A 20-year Memorandum of Understanding? – Not a Ceasefire Day 36

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A 20-year Memorandum of Understanding? – Not a Ceasefire Day 36
Relatives of the two Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks, mourn as the bodies are brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza on November 10, 2025. (Abdallah F.s. Alattar – Anadolu Agency)

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

(While a “ceasefire” is ostensibly in place, Israel has continued its assault on Gaza without interruption. If Americans Knew considers the war to be ongoing, and in its 769th day.)

Since the “ceasefire” began on October 11, Israel has killed at least 260 and injured 632. Death toll figures are tentative.

Israel has so far violated the 11 October ceasefire deal in Gaza at least 282 times.

Additional statistics below.

GAZA NEWS & HEADLINES:

(For some basic info on the Palestine-Israel conflict, go here. For more critical context, skim this, this, and this. To read about a remarkable but underreported, 20-month-long peaceful protest in Gaza against Israel, go here.) 

More than 900,000 displaced Palestinians at risk of flooding ahead of flash floods

More than 900,000 displaced Palestinians are at risk of flooding in southern Gaza as a severe weather system approaches, amid worsening humanitarian conditions and widespread destruction from Israel’s two-year war, municipal authorities have warned.

The approaching storm “is dangerous and threatens to flood thousands of tents along the coastline and damage large areas inside the city”, Saeb Lakkan, a spokesman for the Khan Younis Municipality, said, citing collapsed sewage networks and rainwater retention ponds filled to levels that pose a threat to residents.

The Palestinian Meteorological Department has warned of possible flash floods on Friday and Saturday in valleys and low-lying areas.

A view of tent city where displaced Palestinians live amid continuing Israeli attacks, in Gaza City, Gaza on September 02, 2025.
A view of tent city where displaced Palestinians live amid continuing Israeli attacks, in Gaza City, Gaza on September 02, 2025. (Hassan Jedi – Anadolu Agency)

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Israel keeps Zikim crossing closed despite announcing its reopening for aid trucks

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, says despite announcing the reopening of the Zikim crossing for aid trucks, Israel has kept it closed, and no trucks have been allowed through.

He says the situation underscores a “misleading” Israeli narrative suggesting conditions in Gaza are improving, while the reality on the ground remains dire.

While commercial goods have been trickling into the Strip, essential supplies, including medicines and food at scale, remain largely absent from the market.

The tents housing displaced people are not prepared to withstand these weather conditions as winter approaches.

Since the Israeli military has blocked the entry of mobile homes and better tents, people must rely on recycled materials. In addition, there are not enough blankets or fuel to help people stay warm.

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GAZA HEADLINES:

Gaza girl shares story of being found alive in morgue after Israeli attack

Israel destroyed 90% of Gaza’s vegetation: Khan Younis mayor

 

OCCUPIED WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM NEWS & HEADLINES:

(Every day, Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem endure dozens of incidents like the ones below, at the hands of Israeli soldiers and/or settlers. For background on the West Bank, read this and this. For information on the significance of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, read this and this.)

Bilal Baha’ Ali Sabarna, 16, and Mohammad Mahmoud Abu Ayyash, 15, killed by Israeli forces Nov. 13, 2025
Bilal Baha’ Ali Sabarna, 16, and Mohammad Mahmoud Abu Ayyash, 15, killed by Israeli forces Nov. 13, 2025 (IMEMC)

Israeli Forces Kill Two Youths Near Hebron

Israeli forces killed two Palestinian teens on Thursday afternoon, in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron in the southern part of the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the slain children as Bilal Baha’ Ali Sabarna, 16, and Mohammad Mahmoud Abu Ayyash, 15, and stated that the occupation forces confiscated their bodies, taking them to an unknown location.

Israeli sources claimed that “soldiers from Battalion 636 ambushed and killed two Palestinians after they approached the forces carrying Molotov cocktails” adding that there were no injuries among the soldiers.

The army claimed the two children were “on their way to carry out a terror attack” near the illegal “Karmei Tzur” colony, built on Palestinian lands south of Beit Ummar.

Since the beginning of the year, Israeli forces and colonizers have killed 238 Palestinian citizens in the occupied West Bank, including 48 children and 7 women.

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Israeli settlers set fire to mosque near West Bank’s Salfit: Report

A group of Israeli settlers have vandalized a mosque near the town of Salfit in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

Quoting a local activist, the agency reports that Israeli settlers poured flammable material at the entrance of the mosque and wrote racial slurs on its walls. The report said residents helped put the fire out before it spread through the mosque.

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WEST BANK HEADLINES:

Israeli forces carry out mass arrest campaign across West Bank, detaining 40

West Bank Israeli Violations and Abductions, Thursday Dawn

Israeli Colonizers Destroy Greenhouse, Water Well In Bethlehem

Israeli Colonizers Sabotage Infrastructure in Jordan Valley

Israeli Forces Demolish A Home Near Nablus

Israeli Forces Demolish Vehicle Showroom Near Jenin

Soldiers Assault Farmers, Expel Them from Their Land in Bethlehem

Occupation Forces Shoot Three Palestinians Near Jerusalem

NEWS & HEADLINES ABOUT ISRAEL:

(Israel is a tiny country, about the size of New Jersey, with a population smaller than the US state of Georgia – about 10 million (of which about 20 percent are Palestinians), yet it is in the news constantly. As has been demonstrated again and again, however, mainstream media rarely covers Israel accurately. IAK passes along only factual reporting.)

