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War & Peace
Ceasefire Sparks Fresh Calls for Global Media Access to Gaza
Press groups are also demanding justice for the more than 200 journalists slaughtered in Palestinian territory over the past two years.
Oct 13, 2025
Since a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip began on Friday, press freedom advocates and critics of Israel's genocidal assault have issued new calls for international media access to the decimated Palestinian territory, including the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group in the United States.
"We encourage American and international media outlets to demand direct, unsupervised access to Gaza in the wake of the ceasefire agreement," the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement on Monday, as Hamas returned 20 hostages taken on October 7, 2023 and Israel released over 1,900 imprisoned Palestinians, most of whom were taken captive by Israeli forces over the past two years.
CAIR urged reporters to demand access to "the 1,700 Palestinian men, women, and children going free after Israel occupation forces abducted them from Gaza, held them without charge, and reportedly subjected them to torture in prisons run by Itamar Ben-Gvir," the country's far-right minister of national security.
As Drop Site News' Ryan Grim noted on social media, some Palestinians are already speaking out about the torture they endured:
“Although many media outlets will understandably cover the release of Israeli hostages, it is important to also cover the stories of Palestinian civilians who were kidnapped and other Palestinian hostages who may not go free, such as Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya," said CAIR. "Ignoring Palestinian suffering would give the appearance of bias and create a warped, one-sided image for the public."
"It is particularly critical for American journalists to overcome the Israeli government's attempts to hide the aftermath of the US-funded devastation in Gaza," CAIR added. "Reporters must immediately receive access to Gaza so they can see and report on the consequences of the genocide for themselves."
Unsuccessfully pursuing a Nobel Peace Prize, US President Donald Trump announced last Wednesday night that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of his proposed plan for Gaza. On Monday, Trump addressed Israeli lawmakers. He also signed a peace deal document, as did Egyptian, Qatari, and Turkish leaders.
A report published last week by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the Costs of War Project at Brown University found that the Trump and Biden administrations provided at least $21.7 billion in military aid to Israel since October 2023. The two-year Israeli assault—widely decried as genocide—has killed at least 67,869 Palestinians and wounded 170,105, the Gaza Health Ministry said Monday. Thousands of people remain missing, and experts believe the true toll is far higher.
Among those dead are hundreds of Palestinian journalists, who have worked to not only survive Gaza but also share stories from there over the past two years, as Israel has largely prevented any international reporters from entering the territory.
The various tallies of journalists slaughtered in Gaza go up to at least 271, which includes Saleh al-Jafarawi, a Palestinian reporter and content creator killed on Sunday. According to The New Arab:
Reports in Arabic media state that the armed militia was affiliated with Israel, and members of the group had been killing displaced Palestinians who were making their way back to their homes in the aftermath of the truce.
When he was found, after being announced as missing early on Sunday, he was wearing a press jacket.
The reporter had amassed a large following on social media for his fearless dispatches from on the ground, despite himself being displaced, starved, and his home bombed.
As Middle East Eye reported Monday, the slain journalist "was buried the same day as his brother Naji al-Jafarawi was released from an Israeli prison as part of an exchange of captives."
After Saleh al-Jafarawi's death, multiple social media users shared a video of him welcoming the ceasefire that started on Friday.
Jonathan Dagher, head of the Middle East Desk at Reporters Without Borders, or Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), said in a Friday statement that "the relief of a ceasefire in Gaza must not distract from the absolute urgency of the catastrophic situation facing journalists in the territory."
Over 200 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces, "and the reporters still alive in Gaza need immediate care, equipment, and support," he noted. "They also need justice—more than ever. If the impunity for the crimes committed against them continues, they will be repeated in Gaza, Palestine, and elsewhere in the world. To bring justice to Gaza's reporters and to protect the right to information around the world, we demand arrest warrants for the perpetrators of crimes against our fellow journalists in Gaza."
"RSF is counting on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to act on the complaints we filed for war crimes committed against these journalists," added Dagher, whose group has filed five complaints with the tribunal since October 2023. "It's high time that the international community's response matched the courage shown by Palestinian reporters over the past two years."
The board of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem also released a statement on Friday. It said that "the FPA welcomes the agreement between the warring parties on a ceasefire in Gaza. With the halt in fighting, we renew our urgent call for Israel to open the borders immediately and allow international media free and independent access to the Gaza Strip."
