Five Israeli soldiers were injured on Saturday when Palestinian resistance fighters targeted an Israeli armored vehicle east of Gaza City.

According to Israeli media, at least five Israeli soldiers were injured, some of them critically.

Israeli media also reported fierce fighting between army forces and Palestinian militants in various locations in the northern Gaza Strip.

The occupation continues its violent artillery shelling of the eastern areas of Gaza City.

Israeli reports said on Saturday that the army is expanding its control in the northern Gaza Strip and around Gaza City. According to the reports, what it called "the army's ground advance" is being carried out "in preparation for a future maneuver in the heart of Gaza City, which includes a scenario of dividing the city in two."

Meanwhile, the source continued, "Bombings and destruction of buildings are taking place throughout the Strip," and that "the army is close to seizing control of approximately 40% of the territory in the Gaza Strip."

Israeli occupation forces attacked a number of citizens at Bab al-Jadid in occupied Jerusalem on Saturday, preventing dozens of families from reaching their homes in the Old City.

The occupation forces transformed occupied Jerusalem into a military barracks and deployed checkpoints around the Old City and the alleys leading to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, coinciding with the Christian churches' celebration of Holy Saturday, or "Holy Saturday."

Local sources reported that occupation forces obstructed worshippers' access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and detained them at checkpoints, including the Apostolic Nuncio to Jerusalem, the Vatican's representative to the State of Palestine, Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana.

Jerusalemite journalist and activist Rafi Ghattas said in a video recording from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre courtyard that the number of Israeli police officers deployed in and around the church courtyard exceeded the number of worshippers. He noted that the occupation forces imposed strict restrictions and prevented worshippers from reaching the church and its courtyard, which appeared unusually empty for such an occasion. They also assaulted the worshippers gathered inside the church.

The Israeli occupation has prevented thousands of Christian citizens from the West Bank from reaching occupied Jerusalem to participate in Holy Saturday. The occupation requires Palestinians, both Muslims and Christians, to obtain special permits to cross its military checkpoints surrounding the Holy City and access places of worship, particularly the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

For the second year in a row, a small number of pilgrims are participating in the Holy Week and Easter prayers in Jerusalem, due to the repercussions of the ongoing Israeli war of extermination and aggression against Palestine since October 7, 2023.

Churches have also cancelled all Easter celebrations and scouting parades, with the holiday being limited to masses, prayers, and religious rituals.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, All Palestine, and Jordan, Theophilos III, will lead a special prayer at the Holy Sepulchre inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre this afternoon to receive the Holy Fire, which will then be carried to various churches in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, and within the 1948 territories, in addition to churches outside Palestine.

It is worth noting that Easter, or "Resurrection Day," coincides this year according to both the Eastern and Western calendars.

The Israeli occupation's aggression on the city of Jenin and its camp has entered its 89th day, amidst bulldozing and burning of homes, and the conversion of others into military barracks.

This morning, Israeli occupation forces stormed a number of villages west of Jenin, deployed their vehicles in the streets, and took up positions in several neighborhoods.

Yesterday, Friday, Israeli occupation bulldozers destroyed the road connecting the town of Burqin and the village of Al-Manshiya, and also stormed the villages of Al-Kafir and Al-Hashimiya, west of Jenin.

Israeli occupation forces arrested a young man from the town of Yamoun while he was riding his motorcycle near the village of Nazlat Zaid, west of Jenin, before releasing him several hours later.

The occupation continues to send military reinforcements, accompanied by fuel tankers, from the Jalameh checkpoint to the outskirts of Jenin camp. This morning, occupation bulldozers placed earthen berms around the Tawalbeh Mosque, at the northern entrance to the camp, while drones continue to fly overhead.

According to Jenin Governor Kamal Abu al-Rab, there are 21,000 displaced people spread across the governorate. There are 6,000 in the city, 3,200 in the Arab American University dormitories, and 4,181 in Burqin.

Meetings are underway to secure temporary shelter for the displaced in the Wadi Burqin area, which will initially include 32 mobile homes, each accommodating five people, according to the Ministry of Public Works.

The Israeli occupation army continues its military training around the Jalameh military checkpoint, north of Jenin, where it occasionally fires live ammunition into the empty Jenin refugee camp.

The number of dead in Jenin Governorate since the start of the Israeli aggression on the city of Jenin and its camp 89 days ago has reached 38, in addition to dozens of injuries and arrests.

The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission announced that Israeli authorities prevented Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa from conducting a field tour of the villages of Ramallah and Nablus on Saturday.

According to the commission, the Palestinian Prime Minister's field tour was supposed to include the towns of Duma and Qusra in the Nablus governorate, and the towns of Burqa and Deir Dibwan in the Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate. The commission stated in a statement on its Facebook page that "this decision comes within the framework of the ongoing restrictions imposed by the occupation authorities on the movement of Palestinian officials in the occupied territories, which hinders the Palestinian government's efforts to monitor the situation on the ground in areas affected by Israeli violations."

The death toll from the Israeli occupation's aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, has risen to 51,157 dead and 116,724 wounded.

Medical sources reported that the death toll includes 1,783 dead and 4,683 wounded since March 18.

It said that 92 dead and 219 wounded arrived at hospitals in the Gaza Strip during the past 48 hours.

It explained that a number of martyrs remain under the rubble of destroyed homes and facilities, and on the roads, and that ambulances and specialist teams are unable to reach them due to limited resources.

According to medical sources, 41 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on various areas in the Gaza Strip since dawn today.

Local sources reported that an Israeli drone targeted a group of citizens on Hassanein Street in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood in eastern Gaza, killing three citizens and wounding others.

It added that a drone bombed a house on Yaffa Street in the Tuffah neighborhood, northeast of Gaza City, killing three civilians and wounding others.

Since dawn today, the occupation has continued its violent airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, as the "resumption of aggression" enters its 33rd day. The blockade of aid continues for the 46th day, resulting in more casualties, destruction, and displacement.

