Media Report 2025.10.12
Gazans return home after ceasefire
The Age / Reuters, AP | David Crowe | 12 october 2025
Israeli troops have withdrawn from parts of Gaza and taken up positions behind the lines agreed in a ceasefire with Hamas, allowing thousands of Palestinians to return to areas devastated by two years of war.
The withdrawal clears the way for food and medical sup plies to the territory, with the United Nations pledging “truck loads every day” in the hope of feeding more than 2 million people.
Confirming the first phase of the Israeli pullback, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said the agreed 72-hour period for Hamas to release all Israeli hostages had begun.
Trump was optimistic the ceasefire would last.”I think it will hold. They’re all tired of the fighting,” he said in Washington. He said he would soon join “a lot of leaders from all over the world” in Cairo for a ceremony marking the agreement.
The Israel Defence Forces said the withdrawal began on Friday at noon in Gaza (8pm AEDT) – a key development that showed it was acting in accordance with the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
Witkoff, a key negotiator, said US Central Command, the headquarters with responsibility for the Middle East, had confirmed the Israeli move. The development came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF would hold “controlling positions” in Gaza at the lines agreed in the ceasefire to ensure Hamas honoured the terms.
“This way we have a hold on Hamas, from all directions to ward the next stages of the plan, in which Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be de militarised,” he said in a televised address.
“If this is achieved the easy way, then that will be good, and if not, then it will be achieved the hard way.” Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas will return the hostages, living and dead, within 72 hours of the Israeli withdrawal. The deadline will take effect at 8pm (AEDT) on Monday.
“IDF troops in the Southern Command are deployed in the area and will continue to operate to eliminate any immediate threat,” the IDF said. US officials said the US would deploy 200 troops as part of a joint task force to ensure stability, but no Americans would enter Gaza.
The officials, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the 200 would be the core of a task force that would include representatives from Egypt’s military, Qatar, Turkey and probably the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, the UN has been given the green light by Israel to begin delivering scaled-up aid into Gaza from today, a UN official said. UN emergency relief co-ordinator Tom Fletcher said aid groups aim to restore Gaza’s health system and bring food to more than 2 million people.
“We’re targeting 1.4 million people with water and sanitation services,” he said in a briefing, adding that a massive scale-up in shelter provision would help families prepare for the winter.
Fletcher said this would include thousands of tents every week and the hope of getting 700,000 children back into education. But there are concerns it will take too long to open border checkpoints for aid, as families return to areas destroyed by war and without housing, water or food.
“The needs in Gaza are immense and wide-ranging,” said the International Committee of the Red Cross. “It will take a long time to get to a place where people even have the basic necessities. Only the rapid, unimpeded, and sustained flow of aid can begin to address the full scope of needs on the ground.”
In Gaza, a steady stream of people, the vast majority on foot, crammed onto a coastal road heading north to see what might remain of their homes, in a repeat of emotional scenes from an earlier ceasefire in January.
Others headed to different areas in southern Gaza. The destruction they find this time will be even greater, after Israel waged a new offensive in Gaza City, in the north, in recent weeks, with high-rise buildings and homes blown up in what it said was an attempt to destroy Hamas’ remaining military infrastructure.
“There wasn’t much joy, but the ceasefire somewhat eased the pain of death and blood shed, and the pain of our loved ones and brothers who suffered in this war,” said Jamal Mesbah, who was displaced from the north and plans to return.
In the southern city of Khan Younis, hundreds of returning Palestinians found wrecked buildings, rubble and destruction after Israeli troops withdrew. “There was nothing left. Just a few clothes, pieces of wood and pots,” said Fatma Radwan, from Khan Younis.
People were still trying to retrieve bodies from under the rubble, she added. Palestinians reported heavy shelling early on Friday in Gaza, the morning after Netanyahu and cabinet ministers approved the Trump peace plan.
In a sign that fighting continued until the ceasefire dead line began, the IDF said a Hamas sniper killed a reservist, Michael Mordechai Nachmani, 26, in an attack in Gaza City on Thursday afternoon – after the ceasefire terms were agreed but before they came into effect.
Also on Thursday, the IDF launched a strike in northern Gaza where it said Hamas posed an immediate threat to Israeli troops. While the ceasefire terms re quire Israel to withdraw its forces from much of Gaza, unofficial statements suggest it will retain control over as much as half of the territory.
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Anti genocide
The Age | Letters | 12 October 2025
Your correspondent’s letter (“Joy and relief for both sides of conflict” 11/10) equates the anti-Israel protests and activism as hate. I would say they have more to do with humanity than hate. Perhaps she should consider them as anti-genocide protests.
Ingrid Rodger, Williamstown
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Killing civilians is wrong
Sydney Morning Herald | Letters | 12 October 2025
Terrorist attacks are wrong. Killing people just because of their faith is wrong (“Manchester attack: Tape marks where line was crossed by attacker”, October 5). What a horrific, terrifying event. Killing civilians in Gaza is also wrong. At least 53 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on this same day, yet there are few articles writ ten for them, identifying and mourning yet more innocent lives lost. The article expresses concern at the ongoing “protests in favour of the Palestinian cause”. I cannot comment on the pro-Palestinian marches being held in the UK, but I know the marches I have attended in Sydney have all been peaceful and have included a strong Jewish presence, protesting the loss of innocent lives in Gaza. It cannot be stated too many times: the protests are against the actions of Israel in Gaza and not an attack on people of the Jewish faith. We just want the killing in Gaza to stop. And I wish there were more flowers in Gaza.
Lisa Dixon, Croydon
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‘Tired of fighting’
Daily Telegraph (Herald-Sun, Courier-Mail)| Sophie Elsworth | 12 October 20265
Donald Trump says he believes the Israeli ceasefire that began in Gaza would hold as Israel and Hamas are “tired” of fighting.
“I think it’ll hold. They’re all tired of the fighting,” he said, confirming his plans to travel to Israel and mediator Egypt.
The US President is expected to land in Israel on Monday at 9.20am (5.20pm AEDT) and address the Israeli Parliament before a formal peace deal signing in Cairo, Egypt. He is expected to fly out again later that day, Israel’s state broadcaster reported.
