Gazans don’t want a babysitter. They want self-rule. – Not a Ceasefire Day 40

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Gazans don’t want a babysitter. They want self-rule. – Not a Ceasefire Day 40
Smoke billows over residential areas in eastern Gaza after Israeli forces carried out new strikes near the “Yellow Line,” in spite of a cease-fire, in Gaza City, Gaza on November 18, 2025. (Hamza Z. H. Qraiqea – 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 773rd day.)

Seven deaths – including two recovered bodies – have been reported in the past 48 hours, while 33 people were hospitalized for injuries.

Since the “ceasefire” began on October 11, Israel has killed at least 280 and injured 672. Death toll figures are tentative.

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

At least 13 people were killed Tuesday in an Israeli air strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

GAZA NEWS:

(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.) 

Shelter crisis in Gaza due to Israel’s ban on tents

Gaza officials warn of a full shelter collapse as winter hits displaced families.

Gaza’s Government Media Office says Israel’s blockade of basic shelter supplies has triggered a catastrophic breakdown in shelter conditions as the first winter storm flooded tens of thousands of tents across the Strip.

More than 288,000 families are living without the minimum requirements for survival.

Officials say Gaza needs 300,000 tents and mobile homes, yet Israel continues to block all major crossings, delay the ceasefire terms, and refuse to implement the humanitarian protocol it signed.

Shelter supplies still banned: tents, tarps, waterproof sheeting, heating devices, thermal insulation, flooring, blankets, sanitation units, and basic power sources.  

What this is causing: Entire encampments turned into mud, children and elderly exposed to cold, and no safe shelter anywhere. Gaza authorities say this is a deliberate deepening of the humanitarian disaster — “new forms of genocide” through deprivation and exposure.

GAZA HEADLINES: 

Hamas popularity surges in Gaza amid improved security: Poll

UN RESOLUTION ON GAZA

One of the oddest UN resolutions in history seeks to solidify shaky Gaza ceasefire into an enduring peace

The resolution passed by the UN security council on Tuesday evening, aimed at turning the precarious Gaza ceasefire into a real peace plan, is one of the oddest in United Nations history.

It puts Donald Trump in supreme control of Gaza, perhaps with Tony Blair as his immediate subordinate in a “board of peace”, which will oversee multinational peacekeeping troops, a committee of Palestinian technocrats and a local police force, for a period of two years.

No one knows who else will be on the “board of peace” – only that it will, as Trump declared on social media, “be chaired by me, and include the most powerful and respected Leaders throughout the World”.

The board will report to the security council but will not be subordinate to the UN, or subject to past UN resolutions (continue reading here; read the resolution in full here).

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Palestinian resistance* rejects UNSC approval of US plan for Gaza

“Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation,” Hamas said in a statement.

“The resolution imposes an international guardianship mechanism on the Gaza Strip, which our people and their factions reject. It also imposes a mechanism to achieve the occupation’s objectives, which it failed to accomplish through its brutal genocide.”

It also reaffirmed its legal right to resist occupation by “all means*.”

*NOTE: In reality, international law supports the efforts of resistance groups against an occupying power, the UN extending that right to the point of armed resistance. The use of the word “terrorist” for a group that resists occupation and oppression is a political, not fact-based choice.

On October 7th, Hamas was exercising – albeit imperfectly – its internationally recognized right to resist the oppressor and occupier of its people. Hamas fighters attacked Israel after years of oppression and many nonviolent attempts to call attention to the issue. The UN has passed hundreds of resolutions demanding justice – to no avail.

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Palestinians in Gaza reject UN Security Council approval of Trump’s plan: It’s a ‘new occupation’

Hamas rejected and condemned the resolution, asserting that it does not satisfy the rights of the Palestinian people and imposes an international system of “guardianship” over Gaza, something the Palestinian people and Palestinian factions reject.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad also rejected the resolution, saying it amounts to a new Western “mandate” over Palestine.

In Gaza, local reactions to the UN vote varied, but very few viewed the development as hopeful (continue reading here).

RELATED: A Mandate for Force: What the UNSC’s Gaza Resolution Means in Practice

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The UN Resolution Is So Vague on Palestinian Statehood That Even Netanyahu Didn’t Care

The resolution includes the deployment of an International Stabilization Force in Gaza, helping secure Gaza’s borders and protecting humanitarian operations; the establishment of a “Board of Peace” to temporarily govern Gaza; eventually, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”

This formulation – “a credible pathway to … statehood” – is so vague, that even Netanyahu, who considered the erasure of the Palestinian struggle to be his life’s work, was not moved by it. Even when U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz presented the proposal as charting “a possible pathway for Palestinian self-determination, after the Palestinian Authority has completed the necessary reforms,” no Israeli cabinet member was shaken (continue reading here).

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.)