Medical sources in Gaza reported that violent airstrikes early Saturday morning killed 23 people and injured more than 20 children in Khan Yunis, as the city was targeted by a series of airstrikes. They also reported that Israeli artillery had resumed firing shells toward eastern Gaza City and western Rafah in the south, amid an escalation in the Israeli army's genocidal crimes, which mostly target children and women.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) described the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip for nearly seven weeks as the "most severe" since the start of the aggression on the Strip on October 7, 2023. In a report published on Friday, the agency explained that "420,000 citizens have been displaced again" throughout the Strip.

On the political front, and on the Israeli side, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced a "special address" for him this evening, Saturday. Israeli reports quoted a "senior official" as saying the address would address issues including Iran and prisoners in Gaza.

By Michael Beckley

Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has largely been expected to follow one of two foreign policy paths: preserve the country’s position as the leader of the liberal international order or withdraw and adjust to a post-American, multipolar world. But as I argued in Foreign Affairs in 2020, the most likely trajectory was always a third: become a rogue superpower, neither internationalist nor isolationist but aggressive, powerful, and increasingly out for itself.

U.S. President Donald Trump has given this vision sharp definition by raising tariffs to levels that echo the infamous Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930, slashing foreign aid, snubbing allies, and proposing to seize foreign territory, including Greenland and the Panama Canal. Yet Trump is more accelerant than architect, channeling long-simmering frustrations with global leadership and deeper structural forces pulling U.S. strategy inward. The real question now is not whether the United States will continue to go its own way but how—and to what end.

Understanding the drivers of this shift is no longer a matter of academic debate. It’s essential for shaping what comes next. Left unchecked, Washington’s unilateral turn could destabilize the world and undermine its own long-term power. But if recognized and redirected, these forces could form the foundation of a more focused and sustainable strategy; one that sheds the overreach of liberal hegemony without surrendering the core strengths of a liberal order.

WHY NOT GO IT ALONE?

One reason the United States is going rogue is because it can. Despite decades of declinist warnings, American power remains formidable. The country’s consumer market rivals the combined size of the markets in China and the eurozone. Half of global trade and nearly 90 percent of international financial transactions are conducted in dollars, funneled through U.S.-linked banks—giving Washington the power to impose crippling sanctions. Yet the United States has one of the least trade-dependent economies in the world: exports account for just 11 percent of GDP (a third of which go to Canada and Mexico) compared with the global average of 30 percent. U.S. firms supply half of global venture capital, dominate the production of life necessities such as energy and food, and generate more than half of global profits in high-tech industries, including semiconductors, aerospace, and biotechnology—nearly ten times China’s share. The United States relies on China for high-volume industrial inputs—base chemicals, generic drugs, rare earths, and low-end chips—but China is far more dependent on the United States and its allies for high-end technologies and food and energy security. Both sides would suffer in a rupture, but China’s losses would be harder to replace.

Top of Form

    Bottom of Form

Militarily, the United States is the only country that can fight major wars thousands of miles from its shores. Roughly 70 countries—accounting for a fifth of the world’s population and a third of its economic output—depend on U.S. protection through defense pacts and require U.S. intelligence and logistics to move their own forces beyond their borders. In a world so deeply dependent on the U.S. market and military, Washington has immense leverage to revise the rules—or abandon them altogether.

The United States has not only the means to strike out alone but also, increasingly, the motive. The American-led liberal order has outlived its original purpose, growing into a maze of burdens and vulnerabilities. It didn’t fail, but it triumphed over threats that no longer exist: the devastation of World War II and the spread of communism. By the early 1950s, the Soviet Union controlled nearly half of Eurasia and fielded double the military power of Western Europe. Communist parties, committed to abolishing private property, controlled a third of global industrial output and won up to 40 percent of the vote in major Western democracies. Under these circumstances, the threat to the American way of life was clear, as was the need to defend a capitalist order. That strategy worked. The West became prosperous and democratic, and the Soviet bloc collapsed. But success created new problems the old order couldn’t solve.

Many of the U.S. allies Washington helped protect, for instance, are today incapable of bearing major burdens. Sheltered by U.S. security guarantees, countries across western Europe—as well as Canada and Japan—have slashed defense spending, expanded welfare states, and grown deeply entangled with Chinese markets and Russian energy. Many U.S. allies struggle to secure their own peripheries, let alone uphold global stability. And when crises erupt, they still turn to Washington—to enforce freedom of navigation in the South China Sea in the face of Chinese aggression, to arm Ukraine against Russia, or to protect shipping from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. Countries that once anchored the liberal order have become dependents—draining U.S. power instead of reinforcing it.

Washington has immense leverage to revise the rules—or abandon them altogether.

Worse, by facilitating the integration of Russia and China into the liberal order, the United States empowered its most dangerous adversaries. Both regimes benefited from a U.S.-led alliance system that pacified their historical rivals in Germany and Japan, curbed nuclear proliferation, and secured global trade routes. With their flanks and supply lines relatively secure, they began redrawing the map of Eurasia by force: Russia through invasions of Georgia and Ukraine; China through militarized island building in the South China Sea, encroachments on India’s territory, and escalating threats against Taiwan.

They also gained access to Western markets, institutions, and networks—then exploited that access to hack, bully, and loot the system. Russia launders oligarchic wealth through Western banks, spreads disinformation, and weaponizes energy to fracture Europe. China shields its domestic market while flooding others with subsidized exports, spending ten times as much on industrial policy as the average for countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. China now dominates strategic manufacturing sectors such as shipbuilding, drones, electronics, and pharmaceuticals—and is weaponizing that dominance to coerce the United States and its allies by cutting rare-earth exports, threatening drug supply chains, swarming Taiwan with drones, and flooding Europe with underpriced electric vehicles. At home, Beijing censors foreign ideas; abroad, it exploits the open Internet to steal intellectual property, plant malware in Western infrastructure, and spread propaganda. It assumes leadership roles in institutions such as the UN Human Rights Council only to subvert the liberal norms they were built to uphold. What was once a cornerstone of U.S. strategy—openness—has become a Trojan horse.