“I’ll be going to Israel. I’ll be speaking at the Knesset, I think early on, and then I’m also going to Egypt. They were terrific,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
Mr Trump said he would meet a “lot of leaders” in Egypt, and was confident the Gaza ceasefire would lead to a wider Middle East peace.
“We have some little hot spots, but they’re very small. They’ll be very easy to put out. Those fires are going to be put out very quickly,” he added.
Mr Trump also revealed he would chair a board aimed at rebuilding the two-million-person region and monitoring a transitional Palestinian government.
“Gaza is going to be rebuilt,” Mr Trump said. “We’re also setting up a Board of Peace. It’s called the Board of Peace. I don’t know if that’s the final name, but the word ‘peace’ is definitely in there.
“They have asked me if I will chair it. We’ll make sure things go well,” he added.
His comments come as biblical scenes played out, with thousands of Palestinians pictured beginning the long, dustry walk to northern Gaza and Israeli Defence Force troops started their withdrawal from the war-torn strip. In Tel Aviv, Israelis continued to celebrate in the streets.
US troops have also begun arriving in Israel to help oversee the Gaza ceasefire. The first phase of the agreement includes cessation of fighting on both sides, withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners within 72 hours and the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to the region.
Steve Witkoff, US Special Envoy to the Middle East, confirmed on X: “CENTCOM (US Central Command) has confirmed that the Israeli Defense Forces completed the first phase withdrawal to the yellow line at 12PM local time.
“The 72-hour period to release the hostages has begun”.
Hours later, the Pentagon confirmed Israel had completed the first phase of a pullback in Mr Trump’s peace plan.
Israeli forces still hold 53 per cent of Palestinian territory.
While the hostage exchange was to take place on Monday or Tuesday, Israeli and Arab media reported yesterday the militant group was preparing to release the remaining hostages earlier.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the deal included return of 48 hostages remaining in Gaza – it’s believed 20 are alive and 28 are dead.
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Marchers to go ahead in Sydney despite truce
Daily Telegraph | Derrick Krusche | 12 October 2025
Organisers of a pro-Palestinian rally to be held in Sydney today despite the Israel-Hamas truce say they are “still marching because our government is still arming a genocidal state”, while members of the Jewish community will sail in a convoy of boats in the harbour in a stand against anti-Semitism.
Up to 40,000 people are expected to gather in Hyde Park and then march to Belmore Park from 1pm to demonstrate against Israel after a judge knocked back earlier plans to rally in front of the Opera House.
The demonstration is still going ahead despite Israel declaring a ceasefire in Gaza and the country beginning to pull back its armed forces from the strip on Saturday.
Palestine Action Group, which is organising Sunday’s Sydney rally, said online it was pushing ahead with the event because it alleges Australia provides arms to Israel.
“We are still marching because our government is still arming a genocidal state, sanction Israel now, stop the two way arms trade, stop the complicity with genocide and apartheid by our government,” the group said.
Meanwhile, a convoy of about 30 boats of all sizes will sail in the harbour to “stand up for Australian values of decency and mutual respect, and push back against hateful rhetoric, divisiveness and anti-Semitism”.
Supported by the Zionist Council of NSW, StandWithUs and Never Again Is Now, organisers said it would be a “peaceful” event.
“Maritime police are aware of our event and will escort us,” organisers of the convoy said.
Writing in The Saturday Telegraph, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the pro-Palestinian rally going ahead despite the truce “ensures all things are revealed” within some elements of their movement.
“Who wants to give Palestinians peace and prosperity? And who is happy to see them die just to have slogans to chant?” he wrote.
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Do not stop public from using areas
Daily Telegraph | Letters | 12 October 2025
This week, again, we saw protesters wanting to march on the Opera House and hold placards saying, “We have the right to protest”.
Yes, you do. But you have no right to stop/block/prevent other citizens from using public infrastructure such as roads and public places.
No one is stopping you from protesting. Stand on your veranda, roof or backyard and protest all you like.
But do not stop me and other citizens from accessing public areas that are for all citizens.
Geoff, Killara
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Sitting on their hands, Albo and his cohorts show they cannot be relied on in the fight against terror
Daily Telegraph | Piers Akerman | 12 October 2025
There’s cautious optimism about the return of the surviving Israeli hostages from their barbaric Islamist captors – but pessimism surrounding the Albanese government’s welcome for Gazans and ISIS brides.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke have weakened Australia’s domestic security and caused untold damage to our global reputation as a reliable ally with their adolescent adherence to undergraduate left-wing student ideology.
What masquerades as our policy merely mirrors protests on the corrupted campuses of most of our universities and doesn’t cut it with our closest ally, the United States. When Albanese finally gets to meet Donald Trump in the next two weeks, he can only hope the President doesn’t drag up our government’s appalling record of rejecting every major US plea for assistance in the war against international terrorists.
From Washington’s perspective, we have done nothing to assist the peace process in the Middle East.
Wong’s response after more than 3800 Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on October 7, 2023 – torturing, raping, murdering and kidnapping – was to call for “restraint from Israel”.
More than 1300 Israelis were killed that day, most of them civilians attending the Nova music and dance festival. And about 3300 were injured and hundreds were taken hostage.
Body-camera footage shows the horrific scenes of terrorists screaming with pleasure as they hunt young women and men fleeing for their lives across open fields.
Their joy was matched by the mobs who welcomed the terrorists back to Gaza with their beaten, bloody and broken captives.
Two months after the invasion, the US requested Australia send a warship to the Red Sea to counter Houthi militants’ attacks on shipping in the critical trade route.
The US was forming Operation Prosperity Guardian – a multinational maritime security force – to respond to the escalating Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the region following the start of the Gaza war.
The Houthis, like Hamas and Hezbollah, are backed by the evil Iran Islamic Republic. The Albanese government, true to form, denied the request. The US didn’t inform Australia before it carried out its successful strikes against a number of Iran’s nuclear facilities, but again Wong urged both Israel and Iran exercise “restraint”.
