Hamas."
12 minutes after the first assault, a UN vehicle with an UNRWA volunteer showed up, driving away from the soldiers, slowly, with the lights on. He was shot nonetheless. The IDF still claims 6 of the 15 rescue workers were Hamas, but refuses to say which 6 they're referring to.
Minister Bezalel Smotrich today said that bringing the hostages was “not the most important goal,” secondary to eliminating “the Gaza problem.” On Saturday, he called for a full military occupation of the strip. This seems like the Israeli govt's actual top priority in this war🧵
And if “saving hostages” isn’t the govt’s top priority, “preventing civilian casualties” is even lower on that list. Of the 1,694 people killed in Gaza since the ceasefire was broken, 595 were children, 308 were women, and 105 were elderly, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Some recent IDF actions echo aspects seen in its Oct 2024 siege on northern Gaza, only this time, in southern Gaza:
Mass Displacement
A new IDF corridor cuts Rafah off from the rest of the strip. Its residents were told to evacuate, and the area was swallowed by the “Perimeter”.
The entire city of Rafah is being swallowed up. @yanivkub of @haaretz reports that the IDF is expanding the new Gaza buffer zone to also include Rafah (in blue). This massive death zone, laid out earlier this week in our latest testimony collection, continues to grow by the day🧵
The soldiers’ testimonies describe the annihilation of what once stood in this area — homes, schools, and agricultural lands — which covered 16% of the entire strip. With Rafah included, we’re now looking at reducing at least another 20% of the strip to a complete wasteland.
This is being sold to Israelis as a security necessity, but, in reality, it’s just a continuation of the same policies and paradigms that brought us here. There is no other way to refer to this policy other than as ethnic cleansing, which can and must never be morally justified.
"The Perimeter:" a new collection of testimonies from soldiers who fought in Gaza in 2023-2024. It chronicles the systematic annihilation and expropriation of entire villages and agricultural zones while creating the new Gaza buffer zone, which the IDF “completed” last December🧵 breakingthesilence.org.il/inside/wp-cont…
The logic of maintaining perpetual Israeli military control led to the wholesale destruction of this vast Palestinian territory, where nearly a quarter million people once lived. Annihilation, expropriation, and expulsion are immoral and must never be normalized or legitimized.
Creating this perimeter, which stretches between 800m and 1.5km inward from the Gaza border, constitutes collective punishment and is an obstacle to future reconstruction efforts for Gaza. It’s morally abhorrent, and perpetuates the same paradigm that has led us to this point.
Friday morning, a mob of settlers descends on the small village of Jinba in Masafer Yatta, injuring 5 Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy and a 64-year-old man. The IDF quickly responded - arresting over 20 Palestinians.
From there, it got worse 🧵
Early Saturday morning, over 140 Israelis, soldiers and settlers alike, raided Jinba. They broke TVs, refrigerators, and toilets, ripped out faucets, and dumped large amounts of food onto the ground, preventing them from eating before the day’s fast.
The IDF excuse? “Looking for weapons.” No mention of finding any. And it doesn’t seem to matter. The residents have for years been suffering from IDF raids. In 2012, soldiers turned Jinba “upside down” while failing to find an alleged headquarters for smuggling “infiltrators.”
The assault on Oscar winner Hamdan Ballal this week was horrifying, but it wasn’t a rarity. Similar assaults have become routine in Masafer Yatta. There have been at least 11 serious assaults by settlers on just the small village of Susiya in 2025 alone (!)
Let’s dive deeper 🧵
Last week, another partner of ours, @btselem researcher Naser Nawaj’ah, was also assaulted in Susiya. Police were seen on video letting the assailants escape. At least one assailant was also identified by activists on Monday night as one of the settlers who assaulted Hamdan.
In this video from last August, a settler was seen telling Hamdan he’d like to take him to the infamous Sde Teiman detention facility, for some “rape by the will of god.” Back then, Hamdan’s film hadn’t yet won an Oscar, so this event didn’t make the news