Moreover, the liberal order has become harder to control. After World War II, Washington supported decolonization and integrated new countries into global markets and institutions, fueling globalization and the “rise of the rest” and doubling the number of sovereign states. But success came at a cost. As new players proliferated, authority fractured and veto points multiplied. Institutions that once amplified U.S. influence—including the UN, the World Trade Organization, and the World Bank—have devolved into arenas of gridlock and anti-American posturing.

At home, the consequences have been equally corrosive. Globalization fueled growth but hollowed out American industries and concentrated the gains. Between 2000 and 2020, U.S. industrial output (excluding semiconductors) fell nearly ten percent, and one in three factory jobs disappeared. Nearly all net job growth went to the richest 20 percent of zip codes, leaving much of the country behind. The social fallout has been staggering: rising disability claims, drug overdoses, and prime-age workers dropping out of the labor force at Great Depression–level numbers. Many wounded communities retain political clout thanks to an electoral system that amplifies rural voices over urban majorities. The result: a hard pivot away from liberal internationalism and toward protectionism and border controls.

THE GATHERING STORM

As I argued in 2020, two powerful trends—demographic change and burgeoning automation—are remaking the global landscape and reinforcing the drift toward American unilateralism. Rapid demographic change is weakening great powers in Eurasia and destabilizing swaths of the developing world. Meanwhile, new technologies are reducing the United States’ need for foreign labor, energy, and large military bases. The result is a growing asymmetry: mounting disorder and weakening allies on one side and rising U.S. self-sufficiency and strike-from-a-distance capabilities on the other. As that gap widens, Washington will face stronger temptations to go it alone.

Beginning with demography, the United States is the only great power whose prime-age workforce is projected to grow throughout this century. By 2050, the workforces of the major economies of Eurasia will lose around 200 million adults aged 25 to 49—the cohort that drives productivity, military recruitment, and economic growth—with declines of 25 to 40 percent in many countries. By 2100, the figure will exceed 300 million, with China alone projected to shed 74 percent of its prime-age workforce. The share of seniors will more than double in most countries by midcentury, pushing support ratios (the number of workers per retiree) to ruinous levels; China’s, for example, will fall from ten to one in 2000 to under two to one by 2050. Demographic decline is already shaving more than a percentage point in annual growth from major Eurasian economies, and debt-to-GDP ratios have ballooned above 250 percent on average. As other economies shrink and strain, the U.S. economy will become more central to global growth and its fiscal base and military manpower more robust in relative terms.

Yet the United States is unlikely to turn its demographic edge into a new era of liberal hegemony. Instead, demographic disruption is raising the risks to allied defenses by fueling a dangerous imbalance: autocratic rivals are militarizing despite population declines, while democratic allies are rearming slowly, constrained by aging electorates and mounting welfare obligations. As the Eurasian balance tilts toward the autocracies, the risks to U.S. defense commitments continue to rise.

This pattern is already visible. Russia, China, and North Korea are doing what struggling autocracies have long done: turning to the military to secure their regimes. When growth slows and unrest threatens, dictators funnel resources to the armed forces to suppress dissent, deter rivals, and ensure loyalty within the ranks. The Soviet Union followed this path in the 1970s and 1980s, doubling defense spending even as its economy and population stagnated. Today, Russia is doing the same—devoting eight percent of GDP to defense, slashing civilian budgets, and replacing battlefield losses in Ukraine at a rate of 25,000 to 30,000 troops per month. China, despite a collapsing workforce, is carrying out the largest peacetime military buildup since that of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. North Korea, although impoverished and aging, continues to pour resources into weapons and war.

Trump is tearing down the very system that has kept the peace for generations.

Meanwhile, democratic allies are struggling to keep pace. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and countries in Europe are rearming slowly, held back by shrinking tax bases and aging electorates that prioritize social spending over defense. Taiwan’s conscription pool is projected to halve by 2050. Japan, South Korea, and Ukraine are struggling to meet recruitment goals. British, French, and German forces have stagnated or declined. The result is a gathering storm: autocracies gearing up for conflict; democracies responding with too little, too late; and a United States increasingly unsure of whether defending distant allies is worth the mounting risks.

That growing U.S. aversion to foreign entanglements will deepen as the developing world slides further into demographic turmoil. Whereas rich countries are aging and shrinking, much of the global South is exploding in size. Africa alone will add over a billion people by 2050—mostly in countries already grappling with poverty, weak governance, and climate stress. Youth unemployment exceeds 30 percent in many of these states, and education systems are collapsing. Roughly half the countries in Africa are in debt distress, and one-quarter are in active conflict, with similar trends unfolding in the Middle East and South Asia. Surges in the youth population—hitting in states where capacity is weakest—are driving instability, extremism, and mass migration. As migrants flee for the Americas and Europe, they are fueling populist backlash and reinforcing the United States’ instinct to wall itself off.

Meanwhile, new technologies are making that instinct not just plausible but seductive. Drones, long-range bombers, cyberweapons, submarines, and precision missiles potentially allow the United States to strike targets across the globe while relying less on large, permanent overseas bases—which are increasingly vulnerable to adversaries armed with similar technologies. As a result, the U.S. military is shifting from a force geared to protect allies to one focused on punishing enemies by launching strikes from U.S. territory, deploying automated kill zones of drones and mines near adversaries’ borders, and sending nimble expeditionary units to hit high-value targets and slip away before taking casualties. The goal is no longer deterrence through presence—it’s destruction from a distance.

This same logic is reshaping the U.S. economy. Automation and AI are shrinking the demand for foreign labor. Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, and smart logistics are compressing supply chains and enabling reshoring. AI is replacing foreign call centers. With increasingly automated factories, cheap energy, and the world’s biggest consumer market, U.S. firms are coming home—not just for security but because it makes business sense. The United States’ reliance on the global economy won’t vanish, but it’s becoming narrower, more selective—and easier to sever when the next global crisis hits. A fortress economy is rising to match a fortress military. And together, they are making disengagement feel both safer and smarter.