The government blocked two prominent Israeli cabinet members, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, from entering the country four months ago, cancelled the visa of another Israeli MP, Simcha Rothman, in August, and denied visas to former minister Ayelet Shaked and journalist Hillel Fuld.
Yet 3000 visas were issued to Gazans within 24 hours after perfunctory security checks. Fifty-five of the visa recipients, had their visas cancelled by last January after more thorough security assessments.
Nine had their visas cancelled onshore but less than five have been removed, and fewer than five were in immigration detention on January 31.
Now, two women who left Australia to join members of the Islamist terrorist organisation, ISIS, have returned with four children.
In parliament this week, Albanese denied the government assisted their return – but Burke insisted it would have been illegal not to have helped them.
I cannot find any reference in the Criminal Code or the Crimes Act of any offence of penalties for failure to assist Australians returning to home.
So, who misled parliament – Albanese or Burke?
ASIO is now spending at least $70m on the High Risk Terrorist Offender regime and the Extended Supervision Order framework. The returning ISIS brides are going to smash that figure as it costs an estimated $8m a day to monitor individuals.
It is hard to believe the children of the ISIS women have not been indoctrinated with the same twisted Islamist ideology that infects Hamas.
There’s hope for peace in Gaza but the Albanese government’s policies cannot ensure the same here.
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Families head home as troops pull out of Gaza
Hobart Mercury | Sophie Elsworth | 12 October 2025
Israeli Defense Forces troops started withdrawing from Gaza on Saturday and thousands of Palestinians were seen returning to their abandoned properties along the war-torn strip.
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement includes cessation of fighting on both sides, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners within 72 hours and the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to the region.
While the hostage exchange was to take place on Monday or Tuesday, Israeli and Arab media reported Friday (Saturday AEST) that the militant group was getting ready to release the remaining hostages.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a televised address following the signing of the new peace deal confirming it included the return of 48 hostages that remain in Gaza – it’s believed 20 are alive and 28 are dead.
“I remind you that at the beginning of the war, there were those who said that we wouldn’t be able to bring even a single hostage back alive,” Mr Netanyahu said.
“I thought differently. I believed that if we applied heavy military pressure on Hamas, combined with intense diplomatic pressure, we could indeed bring back all our hostages. And that is exactly what we did.”
Mr Netanyahu also thanked US President Donald Trump for helping orchestrate the ceasefire and the return of the last of the Israelis taken captive by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
“By the time Trump entered the White House, we had brought back 158 hostages, including 117 alive,” he said.
“After President Trump entered the White House, we brought home another 49 hostages, both living and deceased.”
The US President is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday where he will address the country’s parliament before heading to Cairo, Egypt, to oversee the formal signing of the peace deal he helped broker.
Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, also confirmed on Friday on X: “CENTCOM (US Central Command) has confirmed that the Israeli Defense Forces completed the first phase withdrawal to the yellow line at 12PM local time.
“The 72 hour period to release the hostages has begun.”
Despite President Trump missing out on winning this year’s Nobel Peace Prize – it was awarded on Friday to Venezuelan opposition leader and pro-democracy campaigner Maria Corina Machado – Mr Netanyahu said it should have gone to the US leader.
“The Nobel Committee talks about peace. President @realDonaldTrump makes it happen,” he wrote on X.
“The facts speak for themselves. President #Trump deserves it.”
Mr Trump said he expected the Israeli ceasefire to hold and revealed he would chair a board aimed at rebuilding the two-million-person region and monitoring a transitional Palestinian government.
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US envoy Witkoff talks at Israel hostage families rally
Canberra Times / Reuters, AAP | 12 October 2025
The Gaza Strip ceasefire has held in its second day as tens of thousands of Palestinians returned to their neighbourhoods and Israelis cheered the expected release of remaining hostages.
“Gaza is completely destroyed. I have no idea where we should live or where to go,” said Mahmoud al-Shandoghli in Gaza City as bulldozers clawed through the wreckage of two years of war.
A boy climbed debris to raise the Palestinian flag.
Israelis applauded US President Donald Trump, and some booed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner addressed a weekly rally in Tel Aviv that many hoped would be the last.
“To the hostages themselves, our brothers and sisters, you are coming home,” Witkoff told the crowd estimated in the hundreds of thousands.
Kushner said they would celebrate on Monday, when Israel’s military has said the 48 hostages still in the Gaza Strip would be freed.
The government believes about 20 remain alive.
Kushner also noted the “suffering” in the Gaza Strip.
Israelis hugged and took selfies.
Many waved US flags.
“It’s a really happy time but we know that there are going to be some incredibly difficult moments coming,” said one person in the crowd, Yaniv Peretz.
About 200 US troops arrived in Israel to monitor the ceasefire with Hamas.
They will set up a centre to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid as well as logistical and security assistance.
“This great effort will be achieved with no US boots on the ground in Gaza,” said Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the US military’s Central Command.
Israel said Witkoff, Kushner and Cooper met with senior US and Israeli military officials in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
A copy of the signed ceasefire says Hamas must share all information related to any bodies of hostages that are not released within the first 72 hours, and that Israel will provide information about the remains of deceased Palestinians from the Gaza Strip held in Israel.
The photo of the document was obtained by the Associated Press and its veracity was confirmed by two officials, including one whose country was a signatory.
Hamas and Israel will share the information through a mechanism supported by mediators and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
It will also ensure all hostages are exhumed and released.
The agreement says mediators and the ICRC will facilitate the exchange of the hostages and prisoners without public ceremonies or media coverage.
Israel will free about 250 Palestinians serving prison sentences as well as about 1700 people seized from the Gaza Strip over the past two years and held without charge.
French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Egypt on Monday for talks on implementing a peace plan presented by Trump to end the war, officials said on Saturday.
The plan, brokered by Trump along with Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, aims to establish a permanent ceasefire, secure the release of all hostages and restore full humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, the presidency said.
Egypt plans to host an international summit, to take place in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, to be co-chaired by Trump and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, the Egyptian foreign ministry said.