"For the last two years, the FPA and its members have asked, through all channels, to be let into Gaza to report on the reality of the war. These demands have been repeatedly ignored, while our Palestinian colleagues have risked their lives to provide tireless and brave reporting from Gaza," the group continued.
Israel's Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a related case next week, "but there is no reason to wait that long," the group added. "Enough with the excuses and delay tactics. The restrictions on press freedom must come to an end."
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3 Palestinian Children Injured by Likely IDF Unexploded Ordnance in Gaza
Experts say it could take more than a decade to clear the Gaza Strip of Israeli bombs that did not detonate upon impact.
Oct 13, 2025
Three more Palestinian children were injured Monday in the Gaza Strip by what was likely Israel Defense Forces unexploded ordnance, a danger that United Nations experts say could take more than a decade to defuse.
Gaza Civil Defense said in a statement that the three children were "injured with varying degrees of wounds due to the explosion of a suspicious object from the remnants of the Israeli occupation near Al-Shifa Hospital"—which was repeatedly bombed, besieged, and invaded by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops.
The children were reportedly playing with the object when it exploded. Children are particularly vulnerable to death and injury from certain types of unexploded ordnance (UXO), which can appear similar to toys. This is especially true of cluster munitions, which the IDF denies using in Gaza.
However, the IDF's history of using such weapons—which are banned under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, to which Israel is not signatory—and reports by human rights groups and others suggest the denials could possibly, like so many other Israeli claims, be lies.
In past wars, IDF troops have dropped toys and other civilian objects booby-trapped with explosives that killed and maimed children and others. Gaza Civil Defense reported earlier this month that IDF troops have left such toys behind during their current withdrawal from Gaza.
According to the Gaza Government Media Office, Israeli forces dropped around 200,000 tons of explosives on Gaza during what dozens of nations, United Nations experts, genocide scholars, jurists, human rights groups, and others say was a genocidal war. Warfare experts have said the IDF assault on Gaza—which killed or wounded more than 247,000 Palestinians including at least 64,000 children—was, in the words of one US historian, "one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history."
Of those 200,000 tons of explosives, experts at the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and elsewhere say that up to 10% failed to explode upon impact. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in May that the IDF was aware of 3,000 unexploded bombs in Gaza, and that older bombs used by Israel had a dud rate of up to 20%.
The Gaza Ministry of Health, UNMAS, and the Gaza Protection Cluster—a group of humanitarian organizations including the United Nations Children's Fund, and Save the Children—have reported that at least scores of Palestinians have been killed or wounded by IDF UXO in Gaza since October 2023, including numerous children.
UNMAS officials have also warned that in addition to UXO, hundreds of thousands of tons of asbestos exposed by IDF bombardment—which has destroyed or damaged 90% of all homes in Gaza—pose a serious and potentially deadly health risk.
Monday's incident at Al-Shifa Hospital came as 20 Israeli hostages held by Hamas since the October 7, 2023 attack and nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel were released in an exchange that took place three days after a tenuous ceasefire went into effect.
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As Prisoners and Hostages Released, Advocates Decry Continued Detention of Palestinian Doctor Abu Safiya
"There cannot be peace without justice, human rights, and dignity of ALL," said a top United Nations rights advocate. "Palestinian lives matter."
Oct 13, 2025
As families on Monday celebrated the return of about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and 20 living Israeli hostages after the two-year Israeli bombardment that has killed more than 67,000 people and left rubble across Gaza, advocates demanded the return of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who was captured nearly a year ago and has reportedly been imprisoned in a detention center known for torturing detainees.
Middle East Eye reported Monday morning that according to Israeli media reports, Abu Safiya was on a list of Palestinian prisoners who would be released only "if the number of those released is not completed."
"The government has approved the creation of a reserve list of five prisoners from Gaza, who will be released if changes are made," according to Israeli media reports.
Palestinian writer and poet Mosab Abu Toha noted that "if he and the others are approved, they would replace five other Palestinian hostages who were previously set for release."
Abu Safiya was seized by the Israel Defense Forces in December 2024 after the IDF raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, where he was the medical director.
The IDF claimed without evidence that Kamal Adwan Hospital was a Hamas command center; it was the last major functioning health facility in northern Gaza when it was attacked.