This is why a rogue superpower is not a hypothetical—it’s the path of least resistance. The question is no longer whether the United States will go rogue but what kind of rogue it will become. Will it be a reckless, hypernationalist power that lashes out, cuts ties, and pursues limited gain at great long-term cost? Or can it channel its strength into a more strategic posture—one that sheds overreach but preserves the core of the liberal order among a tighter group of capable partners?

A FREE WORLD THAT WORKS

If life were just about money and the goal of foreign policy were to grab it as fast as possible, then Trump might be an ideal leader. By slapping tariffs on friends and foes alike, slashing foreign aid, proposing to seize strategic territory, and telling allies to fend for themselves, Trump’s approach might wring out some extra cash, at least for a while.

But economics isn’t the only game in town. There is also geopolitics. And by treating global affairs like a transactional hustle, the United States risks tearing down the very system that has kept the peace for generations. Trade wars don’t just raise prices. They unravel alliances and push rivals toward confrontation. That’s how the world fell apart in the 1930s: protectionism, fear, and rising powers with no way to grow but through force. Trump officials like to compare China to Japan in the 1980s—a trade partner that can eventually be coerced into making concessions. But China is not a democratic ally under U.S. protection. It is a revanchist, nuclear-armed autocracy that, like the great powers of old, sees economics and security as two sides of the same coin. Its civil-military fusion doctrine more accurately echoes the “rich nation, strong army” ideology of imperial Japan. From Beijing’s perspective, the trade wars Washington is stoking are not mere economic spats. They are an assault on China’s comprehensive national power—and a potential prelude to a shooting war.

And much like Japan before Pearl Harbor, Beijing sees itself facing an economically hostile but militarily vulnerable United States. The U.S. military has just two major bases within 500 miles of Taiwan—both now targeted by Chinese missiles. U.S. ammunition stockpiles would run dry within weeks of a major war. Meanwhile, 77 percent of young Americans are unfit to serve in the military, largely because of obesity, drug use, and lack of education. Trump plans to unveil a $1 trillion defense budget, but rebuilding the U.S. defense industrial base could take years. By hiking tariffs before fixing its military shortfalls, the United States may be picking a fight that it’s not fully prepared to win.

The question is no longer whether the United States will go rogue but what kind of rogue it will become.

Some argue the United States should simply sidestep conflict by sacrificing Taiwan and Ukraine and accepting a world divided into great-power spheres: China in Asia, Russia in eastern Europe, and the United States in the Western Hemisphere. They point to the Cold War, when Washington grudgingly tolerated Soviet domination of eastern Europe, as proof that such arrangements can preserve peace. But the analogy is dangerously flawed. Unlike the Soviet Union after World War II, Russia and China are not defending borders of victory—they’re trying to overturn what they see as borders of defeat. Their territorial claims don’t end with Ukraine and Taiwan; they begin there. Moscow seeks to restore a “Russian world” stretching across eastern Europe and Central Asia. Beijing lays claim to most of the South China and East China Seas and large parts of India. Chinese military officials and propagandists have even floated threats to U.S. territories such as Guam and Hawaii, portraying them as relics of Western imperialism.

Granting China or Russia parts of these spheres would not satisfy them—it would empower them to go for more. And wherever their boots tread, violence and repression will follow. In Ukraine, Russia has bombed maternity wards, tortured civilians, kidnapped children, and looted cultural treasures. In Georgia, Syria, and Chechnya, it leveled cities and propped up brutal regimes. China has crushed Hong Kong’s freedoms, imposed martial law in Tibet, built concentration camps in Xinjiang, and militarized the South China Sea with artificial island fortresses and swarms of maritime militias. An expanded Russian or Chinese sphere would not bring order or prosperity—it would spread the machinery of state terror.

Nor would the expansion stop there. History shows that great powers rarely halt their advance unless stopped by force or geography. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the United States expanded until it dominated the Western Hemisphere and its surrounding seas. Germany and Japan had to be crushed in World War II to end their imperial ambitions. Britain and France, though ravaged by that war, clung to their empires until anti-colonial revolts and U.S. pressure pried them loose. The Soviet Union pressed outward too—arming insurgencies across the developing world, repressing reform movements in Eastern Europe with tanks, and placing nuclear missiles in Cuba. Only sustained Western resistance contained its advance. There is no reason to believe Putin and Xi will prove exceptions to this historical rule.

Even setting aside the security risks, the case for spheres of influence collapses on economic grounds. Outsize wealth has never come from fortress economies. It comes from open, maritime commercial orders that enable sustained, compound economic growth. If the United States were to retreat into continentalism and cede spheres to Beijing and Moscow, it may remain safer and richer than most. But it would be far poorer than it could be and far more likely to face the fires of conflict down the road.

OPPORTUNITY OUT OF CRISIS

A better strategy would not carve up the world with China and Russia but contain them with a consolidated free-world bloc. That project would begin at home. North America already forms the world’s largest free-trade zone. Canada, Mexico, and the United States collectively possess 500 million people, vast energy reserves, and a broad spectrum of industrial capabilities. Deepening this continental core—with shared infrastructure, secure supply chains, and labor mobility—would give the United States a flourishing base from which to compete globally without relying on adversaries.

Overseas, the United States should anchor a layered defense against the axis of autocracies: China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. Frontline democracies including Poland, South Korea, Taiwan, and Ukraine should be heavily armed with short-range missiles and rocket launchers, mobile air defenses, loitering drones, and mines to repel invasions. Behind them, core allies including Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom would reinforce the front with longer-range missiles and mobile ground, air, and naval forces designed to strike across the theater and support frontline defense. The United States would serve as the ultimate backstop and enabler, providing satellite intelligence, heavy lift and logistics, nuclear deterrence, and massive air and missile strikes delivered by carriers, stealth bombers, and submarines.

The goal isn’t just to win a great-power contest. It’s to channel it.