Several European and Arab leaders are expected to attend the summit, according to media reports.
Al-Sissi has invited German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to attend a ceremony in Egypt for a signing ceremony on the Gaza Strip agreement.
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It is quite disingenuous to compare Gaza with the Blitz
Canberra Times | Letters | 12 October 2025
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9085988/gaza-conflict-comparing-war-casualties-and-impacts/
It is true, as Janelle Caiger writes, that more people have been killed in the war against Hamas in Gaza than were killed in the World War II German bombing blitz of the UK.
However, and critically, nearly half of those killed in Gaza were combatants. In fact, many of those killed in Gaza were killed during actual fighting, not random bombing from the air.
The Blitz casualty numbers would have been far higher had London’s residents not hidden in the underground train system.
Ludgate Hill area of London during the ‘Blitz’, between September 1940 and May 1941, when Nazi Germany bombed British cities. Picture Shutterstock
Hamas built an extraordinarily complex tunnel system in Gaza, but it refused to let civilians shelter in it.
About 100 times as many Jews were killed in the Holocaust as Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, but that certainly hasn’t stopped people from falsely labelling Israel’s defensive military campaign in Gaza a “genocide”.
David Bates, Bonner
Light up the Opera House
As the Palestinian rally can’t go ahead this Sunday in front of the Opera House, I think the least Chris Minns, the NSW Premier, can do is light the Opera House sails in the colours of the Palestinian flag.
In October 2023, he arranged for the colours of the Israeli flag to be displayed on the Opera House sails, and the Australian public has shown strong support for the Palestinians.
Felicity Chivas, Ainslie
Grandstand at your own risk
The recent flotilla to Gaza attempting to deliver aid to civilians facing starvation was a courageous humanitarian undertaking.
Particularly so as Israeli authorities stated in advance that the flotilla would be stopped from reaching its destination and activists arrested.
Given that, it is a bit rich for the arrested Australian participants to castigate our government for not providing more support and bringing them home (presumably at taxpayers’ expense) when they consciously ventured into the situation they want relief from.
Given the high probability that the mission would not succeed, this activity could be viewed by some as containing an element of grandstanding, particularly by one high-profile individual, who might be perceived as having a whiff of moral superiority.
People need to accept some responsibility for the actions they choose to take.
D Bogusz, Greenway
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Trump, peace, politics, and necessity
Canberra Times | Editorial | 11 October 2025
The war in Gaza has been the cause of significant divisions within the Australian community. Picture by Karleen Minney
Whatever one may think of Donald Trump, and opinions on the former US President are seldom mild, he appears to have achieved what many across the globe had written off as impossible: a Gaza ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, and the return of the remaining hostages.
A trip to Egypt for what is hoped will be the official signing ceremony is the culmination of a diplomatic effort he and his team, most notably Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, have pursued over the past two years.
The scale of this diplomatic feat, if it lands as promised, is undeniable. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged, the combined effect of military and diplomatic pressure, along with the “extraordinary help of President Trump and his team,” brought Israel to a point where achieving a core war aim – the return of the hostages – was finally within reach. The plan, which has been ratified by the Israeli government, details the precise steps: a ceasefire, an IDF withdrawal to new lines, the immediate entry of humanitarian aid, and the release of all hostages, both alive and dead.
However, while President Trump is understandably hogging the limelight and declaring “peace in the Middle East,” it is crucial to remember that many cooks were involved in stirring this potent, bitter broth. The diplomatic pressure applied by the US served as a catalyst, but the core compromises were made directly by the parties involved.
First, Israel made significant, painful concessions. Netanyahu and his cabinet were required to approve a framework that includes the withdrawal of the IDF from territory gained during the conflict, essentially accepting a ceasefire without the explicit, public defeat of Hamas that many hardliners demanded. Furthermore, achieving the release of the hostages will undoubtedly involve the release of Palestinian prisoners, likely including terrorists with Israeli blood on their hands.
Second, the Arab nations played an unprecedented and united role. The success of the deal hinged on countries such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia exerting intense pressure on Hamas. These nations were instrumental in shaping the framework and providing the necessary financial and political incentives to bring the militant group to the table.
Their support effectively isolated Hamas internationally and cut off its political oxygen.
Third is the motivation of Hamas itself. While their chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, claimed the group acted “responsibly,” the truth is likely far more pragmatic.
Watch: Diplomats from around the world have staged a walkout during Benjamin Netanyahu’s national address.
The Hamas leadership was faced with a stark choice: agree to the framework and survive to fight another day, or refuse and be dead men walking. All of that said, any declaration that this represents a permanent peace is extremely premature. This is the Middle East, a region where agreements are often viewed as temporary tactical measures.
On the one hand, both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have a history of making commitments and then breaking them. The framework demands significant reform from the PA if it is to take a role in governing a post-war Gaza.
On the other hand, there are extreme, powerful elements in the Israeli government who want the fighting to continue until every last member and supporter of Hamas has met their end at the hands of the IDF. For them, withdrawal is defeat.
Trump and his team have negotiated a monumental pause button, a grand bargain of necessary evils. The first phase of the deal – the ceasefire and hostage release – will be a triumph of necessity.
The subsequent phases will test the commitment of all parties. The real work of building a foundation for peace, not just a fragile end to hostilities, starts now.
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Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, was a key player in the Israel-Hamas peace deal
ABC | Lucia Stein | 12 October 2025
After months of stalled talks following the collapse of a ceasefire deal in March, a familiar face was seen sitting alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a first-phase peace deal was finalised: Jared Kushner.
The son-in-law of US President Donald Trump was in Jerusalem, accompanied by billionaire and Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff, to present the agreement to Israel’s Cabinet before it was eventually approved on Thursday evening.
In high-stakes negotiations like this, a team of people is required to carry out painstaking work behind the scenes to get both parties to the bargaining table.
And according to senior US officials requesting to speak on background, while mediators worked to get Israel and Hamas closer to an agreement, Kushner and Witkoff were two key players involved in closing the deal.