As the exchange of hostages and prisoners neared over the weekend, advocates including healthcare professionals demanded that Abu Safiya be included in the exchange.
"I am a family doctor and public health practitioner. I have studied the impacts of settler colonialism on health, locally and abroad. I am demanding for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya who is being held captive by the Israeli military for fulfilling his duty and calling to protect his patients," said Dr. Yipeng Ge. "I am calling for protection of hospitals, patients, and health workers in Gaza."
Abu Safiya is one of more than 9,600 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, according to Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.
The prisoners being released on Monday include 1,700 Palestinians who were detained after Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.
At least 154 Palestinian prisoners freed on Monday were forced into exile by Israel and deported to third countries.
On Saturday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the Trump administration to "demand that Israel release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all other kidnapped medical professionals."
Francesca Albanese, United Nations rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, suggested that the international acceptance of the continued detention of Abu Safiya and thousands of people in Israeli prisons, many of whom have been held without charges and were detained as minors, "says a lot about [the] peace that lays ahead, for the Palestinians."
"There cannot be peace without justice, human rights, and dignity of ALL," said Albanese. "Palestinian lives matter."
The prisoner-hostage exchange is a major part of the first phase of the 20-point peace plan proposed by President Donald Trump, with the next phases yet to be negotiated.
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'Boots on the Ground': Trump to Send 200 US Troops to Israel to Monitor Ceasefire
"Hamas was willing to gamble on Trump’s promise to prevent the Israelis from resuming the genocide once Israel had its prisoners back," wrote independent journalist Nicolas J.S. Davies.
Oct 10, 2025
The US is sending 200 troops to Israel to monitor the Gaza ceasefire agreement signed earlier this week, the Associated Press reported on Friday.
Several officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the AP that the "US Central Command (CENTCOM) is going to establish a 'civil-military coordination center' in Israel that will help facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid as well as logistical and security assistance into the territory wracked by two years of war."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on social media that "up to 200 US personnel, who are already stationed at CENTCOM, will be tasked with monitoring the peace agreement in Israel, and they will work with other international forces on the ground."
Though the United States has provided $16.3 billion in direct military aid to Israel since its two-year campaign of genocide in Gaza began following Hamas' attacks on October 7, 2023, this will be the first time the US will directly have "boots on the ground" in the conflict, though the troops are not expected to be deployed within Gaza itself.
The military team will be overseen by Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of CENTCOM. One senior official said, "his role will be to oversee, observe, make sure there are no violations." The force is expected to also contain members of the armed forces of Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, with the AP reporting that it will also "coordinate with Israeli defense forces."
According to Axios, Hamas negotiators were reluctant to agree to the first phase of the ceasefire deal unless it received assurances from US President Donald Trump that Israel would not resume attacks once all of its captives were released. Israel had already unilaterally broken the previous ceasefire in March.
"Hamas was willing to gamble on Trump’s promise to prevent the Israelis from resuming the genocide once Israel had its prisoners back," wrote independent journalist Nicolas J.S. Davies in Common Dreams on Thursday. "Under Trump’s plan, Israel would agree to end its genocidal assault on Gaza and partially withdraw its forces, but only his word would prevent it from relaunching the genocide once it had the Israeli prisoners in Gaza safely back."
Within hours after the ceasefire deal was signed on Thursday, Israel had already launched attacks that killed at least nine Palestinians and injured dozens more at displaced people's shelters, homes, and gatherings.
But even if the ceasefire holds, many of the most contentious questions have yet to be resolved, and have instead been kicked down the road to the next round of talks.
Although it dropped its ask for Israel to totally withdraw from Gaza, Hamas has dubbed many of Trump's points in the so-called "peace plan," as nonstarters, including the demand that the militant group fully disarm and that it hand over control of the strip's governance to a "Board of Peace" headed by Trump and Tony Blair, a former UK prime minister and an architect of the Iraq War.
“The proposed plan fails to ensure that Palestinians fully and meaningfully participate in all decisions about the future of the [occupied Palestinian territories], its governance, and the exercise of their rights," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general. "A plan that repeats the mistakes and failures of past initiatives that ignored human rights and the root causes of injustice will fail to secure a just and sustainable future for all those living in Israel and the OPT."
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