This same military alliance also would form an economic bloc. The United States would offer market access in exchange for tangible commitments that allies spend more on defense; decouple from Russia and China in critical sectors such as semiconductors, telecommunications, energy, and advanced manufacturing; and grant U.S. firms reciprocal access to their markets. Trade deals would include joint rules on investment screening, export controls, and industrial subsidies, and would support the co-production of advanced technologies. The aim would not be to resurrect a universal liberal order, but to consolidate a tight economic alliance—one that defends its members, isolates adversaries, and wields collective bargaining power.

If there is a silver lining in today’s grim outlook, it is that crisis creates opportunity. Durable international orders—the Westphalian system of sovereign states, the European peace that emerged from the 1814–15 Congress of Vienna, the post–World War II liberal order—were forged in the heat of great-power rivalry, when fear, not idealism, compelled countries to band together. The same goes for American renewal: throughout its history, the United States has invested at scale only when national survival was on the line. It was the Civil War that drove the rapid expansion of the Northern railroad network, laying the groundwork for later transcontinental lines. Cold War fears, not peacetime consensus, sparked the creation of the interstate highway system and the National Defense Education Act. Military R & D funded the breakthroughs that gave rise to the semiconductor industry, GPS technology, and the Internet. For better or worse, national security concerns have been America’s most consistent engine of public investment.

Today’s rivalry with China and Russia can serve that galvanizing role again, driving action to rebuild infrastructure and industry, harden supply chains, revive the defense industrial base, attract top global talent, and restore civic trust. The goal isn’t just to win a great-power contest. It’s to channel it; to fix what’s broken at home and shape a world that reflects American interests and values. A free world that works—for the United States and for those willing and able to stand with it.

The Israeli army claims to have transformed 30% of the Gaza Strip into a "buffer zone," while the UN states that half a million Gazans have been displaced since March. 

The Israeli army announced that its forces had taken control of about 30 percent of the Gaza Strip, transforming it into an “operational security perimeter,” while the Gaza Civil Defense agency said that at least 37 people, most of them in camps for displaced civilians, were killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday. The army also claimed in a statement that it had attacked about 1,200 “terrorist targets” from the air and carried out more than 100 other targeted operations since it violated the ceasefire agreement and resumed the war on the Gaza Strip on March 18. 

It added that the expanded buffer zone has allowed Israel to “achieve full operational control over several key areas and routes in the Gaza Strip.” Meanwhile, the United Nations reported that about 500,000 Palestinians have been displaced since the end of the ceasefire in Gaza, when Israel resumed military attacks on the devastated Palestinian territory. “Our humanitarian partners estimate that since March 18, approximately half a million people have been newly displaced or uprooted once again,” Stephanie Tremblay, a spokeswoman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said Wednesday. 

Smaller and more isolated 

Israel also said it would continue to prevent humanitarian aid from entering the enclave, despite growing warnings from human rights groups of near-famine conditions, with basic necessities rapidly running out. “Israel’s policy is clear: no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated, adding that blocking aid was “one of the main pressure tools” used against Hamas. 

The military is also leaving the Gaza Strip “smaller and more isolated,” he continued. An Israeli activist group, Breaking the Silence, condemned the comments in a message on X, saying the so-called “buffer zone” was “large-scale ethnic cleansing.” Dwindling resources in Gaza, coupled with the aid blockade, have led to a rise in acute malnutrition among children, said OCHA, the UN humanitarian agency. 

The organization said last month that at least 3,696 Palestinian children had been diagnosed with acute malnutrition. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also issued a statement late Wednesday, saying it had instructed its negotiating team to continue efforts to secure the release of prisoners held in Gaza. 

It added that Netanyahu conducted a “situational assessment” by phone with the negotiating team and security officials, and asked them to continue “steps to advance the release of captives.” 

Dozens of Gazans killed in strikes

Gaza's civil defense agency said Thursday that 37 people were killed in Israeli strikes, most of them displaced people sheltering in tents in the devastated territory. Survivors described a loud explosion in the densely populated encampment that set several tents ablaze. "We were sitting peacefully in the tent, under the protection of God, when we suddenly saw something red glowing, then the tent exploded and the surrounding tents caught fire," Israa Abu al-Rus told AFP. "It was supposed to be a safe area in Al-Mawasi, and the place exploded." We fled the tent towards the sea and saw the tents burning.” After Israel declared Al-Mawasi a safe zone in December 2023, tens of thousands of Palestinians flocked to its sand dunes along the Mediterranean coast to seek refuge from Israeli bombardment. But since then, the area has been hit by repeated Israeli strikes. Medical sources in Gaza also said Israel had killed at least 35 people early Wednesday. Israel intensified its attacks on the Gaza Strip early Thursday, with an Israeli gunboat stationed off the territory’s coast firing at western Gaza City, before further attacks hit other areas, including Rafah and Khan Younis.

Tributes also poured in for a Palestinian journalist named Fatima Hassouneh and 10 other members of her family who were killed by an Israeli airstrike targeting their home in Gaza City on Wednesday. The Gaza government's media office said more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, not including the thousands trapped under the rubble who are presumed dead.

The New Arab

Israeli occupation forces arrested eight citizens and raided several homes on Saturday during a raid on Al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron.

Local sources reported that the occupation forces stormed Al-Fawar camp, detained a large number of citizens and arrested 8 of them: Muhammad Fayez Al-Wawi, Ahmad Bassam Al-Bayed, Jalal Bassam Al-Bayed, Mahdi Alaa Al-Bayed, Amjad Younis Al-Najjar, Aboud Joda Awidat, Muhammad Joda Awidat, and Ali Ashraf Khudairat. They also raided a large number of citizens’ homes, searched them, and vandalized their contents.

In the same context, Israeli occupation forces stormed the town of Idhna, west of Hebron, raided several homes, and ransacked their contents.

From the cross of pain, hope springs forth, salvation comes, the chapters of torment and suffering end, tyrants fall in the resurrection of truth and hope, justice prevails, injustice is silenced, and the voice of truth rises in the land of truth.