Earlier this week, the pair flew to Egypt to join negotiations between the two delegations, which included discussions about the release of Palestinian prisoners and handing back of Israeli hostages taken during the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Hours later, Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to phase-one of a peace plan which involved a ceasefire and an Israeli military pullback to a “yellow line” within Gaza.
The breakthrough delivered Trump a made-for-TV moment when Secretary of State Marco Rubio crossed the room to whisper the news in his ear in front of waiting cameras.
Trump has since lauded the efforts of his negotiating team, dubbed the “dealmaking consortium”. Among that group were Rubio, Witkoff, War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Jared Kushner.
“Jared’s a very smart guy. He did the Abraham Accords,” Trump said when asked why Kushner had joined this round of talks.
“He’s a very smart person and he knows the region, knows the people, knows a lot of the players.”
Unlike in Trump’s first term when Kushner served as an adviser, the businessman does not hold a government position.
Senior US officials said he initially served in an informal advisory role for the final round of negotiations and that his involvement with efforts to secure a peace deal has increased over the past few months.
Last week, Kushner told a government meeting in Jerusalem that the peace deal “would not have been possible without the bravery of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] and its soldiers”.
“What they’ve accomplished not just in Gaza, but also what they’ve done in the theatre over the last couple of years to eliminate Hezbollah in the north and really degrade them,” he said.
Jerusalem had been the last of many stops on Kushner and Witkoff’s crisscrossing journey through the US and the Middle East to get an agreement over the line.
Kushner also said that Netanyahu “did a great job with the negotiations”.
“You held your lines firm and I think that between you and President Trump, you had a lot of alignment on what the end state should be,” he said.
The New York Times reported that Trump had relied on his son-in-law to step in and add momentum to the negotiations.
And after the developments this week, it seems as if Kushner fulfilled that expectation.
Kushner, the Middle East and the supposed family rift
When Trump first entered the Oval Office in 2016, Kushner and his wife, Ivanka, uprooted their high-society lives in New York and moved to the nation’s capital to serve in his administration.
The couple had spent years by Trump’s side in business and that loyalty was rewarded when Kushner was appointed as a chief adviser.
Ivanka too worked as a close adviser to her father, accompanying him on foreign trips and popping into high-profile meetings, to the chagrin of some aides.
Trump’s son-in-law was considered among the most influential voices during the president’s first term.
Before his appointment, Kushner had no experience in government or international affairs, although he had visited Israel since childhood, and his family had close ties to Mr Netanyahu.
Israel’s leader had reportedly even stayed at the Kushners’ home in New Jersey, sleeping in Jared’s bedroom, while the teenager slept in the basement.
Kushner’s biggest coup during Trump’s term was the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and three Arab states.
Signed in September 2020, in the dying days of Trump’s presidency, the development was heralded in the White House as the dawn of a new era in the Middle East.
“I will say that [Donald Trump has] also set the table for a lot more great breakthroughs in the months and years ahead,” Kushner declared at the time.
But when Trump lost the 2020 campaign, Kushner was out of a job. And after the events of January 6, he and his wife faded from the spotlight, following speculation of a supposed rift between the couple and the former president.
Husband and wife reportedly told those close to them they had little interest in returning to Washington.
Business dealings
While he has never been far from the White House, Kushner pivoted back to the world of business during Joe Biden’s term in office.
In 2021, he formed investment firm Affinity Partners, which has ties to government wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, according to the New York Times.
Recently, the businessman brokered a major deal to break into the lucrative gaming industry.
Affinity Partners is part of a consortium of private equity companies involved in a $US55 billion ($83 billion) bid to take gaming company Electronic Arts (EA) private in the biggest leveraged buyout of all time. That’s when a company borrows a large amount of money to buy another.
A major backer is Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). The government has made no secret of its designs for the country to become a major gaming hub, and it has been using PIF as part of this endeavour.
But Kushner’s business dealings within the Middle East have sparked scrutiny from ethics experts, Democrats in Congress and some Republicans.
When asked about potential conflicts of interest, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered a rebuke last week.
“I think it’s frankly despicable that you’re trying to suggest that it’s inappropriate for Jared Kushner, who is widely respected around the world and has great trust and relationships with these critical partners in these countries, to strike a 20-point, comprehensive, detailed peace plan that no other administration would ever be able to achieve,” she said.
Two weeks after the EA deal was made public, Kushner was in the Middle East negotiating a peace deal between Israel and Hamas.
Kushner re-enters the frame
Trump’s son-in-law has seemingly been working behind the scenes on a peace deal in Gaza for months.
In August, Kushner and former British prime minister Tony Blair reportedly participated in a meeting on Gaza in the White House, presenting the president with ideas for a post-war plan.
Diplomats told the Financial Times that Kushner had coordinated with Blair, who was working on Gaza peace plans for more than a year using his Tony Blair Institute.
Senior US officials said Kushner’s role in the negotiations started in more of an advisory capacity but, over the last few weeks, the work had really increased.
The president exerted pressure on Hamas and Israel to get things done ahead of the two year anniversary of the war.
Discussions “really took a turn” at the end of September, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, according to Rubio.
“You [Trump] convened a historic meeting — not simply of Arab countries, but of Muslim-majority countries from around the world, including Indonesia was there, Pakistan was there — and created this coalition behind this plan,” he told a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
“Then, on that following Monday, you met with the prime minister of Israel here, and that plan was presented. And then, of course, our great negotiating team followed up on it.”
At the end of September, Kushner attended meetings held during Netanyahu’s visit to discuss Trump’s 20-point peace deal.
That then culminated in Kushner’s lighting tour through the Middle East this week with Witkoff.
“The team had struggled, and his experience and his relationships with the key players was an important fact in the breakthrough,” Dan Shapiro, former US ambassador to Israel under the Obama administration, told Politico.
Will Kushner’s role continue?
Netanyahu has joined the US president in heaping praise on Kushner and Witkoff for their efforts.
He said Israel “couldn’t have achieved it without the extraordinary help of President Trump and his team”, Witkoff and Kushner.
Some Democrats have also applauded Kushner’s work.