Imran Ibrahim Imran al-Atrash, 18, and Walid Mohammad Khalil Sabarna, 18, killed by Israeli forces on Nov. 18, 2025
Imran Ibrahim Imran al-Atrash, 18, and Walid Mohammad Khalil Sabarna, 18, killed by Israeli forces on Nov. 18, 2025 (IMEMC)

Two Palestinians, One Israeli, Killed Near Gush Etzion

Two Palestinians were shot and killed by on Tuesday evening near the Gush Etzion colonialist bloc south of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, following a what Israel said “a ramming and stabbing attack” that left one Israeli dead and three others wounded.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the Palestinians as Imran Ibrahim Imran al-Atrash, 18, from Hebron, and Walid Mohammad Khalil Sabarna, 18, from Beit Umar, north of the city, in the southern West Bank. 

After the incident, Israeli soldiers invaded and ransacked the family of home Walid Sabarana, interrogated and assaulted his family, before forcing them out of their property and welding it doors shut.

The incident near Etzion comes after a wave of serious violations carried out by Israeli colonizers against the Palestinians, their homes, lands and property and their holy sites.

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Israeli forces injure protesters, including child, and journalist near Nur Shams refugee camp

The families of the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem have now been displaced for almost a year, and were protesting to be allowed back home. Journalists were covering the protest, when Israeli forces shot a 12-year-old child and a journalist; they detained a second journalist.

The Israeli army has renewed the closure of the camp and has barred anyone from entering it and reclaiming their properties.

Fadi Yassin, the Al Jazeera cameraperson wounded by Israeli forces, says he will “hopefully be OK…A soldier was shooting in the air. He then aimed for my legs. The bullet entered my left leg and exited my right.”

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WEST BANK HEADLINES:

Israeli settlers torch homes and fields in fresh West Bank attack

Tuesday: Israeli Invasions, Abductions In West Bank

Israeli army harrass Palestinians, in the Nur Shams Camp in the city of in Tulkarm, West Bank on November 18, 2025.
Israeli army harrass Palestinians, in the Nur Shams Camp in the city of in Tulkarm, West Bank on November 18, 2025. (Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency)

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 army shells Syria’s Quneitra in new violation of country’s sovereignty

ISRAEL HEADLINES:

Israeli attack on Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon kills at least 13

Israel unveils new settlement expansion plan near Egyptian border: Report

Israel’s Elbit Systems reports record profits on the back of Gaza genocide

Israel kills two more people in south Lebanon

Pro-Israel JNS: Saudi Arabia ‘should get top of the line’ F-35s as Israel does, Trump says at meeting with MBS

Trump with Netanyahu before departing Israel in October.
Trump with Netanyahu before departing Israel in October. ( Photo: Chip Somodevilla)

NEWS & 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.)

Israeli Security Officials: West Bank* ‘On Brink of Explosion’

Senior Israeli security officials warn that the erosion of the military’s authority in the West Bank – under pressure from far-right ministers and coalition lawmakers – is creating a volatile security situation that could erupt at any time.

“There is no one today dealing with the West Bank,” a security source told Haaretz. “Everyone understands we are on the verge of an explosion. But no one will stand up and speak.”

“Commanders on the ground are genuinely afraid to raise problems or enforce the law,” the source added, “Because they immediately become targets for extremists who enjoy backing from ministers and Knesset members” (continue reading here).

*NOTE: Why are Israeli officials interested in the West Bank? Israel has illegally built around 280 settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are home to more than 700,000 illegal settlers. Some settler groups have a history of violence against Palestinians, often with the assistance of Israeli military forces (a phenomenon that has grown significantly worse since October 7th, 2023).

In a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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HEADLINES FROM ISRAELI MEDIA:

Israel Bars U.S. Physicians From Entering West Bank and Treating Palestinian Patients

Knesset Debates Bill Imposing Death Penalty for Terrorists ‘Within 90 Days, Without Appeal’

Israel’s Greatest Disaster Is Now a Conspiracy, and Its Key Suspects Are Heading the Oct. 7 Probe

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives on the scene after an armed attack at the Ramot Junction at the entrance to East Jerusalem on September 8, 2025.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives on the scene after an armed attack at the Ramot Junction at the entrance to East Jerusalem on September 8, 2025. (Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency)

OTHER NEWS & HEADLINES:

Saudi Arabia says it will not normalize relations with Israel until there is a path to Palestinian statehood

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Tuesday, “We want to be part of the Abraham Accords*. But we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path of two-state solution,” the Saudi prince told US President Donald Trump during their meeting in the Oval Office.

Pressed by Trump, who said that his guest had a “very good feeling” for the Abraham Accords, the prince said: “We want peace for the Israelis. We want peace for the Palestinians. We want them to coexist peacefully in the region, and we will do our best to reach that date.”

*NOTE: Read about the Abraham Accords here.

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Is a ‘post-Israel’ GOP on the horizon? Breaking down the battle over Israel on the U.S. Right

Trump says Saudi F-35s will be ‘top of the line’ despite Israeli objections

Polish company accused of supplying explosives for Israel’s war on Gaza

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

Israel tries Al-Aqsa imam Ekrima Sabri over alleged ‘incitement’

Death Sentence for Palestinians in Custody

UN Security Council adopts resolution establishing Gaza Board of Peace, stabilization force

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