Amidst the pain, hope grows, when truth triumphs and humanity triumphs over terrorism, extremism, and hateful racism.

It is the Friday of the Palestinian people who are living these days under the fire of bombing, killing, and destruction, with the continuation of the war of genocide that has not stopped, but rather continues with all its tools and actions that have left nothing viable for life, and have destroyed everything and turned Gaza into a piece of ruin.

It is the Friday of the Palestinian who dies under the rubble of bombing and destruction, in the open and displaced streets, from hunger and bombardment, amid daily suffering and a systematic policy of ethnic cleansing that continues while the world continues its silence, witnessing the massacre and not taking action to stop it. This is what we witness in terms of global and international weakness and cowardice in the corridors of UN bodies.

It is the Friday of deliverance from injustice and oppression, the Friday of sadness and anger, and the Friday of death that heralds the resurrection.

Resurrection Friday is not an end, but rather the beginning of a new life built on the ruins of pain, rising from the ashes of devastation, and born from the womb of patience and steadfastness like the phoenix. It is the Friday of the Palestinian who continues to believe that in every death lies life, in every pain lies hope, in every destruction lies the promise of reconstruction, and with every martyr lies a new pulse of life.

It is the Friday of those who do not leave their homelands even as they leave this life, who bury their children with one hand and raise the banner of steadfastness with the other, who paint their pain on the walls of destroyed homes and write their names in the book of dignity and heroism.

It is a Friday of the highest human meaning: that truth be crucified and never die, that the dream be buried and never forgotten, that the voice of life be raised from the rubble, and that Gaza, despite the wounds, write its book in the ink of the blood of the martyrs, and say to the world: “We will remain here.”

The French Foreign Ministry said that humanitarian aid must be allowed into Gaza as the Israeli aggression against the Strip continues.

Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine noted at a press conference that France has been calling for months for unhindered humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

He added, "France also called for a ceasefire in Gaza, and condemned the Israeli army's resumption of attacks on Gaza after the ceasefire agreement."

He stressed that Israel is obligated to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza and not to target relief crews delivering that aid.

Settlers stormed the Bedouin village of Ras Ein al-Auja, north of Jericho, on Saturday, and grazed their sheep among the homes of Palestinian residents.

Hassan Malihat, general supervisor of the Al-Baidar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights, reported that a number of armed settlers stormed the Bedouin village of Ras Ein al-Auja, north of Jericho, accompanied by a herd of livestock. They grazed their sheep among the residents' homes and vandalized their property to prevent them from using the land.

He pointed out that settler attacks against Bedouin communities have escalated significantly, and now affect everything related to Bedouin life.

An Iranian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi arrived in Rome to participate in new Omani-mediated talks with the United States regarding Tehran's nuclear program, according to footage broadcast by Iranian state television on Saturday morning.

The footage shows Araghchi disembarking from an official Iranian plane at night in Rome, where he is leading a second round of "indirect" talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

Rome will host the talks, which will include Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and are mediated by the Sultanate of Oman. This is the second high-level meeting between the two countries since US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the landmark nuclear agreement in 2018.

Diplomatic relations between Tehran and Washington were severed shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. The latest diplomatic efforts come after Trump made the Iranian nuclear issue a priority following his return to the presidency in January.

Trump resumed his "maximum pressure" policy, imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic, and in March sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for nuclear talks, under threat of military action against Iran if diplomacy failed.

Trump said Thursday, "I'm in no rush" to resort to military action, adding, "I think Iran wants to talk."

For his part, Araghchi, one of the architects of the 2015 nuclear agreement, said on Friday that Iran "noted a degree of seriousness" from the Americans during the first round, but he questioned their intentions.

"Although we have serious doubts about the US side's intentions and motives, we will participate in tomorrow's negotiations anyway," he said during a press conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow.

In an interview published Wednesday by the French newspaper Le Monde, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said that Iran is "not far" from possessing a nuclear bomb.

During Trump's first term, Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and major powers, which provided for the easing of international sanctions on Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.

Tehran adhered to the agreement for a year after Trump's withdrawal, before gradually backing away from its commitments.

Araghchi was a negotiator in the 2015 agreement. His counterpart in Rome, Witkoff, is a real estate mogul who was also tasked by Trump with conducting talks on Ukraine.

Iran currently enriches uranium to up to 60%, which is well above the 3.67% limit stipulated in the agreement, but still below the 90% threshold required for military use.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged European countries on Friday to decide whether to activate the "snapback mechanism," which would automatically reimpose UN sanctions on Iran for its non-compliance with the nuclear agreement.

The option to activate this mechanism expires in October of this year.

Iran had previously warned that it might withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if this mechanism were activated.

Grossi, who held talks with Iranian officials during a visit to Tehran this week, said the United States and Iran are "at a critical stage" in the talks, and "we only have a short window of opportunity" to reach an agreement.

Iranian officials have insisted that the talks focus solely on the nuclear program and the lifting of sanctions.

Araghchi said that reaching an agreement with the United States is "likely" if Washington refrains from "making unreasonable and unrealistic demands," without elaborating.

Analysts believe the United States will seek to include discussions on Iran's ballistic missile program, as well as Tehran's support for armed factions in the Middle East.

Araghchi affirmed that Iran's right to enrich uranium is "non-negotiable," after Witkoff called for a complete halt to enrichment. In a previous statement, Witkoff had simply demanded that Iran return to the enrichment cap set in the 2015 agreement.

For its part, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Tuesday that the country's military capabilities were beyond the scope of discussion.

Iran's official news agency IRNA reported that Iran's regional influence and missile capabilities were among its "red lines" in the talks.

For its part, Israel, a US ally, affirmed on Friday its unwavering commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, saying it has a "clear course of action" to prevent this.

Khamenei said on Tuesday that Iranians should not pin their hopes on progress in the negotiations, which "may or may not yield results."

The United Nations has issued a dire warning about the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, saying life-saving supplies are nearing "complete depletion" due to Israel's blocking of aid.