“He was exceptionally important in Abraham Accords, knows how to manage Bibi and understands the Arab countries,” Thomas R. Nides, who served as the US ambassador to Israel in the Biden administration, told the New York Times.
“Forget my politics, I’m more than happy to give him as much credit as he deserves.”
But it’s not yet clear if Kushner will play an ongoing role in negotiations.
While the signing of a phase-one peace plan is welcome news in Israel and Gaza after months of stalled progress, many remain cautious about the days, weeks and months ahead.
Trump is planning to attend an “official” signing ceremony for the deal in Egypt, along with other Arab countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
For the moment, there is a deal in place to halt fighting and release hostages and prisoners.
But many sticking points remain, including unresolved questions over the future governance of Gaza, security and Palestinian self-determination.
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Israel announces list of Palestinian prisoners to be released, but one key name is absent
ABC / Reuters | 11 October 2025
Israel’s Ministry of Justice has announced a list of 250 Palestinian prisoners it plans to release in exchange for Israeli hostages.
The list was made public shortly after Israel’s government approved the first phase of a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
The Israeli government said hostages would be released on Monday, local time, while US President Donald Trump has said the hostage release could take place on Monday or Tuesday, because of the difficulty of recovering some of the captives.
Hamas said it had not agreed to the final list of names.
However, the Israeli list indicates who — and who will not — be released as part of the deal.
The list
On the public list, a raft of offences are detailed next to each prisoner’s name.
Many included charges of murder or attempted murder, with other acts such as bomb making, kidnapping, or planting an explosive device noted.
Many of the prisoners are serving life sentences for involvement in the murder of Israelis during the past four decades.
Some prisoners on the list have maintained they are innocent of crimes they have been convicted of.
The list includes not only individuals associated with Hamas, but also Fatah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Among them is Maher al-Hashlamoun, listed under his full name and affiliated with Islamic Jihad.
Hashlamoun is serving life sentences for the 2014 murder of Dalia Lemkus, 26, and for the attempted murder of two other people.
A last-minute petition by Choose Life Forum, a group of bereaved family members whose loved ones are victims of terrorist attacks, was rejected by an Israeli Court.
High-profile figure excluded
The list does not include some chiefs Hamas has demanded, including popular Fatah figure Marwan Barghouti.
Barghouti has repeatedly been likened to a Palestinian “Nelson Mandela” and last year The Economist described Barghouti as “the world’s most important prisoner”.
Barghouti was a political leader during the Second Intifada, the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in 2000, and survived multiple assassination attempts.
However, Israeli authorities accused him of orchestrating attacks between December 2000 and April 2002, including suicide bombings on Israeli soil.
They allege he had coordinated and authorised these attacks through the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a coalition of armed groups that emerged during the Second Intifada.
Israeli authorities also alleged Barghouti had founded and led the Brigades.
He denied all of the claims but has been imprisoned ever since.
Despite that, polling by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) consistently puts Barghouti as the most popular candidate for president of the Palestinian Authority.
The Israeli government has also said it will not be returning the bodies of Hamas leaders Yahya and Mohammad Sinwar.
here are more than 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli detention, according to data provided by the Israel Prison Service, 87 per cent of whom have never been charged or convicted.
Preparations for hostage return
There are still 48 Israeli hostages in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Hamas has indicated that recovering the bodies of the dead may take longer than releasing those who are alive.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the planned hostage release, saying families would “finally get to be with their loved ones”.
“The government has just now approved the framework for the release of all of the hostages — the living and the deceased,” Mr Netanyahu’s English-language X account said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops had begun positioning themselves along “updated deployment lines,” which would allow the release of Israeli hostages.
Mr Netanyahu said Israeli forces will remain in Gaza to pressure Hamas until it disarms.
More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza, launched after Hamas-led militants stormed through Israeli towns and a music festival on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages.
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Donald Trump deserves credit for stopping the war on Gaza, but his key claim is overblown
ABC | John Lyons | 11 October 2025
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-11/donald-trump-gaza-ceasefire-plan-lyons-analysis/105880080
Finally, the hostages are set to be released and the bombs are expected to stop.
If all goes to plan, US President Donald Trump will deserve credit for ending the horrible war in Gaza.
In the coming days, the 48 remaining hostages in Gaza should be returned to Israel — 20 believed to still be alive.
And Israel’s bombing of Gaza is set to stop — a huge relief for a traumatised Palestinian population trapped inside the tiny strip of land that has become a modern hellhole.
UNICEF recently estimated that, since the war began two years ago, on average 28 children a day have been killed in Gaza. That’s the equivalent of a classroom of children a day killed.
Trump has used the power of his office to strong-arm both Israel and, indirectly through Qatar, Hamas. Because of that use of power, another classroom of children should not be killed by this war tomorrow.
Critics of Trump will argue that he should have put pressure on Israel when he returned to office in January to stop such widespread killing of civilians.
No reasonable person would dispute Israel’s right to respond after Hamas’s atrocities of October 7, 2023 — but such large-scale killing of civilians by Israel was something the newly returned president could have stopped, critics argue.
Israel argues that the killing of civilians was unavoidable as Hamas embeds itself in civilian targets, and to ensure that Hamas never again had the capability to commit the sort of attack they did on October 7, the deaths of these civilians were inevitable.
There’s some truth to the argument that Hamas sometimes embeds itself in civilian targets, but there’s also truth to the notion that no country in the world is better at targeted assassinations than Israel.
If Israel had wanted to, it could have more strategically targeted Hamas officials and fighters, sparing classroom after classroom of babies and children being blown up.
Allowing ‘indiscriminate bombing’
Israel has essentially made Gaza unliveable for its 2.1 million residents.
At various times through the war, UNICEF’s James Elder has provided excellent eyewitness accounts of the catastrophe that has become Gaza.
He recently noted that one location in Gaza, Al Mawasi, “now one of the most densely populated places on earth, is grotesquely overcrowded and stripped of the essentials of survival”.
Elder reported that 85 per cent of families there live within 10 metres of open sewage, animal waste, piles of garbage, stagnant water or rodent infestations.