Israeli airstrikes hit southern Lebanese towns as ceasefire violations persist

Tanks and armored vehicles belonging to the Israeli army are seen mobilizing near the Gaza border, as Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip continue without pause, on September 15, 2025.
Tanks and armored vehicles belonging to the Israeli army are seen mobilizing near the Gaza border, as Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip continue without pause, on September 15, 2025. ([Tsafrir Abayov – Anadolu Agency])

HEADLINES FROM ISRAELI MEDIA:

(Get a glimpse inside this country that is rife with turmoil and contradictions that receives $63 million a day from American taxpayers. Israeli media sometimes tells the truth about itself, but often publishes myths and lies as facts.)

Group buys Arab buildings in Hebron to return Jews to city center

IDF receives deceased hostage retrieved from Gaza

OTHER NEWS & HEADLINES:

Israel seeks 20-year military aid deal with U.S. with “America First” tweaks

Israel is seeking a new 20-year security agreement with the U.S. — doubling the usual term and adding “America First” provisions to win the Trump administration’s support, Israeli and U.S. officials tell Axios.

While the past agreement promised Israel around $4 billion per year in military aid, and Israel is likely to seek at least that much going forward, passing such a deal will now be more complicated because of growing frustrations with Israel, including within Trump’s MAGA base.

The current 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed in 2016 under Barack Obama, expires in 2028. Israel wants to conclude the new deal over the next year (continue reading here).

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House, July 7, 2025.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House, July 7, 2025. (Daniel Torok/White House)

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Trump wants to recreate the British mandate in Palestine

The Trump administration is pushing an Israeli-crafted resolution at the UN Security Council (UNSC) this week aimed at eliminating the possibility of a State of Palestine.

The resolution does three things. It establishes US political control over the Gaza Strip. It separates Gaza from the rest of Palestine. And it allows the US, and therefore Israel, to determine the timeline for Israel’s supposed withdrawal from Gaza, which would mean never.

This is imperialism masquerading as a peace process. In and of itself, it is no surprise. Israel runs US foreign policy in the Middle East. What is a surprise is that the US and Israel might just get away with this travesty unless the world speaks up with urgency and indignation (continue reading here).

 

US intel revealed Israeli officials discussing use of Palestinians as human shields* in Gaza, sources say

The U.S. gathered intelligence last year of Israeli officials discussing how their soldiers had sent Palestinians into Gaza tunnels the Israelis believed were potentially lined with explosives, according to two former U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

International law prohibits the use of civilians as shields during military activity.

Officials inside the Biden administration had long raised concerns about news reports that indicated Israeli soldiers were using Palestinians to potentially protect themselves in Gaza. Washington’s collection of its own evidence on the subject has not been previously reported (continue reading here).

*NOTE: Israel’s use of Palestinians as human shields has been widely reported for many months, for example: the Guardian, Al Jazeera, and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Years earlier, reports were filed by the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International; Defense for Children International also revealed the Israeli military’s use of a child as a human shield.

As far back as 2005, the Israeli supreme court ruled that the use of the human shield procedure in raids is illegal and a violation of international law – this ruling followed at least 1,200 incidents in the previous five years. Clearly, the practice has become widespread again.

According to EuroMed Human Rights Monitor, the Israeli army’s use of Palestinian civilians as human shields has been documented on a large scale
According to a report by EuroMed Human Rights Monitor, the Israeli army’s use of Palestinian civilians as human shields has been documented on a large scale. (EuroMed Monitor)

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Tenured professor sues U Kentucky for banning him from law school over comments on Israel*

Tenured law professor  Ramsi Woodcock sued the University of Kentucky on Thursday after he was banned from teaching and from the law school for comments he made about Israel, including characterizations of the state as a “colonization project” and calls for the world to wage war against it.

The lawsuit marks another chapter in the growing backlash against universities over their use of the so-called IHRA definition. Scores of faculty members at both private and public institutions have been placed under investigation – and in some cases fired or forced out – over criticisms of Israel characterized as antisemitic.

The suit is the first to be filed by a professor against a university that explicitly challenges the constitutionality of the IHRA definition and the application of federal Title VI anti-discrimination protections to criticism of Israel (continue reading here).

*NOTE: Pro-Israel organizations consistently work to silence Palestine advocacy on campus – a free speech violation. One strategy they use is to pressure universities to officially adopt the IHRA “definition” of antisemitism, which defines legitimate criticism of Israel as antisemitic. Other strategies include blocking prestigious appointments of and events with supporters of Palestinian rights, threatening to withhold major donations, and more.

Typically, any move by university administration that defies the standard pro-Israel position requires an apology like the one Sonoma State University’s president Mike Lee issued – an apology that recognizes only the sentiments of pro-Israel students and ignoring the actual issues of free speech and divestment from Israel.

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MORE HEADLINES:

Report: 25 countries supplied Israel with oil during Gaza war

Taiwanese FM says Israel offers ‘unmatched’ support

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT) – A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:

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