UN Secretary-General's spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said in a press conference that more than two million people remain trapped in the besieged Strip, with mental health needs increasing dramatically, vital infrastructure destroyed, and basic services on the brink of collapse. He noted that nearly 90% of the water infrastructure—including wells, pumping stations, and sewage treatment plants—has been destroyed due to hostilities, exacerbating the risk of disease and forcing families to rely on unsafe sources. He continued: "Stress levels are rising, particularly among children, as violence and deprivation continue," stressing that "Israel, as the occupying power, has legal obligations under international law to ensure access to food, medical care, and public health services."

Israel had launched a "starvation war" against the population of Gaza as a prelude to a war on Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu decided more than two weeks ago to halt the entry of all humanitarian supplies and aid into Gaza, starting Sunday morning. The move was aimed at pressuring Hamas to agree to a proposal by US envoy to the region, Witkoff. The Prime Minister's Office said the decision was made because Hamas refused to accept the US proposal to extend the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza, which expired on Saturday.

International organizations have warned of the threat of famine and what Israel is doing in what it calls a "starvation war" in Gaza if supplies to Gaza continue to be cut off. This is especially true since the majority of the population in Gaza relies on food supplies from outside the Strip after its destruction, ending all means of livelihood. The organizations warned, asking: What will happen if the people of Gaza begin to starve? Meanwhile, the media office in Gaza stated that preventing the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza effectively means a "starvation war" against the people of Gaza, who are entirely dependent on humanitarian aid.

The Israeli occupation authorities issued a decision to ban UNRWA at the end of last January in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem. This means depriving tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees of services, including education and healthcare, especially with the closure of UNRWA headquarters in occupied Jerusalem. The Israeli Knesset had passed legislation banning UNRWA operations, and Israel officially notified the United Nations of the cancellation of the agreement regulating its relations with the agency since 1967. The United Nations stated that the law also prohibits activity in areas under Israeli control.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned that more than two million displaced people in the Gaza Strip are besieged by hunger, thirst, disease, and fear, noting that obtaining meals has become an impossible task for families in the Strip, according to the Palestinian News Agency, WAFA. UNRWA explained that the flour and food supplies allowed into the Strip by Israel through the crossings do not meet 6% of the population's needs, causing a severe crisis, especially in obtaining bread, which led to the closure of most bakeries in the southern Gaza Strip.

UNRWA revealed that the Israeli occupation army has completely or partially destroyed more than 200 schools and shelters as a result of Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the war on October 7.

More than 730 displaced persons have been killed in UNRWA shelters, in addition to more than 200 of the agency's employees so far. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor also announced that the Israeli occupation bombed 18 shelter schools in Gaza within one month.

Here comes the important question: Why did Israel prevent humanitarian aid to Gaza, ban UNRWA, and bomb its shelters in Gaza? And does Israel need to do this?

Israel certainly needs to ban UNRWA and bomb its shelters for two reasons:

The first is to force the Palestinians out of Gaza and prevent them from resettling there or trying to repair their homes and wounds and to leave Gaza permanently and to be displaced from it. This is the main goal of the Gaza war: to destroy Gaza and displace its population. Gaza will be completely emptied of its population over the course of years through displacement, either forced or voluntary. This will be done in silence and away from the media in what is called the “silent war.” Gaza has now become an uninhabitable place. More than 80 percent of Gaza’s homes have been completely destroyed, residential neighborhoods have been completely removed, entire cities have been wiped out, and entire families have been erased from the civil registry. Gaza has become uninhabitable.

The second and most important goal of bombing the shelters in Gaza was to send a message to the Palestinians that there is no safe place for Palestinians in Gaza and that they must either be displaced or killed, and to prevent any institution from helping the Palestinians in preparation for the displacement of the residents of Gaza and preventing them from remaining in Gaza. Therefore, Israel banned UNRWA, which helps them stay alive in the Strip, and bombed them in the shelters and tents to which they were displaced, exhausting them more and more and deciding to leave Gaza, and pushing them repeatedly to flee towards the sea, towards the borders, towards the port and towards the crossings to escape the hell of the bombing that has reached everywhere and made every place in Gaza unsafe.

Although the shelters are UN-approved centers housing defenseless civilians whose homes were destroyed and who fled the hell of war to a place supposedly safe according to international agreements and the United Nations, which prohibit armies from bombing these places during wars, considering them safe places for civilians, and there is no military activity or Hamas fighters in these places that could cause harm or resistance, and the Zionist entity is well aware of this, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced that more than half of the schools used to shelter the displaced in Gaza have been bombed. What Israel wants by bombing the shelters in Gaza is to send a bloody message to the Palestinians: There is no safe place for you in Gaza, and you must either evacuate and leave Gaza or be bombed and killed.

As for the remaining buildings in Gaza, I believe they will be demolished while they are empty, because the goal is to completely wipe out the place and its landmarks. This is a war of destruction and displacement of the entire Gaza Strip, and a war to rebuild the Gaza Strip anew with new specifications and a different vision for the future, and to hand it over to America. Therefore, it is assumed that no Gazan or Palestinian will remain in Gaza, and that he will not find a safe place in Gaza or think about rebuilding his status.

There is an American-Israeli game to delude the Palestinian people into believing that Israel will not occupy Gaza and has no intention of displacing Palestinians, by restoring the Palestinian Authority to replace Hamas in governing Gaza. However, the truth is different. Gaza will be handed over to America, and the Palestinians will be displaced voluntarily and in stages. Countries are now ready to receive them, and the evacuation crossings have been opened.

Since Egypt has been aware of the plan from the outset and has no intention of opening its doors to the Palestinians to prevent their displacement, the United States is seeking to pressure it to open the Rafah crossing or to displace them through other means, such as ports, airports, or other crossings to other countries such as Indonesia and Albania, as Trump has stated.