The reality is that for the nine months Trump has been back in office, he has allowed Israel to kill those “classrooms of children” with American bombs.
But at least he has now used the power of the Oval Office to stop the killing.
In contrast, his predecessor, Joe Biden, will probably be judged by history very harshly when it comes to Gaza.
Trump has shown how weak Biden was on Gaza. As president, Biden made clear he thought the Israeli bombing of Gaza was way more intensive than required.
At one point during this war, Biden said Israel was engaging in “indiscriminate bombing”. This in itself was extraordinary. A president of the United States was saying that Israel’s bombing of one of the most crowded places on earth was “indiscriminate”.
Yet so ineffective was Biden that, despite coming to this conclusion, he continued to supply Israel with the bombs that were being used for that “indiscriminate bombing”.
When analysing Trump’s role in presenting the 20-point plan that has led to the ceasefire, it’s worth noting that this war could have continued for many more months, if not longer.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had planned for a long war.
He has been kept in the prime ministership by a far-right group that could have withdrawn its support at any point and brought him down. That group has wanted the war to continue, to “finish the job” and see a mass exodus of Palestinians from Gaza.
Patterns of violence
While Trump undoubtedly deserves credit for stopping the fighting, this ceasefire plan is far from a longer-term resolution.
His boast that he’s been able to do something that no-one else has been able to do in 3,000 years — to “bring peace to the Middle East” — is a gross exaggeration.
This is not what he’s done. Rather, in the tragic arc of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Trump has, at best, closed the latest — and most violent — chapter.
There are certain patterns to this 80-year-old conflict.
It has been, essentially, a forever war punctuated by periods of relative calm. And then the violence restarts.
It would also be naive to regard this deal as “the end of Hamas”. As much as it is an organisation, Hamas is an idea and an ideology.
In the West, it is branded as a terrorist organisation. In the Arab and Muslim world, it’s seen by many as “a resistance movement”.
In Hamas’s view of the world, that resistance is against Israel in general.
Hamas’s ideology, while it will live on in different forms, can only lead to more disaster.
Israel is there to stay. It’s not going anywhere.
Two opponents to two states
In 1947, the world — via the United Nations — voted for the formation of two new countries in the area known as the British Mandate — a Jewish state and an Arab state.
Australia led that move for two states. When people refer to a “two-state solution”, that’s what they’re referring to — the UN vote where the majority of the world voted to support two states in what was disputed land.
And the vast majority of the international community still supports two states. At the United Nations last month Australia formally recognised a Palestinian state, placing it among more than 150 countries to have done so.
Reaching a two-state solution will not be easy. But if it is going to happen, now is the time for the international community — particularly the US under Trump — to push for it.
Until now, the two entities most opposed to a two-state solution have been Hamas and the Netanyahu government.
This alone should tell the world everything about the Netanyahu government — that it shares with Hamas an implacable opposition to a Palestinian state.
For the Netanyahu government, a Palestinian state would mean having to give up control of sections of the Occupied Palestinian Territories that Israel currently controls through its army bases and settlements in the West Bank.
For Hamas, a Palestinian state through a two-state solution would mean implicitly accepting the legitimacy of Israel.
A historic opportunity
There are several reasons this could be a historic opportunity to finally achieve a real peace in the Middle East — rather than just a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange.
Firstly, Hamas is weak. While its ideology may live on with some, Hamas’s military capability is largely degraded.
And if the bombs do stop falling in Gaza, the residents now face a medium-term future of living in rubble.
Some in Gaza will blame Israel for that. Some will blame Hamas — although those who do blame Hamas will most likely be afraid to voice that anger too loudly.
But blame will not help the futures of those surviving classrooms of children.
What needs to happen is a real, long-term peace underpinned by an open economy and security.
To achieve that, the international community, and Palestinians, would need to do everything they can to marginalise any remaining Hamas influence and try to ensure that never again is Hamas, or any replacement, able to commit the sort of atrocities committed on October 7.
And on the other side, the international community, along with the US, would need to pressure Israel into finally agreeing to a Palestinian state.
This will not be easy. People often attribute the Israeli government’s opposition to a two-state solution to Netanyahu.
But it is much deeper than that.
There’s a reason Netanyahu has been elected three times and is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. Israelis support his opposition to a Palestinian state.
Herein lies the crunch: this puts modern Israel on a collision course with the over 150 countries that believe a two-state solution is the only way to end the cycle of violence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Heads in the sand
Getting Israel to change its view and to come into line with majority international opinion will be difficult. I know from my six years living in Israel that resolutions at the UN recognising Palestine will not alone change the view of Israelis.
Israelis make clear that the only thing that would force their government to agree to a two-state solution would be economic sanctions by the international community.
Israelis and their lobby groups around the world dread the prospect of what happened to apartheid South Africa — the imposition of economic, sporting, technology and cultural sanctions.
Many prefer not to think about what some call “the Palestinian problem”. Many have a head-in-the-sand attitude: that the military occupation over the West Bank can continue forever, and that by Israel building more and more settlements in the West Bank, somehow the problem will go away.
But with high Palestinian birth rates in the West Bank and Gaza, the demographic reality is that while Israel is supporting the spread of Jewish settlements — widely regarded as illegal under international law — the Israeli army has ultimate control over a growing number of Palestinians.
That is the reality of an occupation: a country ruling with its army over another population.
Asked this week his view on a two-state solution, Trump replied: “I don’t have a view.”
The president has long spoken of his belief that he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Should he end the eight-decade Israeli-Palestinian conflict and bring about a two-state solution — rather than just a hostage deal and a fragile ceasefire — he could become a serious candidate.
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Agencies prepare to bring aid to starving people in Gaza as ceasefire appears to hold
Unicef says ‘humanitarian crisis continues’ and expects to scale up aid deliveries on Sunday
The Guardian | Oliver Holmes | 12 October 2025
Aid agencies are preparing to bring large amounts of vital aid to starving people in Gaza this weekend, as a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas appeared to be holding.
“We have received signals that tomorrow will be the day that the scale-up [in aid deliveries] begins in earnest under the ceasefire,” said Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for the UN agency for children, Unicef.
“The stakes are really high,” said Ingram, speaking by phone from Gaza. “Even though we have a ceasefire – which means the bombardment stops – the humanitarian crisis continues. We still have a famine to fight and diseases are spreading, so we really need that scale-up to happen quickly and efficiently.”
Ingram said Unicef was calling for all crossings from Israel into Gaza to be reopened, so that trucks were able to move through quickly “without delays or impediments”.
Another UN aid agency, Unrwa, said it had enough stored food to feed every Palestinian in Gaza for three months. Its communications director, Juliette Touma, said on Saturday that the distribution of aid was “absolutely critical in controlling the spread of famine”.
Tens of thousands of tonnes of supplies are positioned in neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Egypt. Under the terms of the first phase of the deal, aid is meant to surge into Gaza, and humanitarian groups are preparing to send in about 600 truckloads of food and medical supplies a day.
During the war, Israel shut down entry and exit routes, largely blocking off food and medicine, which in turn caused a famine in large parts of Gaza.
Aid agencies are hoping Israel will now stick to Trump’s 20-point plan, which said the entry and distribution of aid in the Gaza Strip should “proceed without interference”.
On Saturday, the Italian defence minister said the Rafah crossing, a crucial movement point between Gaza and Egypt for aid trucks but also people, will reopen on Tuesday. Israel took control of the border post last year.
Rafah “will be opened alternately in two directions: exit towards Egypt and entry towards Gaza”, Guido Crosetto said.
With the UN returning to a lead role in humanitarian assistance, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US- and Israeli-backed private contractor scheme, appeared to be winding down. The programme was widely condemned as it forced people towards food distribution sites where they were shot in large numbers by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). One UN official called it a “sadistic death trap”.
The truce is hoped to halt the famine, bring the release of hundreds of detained people and end daily Israeli bombings that often wiped out whole families. On Friday, tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza began to return to the ruins of their homes after the Israeli troops withdrew to new, agreed-upon positions. According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, more than 500,000 people have returned to Gaza City since the ceasefire.
Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, was in Gaza early Saturday to observe the Israeli military redeployment, Israeli Army Radio reported, citing a security source.
Still, there are concerns that the deal could break down unless pressure is kept up.
Previous ceasefires have failed, and an Israeli attack on Lebanon early on Saturday led to fears of fresh violence during a tense period. The pre-dawn airstrikes struck a building that sold construction vehicles and killed one person and wounded seven others, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Israel’s military claimed it had struck a place where machinery was stored to be used to rebuild infrastructure for the militant group Hezbollah.
The US-led agreement reached this week aims to end the current war in stages, delaying big issues such as the disarmament of Hamas and a clause that commits Israel to “not occupy” Gaza.
According to the agreement, Hamas is obliged to release all Israeli hostages from Gaza within 72 hours of the ceasefire starting, meaning Monday morning. Israel will free 250 Palestinians serving long sentences in its prisons and 1,700 other Palestinians captured during the war and held without charge.
Israel’s prison service said on Saturday it had begun transferring prisoners from several detention facilities to two jails ahead of their release.
A list published by the Israeli government’s official website on Friday excluded the names of several high-profile Palestinian prisoners, including the popular politician Marwan Barghouti.
Supporters of the 66-year-old say Israel fears his ability to force effective change and unify Palestinians, many of whom see him as a Nelson Mandela-style figure.
Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official, told the Al Jazeera TV network that the group insists on the release of Barghouti and other high-profile figures and that it was in discussions with mediators.
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International journalists urge Israel to allow reporters into Gaza after ceasefire deal
Foreign Press Association joins long list of global media agencies demanding press freedom in devastated territory
The Guardian | Joseph Gedeon | 11 October 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/oct/11/international-journalists-gaza-israel-press-freedom
International journalists in Israel have called for reporters to be granted immediate access to Gaza after the rapidly negotiated ceasefire came into effect, joining a long list of international media organizations demanding press freedom in the devastated territory.
In a statement released on Friday, the Foreign Press Association (FPA) urged Israel to “immediately open the borders and allow international media free and independent access to the Gaza Strip” now that hostilities have ceased. The organization also noted that the supreme court is expected to hear arguments on 23 October, “after more than a year in which the state has been allowed to delay its response”.
Since 7 October 2023, Israel has prevented international journalists from entering Gaza and reporting on the war, with the few allowed in under strict military supervision on guided tours arranged by the Israel Defense Forces.
The international media has relied on Palestinian journalists and media workers in Gaza, and contact with individual Palestinian civilians, aid agency staff and medical workers. But Palestinian journalists and media workers are the most at risk in the world, with 197 killed by Israeli attacks in the past two years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Among those most recently killed were Mariam Dagga, who worked for the Associated Press and Independent Arabia and was killed in an Israeli strike on Nasser hospital in Khan Younis on 25 August, and Reuters journalist Hussam al-Masri, who was killed in the same attack.
Israel carried out 25 targeted killings of journalists in that period, the CPJ said, describing them as murders.
Israel has consistently denied that it deliberately targeted journalists in its strikes, but its military has also acknowledged killing reporters, including Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif, who the IDF described, without evidence as “the head of a terrorist cell”.
A UN rapporteur on Friday said an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon on 13 October 2023 that killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded six others, including two AFP journalists, was a war crime. Morris Tidball-Binz, a UN special rapporteur, described it as “a premeditated, targeted and double-tapped attack” that violated international humanitarian law.
The FPA joined numerous international organizations that have demanded press access throughout the years of war. In July 2025, major news agencies including AFP, AP, BBC and Reuters released a joint statement emphasizing the importance of international media access for accurate reporting, and the July prior CPJ and more than 70 media and civil society organizations urged Israel to grant independent access to international journalists.
In February 2024, more than 30 news organizations, including the Guardian, signed a letter demanding protection for Gaza journalists.
This week, the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) posted a statement calling for Israel to release detained American reporter Emily Wilder, who had been on a flotilla for media workers, healthcare workers and human rights defenders called Conscience traveling into Gaza.
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