This does not mean that there will be a Palestinian Authority in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority's political role in Gaza has ended. However, there will be Palestinian institutions and Palestinian security forces supporting the multinational force. All of this will be temporary until the transitional phase is arranged. Palestinian civil society institutions in the West Bank will operate strongly in Gaza, in addition to economic institutions. However, there will be no return to Palestinian Gaza and no Palestinian rule there.

America and Israel are planning to have Gaza emptied of Palestinians silently and after years of what is called...

The "silent war" and its preparation to become a military base for America in the Middle East. This is the most dangerous phase. There will be no Palestinian rule in Gaza, but rather a transitional phase in which the Palestinian Authority will be used to help manage the population temporarily. This is the plan. The goal of this war is to end the Palestinian presence in Gaza, end the idea of a Palestinian state, and end Israel's absolute hegemony over the West Bank.

As for the West Bank, Israel will destroy the Palestinian camps there, with the goal of ending the idea of the Palestinian right of return. Destroying and banning UNRWA will be part of this plan, as Israel considers the Palestinian camps in the West Bank to be a fertile ground for Palestinian struggle and resistance against it. Therefore, its goal will be to destroy the camps so that they become unviable, in order to fragment this force that has penetrated the camps and is able to dominate the minds of young people and recruit them.

With over 800,000 settlers in the West Bank, the elimination of Palestinian refugee camps has become a pressing demand for Israel, which wants to end the Palestinian presence in general. Therefore, the occupation forces are inciting criminal settlers to attack Palestinian villages in the West Bank.

These settlers were raised in the pens of human terrorism, and their primary mission is to multiply and settle in the West Bank. They pose a threat to the Palestinians residing in the West Bank. They will be allowed to move and remain in the West Bank to terrorize Palestinians in Palestinian villages, threaten their security, prevent urban expansion in Palestinian villages, and prevent the displacement of their residents to Palestinian cities, thus increasing settlement on the lands of Palestinian villages and around Palestinian cities. After that, Israel will achieve absolute hegemony over the West Bank after it has finished with Gaza.

The Palestinian people stand vigilantly, along with their institutions, those who monitor them, and those who follow their actions and decisions, in preparation for the convening of the Palestinian Central Council on April 23 and 24, 2025. This is the most prominent institution mediating between the Palestinian National Council, which brings together the representatives of the components of Palestinian Arab society, from within the homeland and abroad, and includes all the active political, trade union, economic and social forces - or so it is assumed - and the daily leadership, the Executive Committee, which leads the Palestinian struggle and action on the basis of the program formulated and prepared by the National Council. This Committee includes the main factions and active independent national figures.

The Council meets at this critical time, as the Palestinian people face the most difficult period of conflict, the greatest tragedy, and the most devastating loss, as defined by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court: "ethnic cleansing and genocide," and attempts to force the displacement, expulsion, and expulsion of the people of the Gaza Strip to Sinai, and the people of Jerusalem and the West Bank to Jordan or to a third country outside our Arab region.

The Palestinian people face three challenges, each one worse, harsher, and more effective than the other:

The first is the ruling group in the colony, made up of extreme right-wing political parties, allied with extremist Jewish religious parties. It seeks to complete its control, occupation, settlement, and expansion across the entire map of Palestine, and its priority is:

1- That united Jerusalem is the capital of the Israeli colony, and it is working to Israelize, Judaize, Hebraize and Zionize it.

2- The West Bank is not Palestinian, it is not Arab, it is not occupied, but rather it is Judea and Samaria, i.e. part of the map of the Israeli colony.

3 - Erasing the three terms: refugee, camp, and UNRWA from the common lexicon and the political scene, with the aim of erasing half of the Palestinian people, their cause, and their right to return in accordance with Resolution 194, after they were expelled and displaced from their homeland in 1948, which constitutes a contradiction to the colonial occupation narrative upon which the Israeli expansionist colonial project in 1948 in Palestine was based.

The second is the Palestinian division in the 1948 and 1967 territories, between the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality and the Islamic Movement faction. This division led to the success of the extreme right-wing alliance that leads the colony. Had the alliance remained in place between the political components of the Palestinian Arab community in the 1948 territories, particularly between the Democratic Front and the Islamic Movement, under the banner of the United Arab List, it would have won 15 seats due to the alliance, cohesion and unity, with the participation of only 64% of the Palestinian Arab voters who went to the ballot boxes. Had this alliance remained, it would not have led to the decline of Palestinian Arab representation to 10 seats in the Knesset, as a result of the dissolution of the alliance between the Palestinian Arab parties. Thus, it was clearly evident that the division and disagreement overthrew the closest realistic representation of the Palestinian Arab community in the Israeli Knesset, and deprived it of any influence or power on the Israeli political scene.

The Palestinian division between Fatah and Hamas, between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as a result of the "decisive military coup" carried out and resorted to by Hamas in June 2007, and its monopoly on governing the Gaza Strip to this day, has led to the difficult conditions facing the Palestinian people.

The third aspect of the state of fragmentation, division and decline is represented by the changes that occurred in the regional situation as a result of the October 7 operation and its repercussions:

1- The destruction of the Gaza Strip and the martyrdom of more than fifty thousand Palestinians, and the wounding, injury and disability of twice as many, meaning more than one hundred thousand Palestinian civilians were injured.

2- Assassinating the military and political leaders of the Lebanese Hezbollah, destroying its combat capabilities, and causing it to lose its political role in support of Palestine.

3- The destruction of the capabilities, weapons, assets, stations and airports of the Syrian Arab Army by the colony’s army, after the coup and change that occurred in the Syrian political scene and the defeat of the former Baath Party regime on 12-8-2024.

The Chairman of the Palestinian Central Council and the Chairman of the Palestinian National Council are requested to pay attention to inviting the leaders of the Palestinian Arab community from the territories within the 1948 territories:

1- Palestinian leader Muhammad Baraka, elected president of the Higher Follow-up Committee for the Palestinian Arab Community in the 1948 Territories.

2 - Mazen Ghanayem, Mayor of Sakhnin, elected chairman of the Arab Local Authorities Committee.

3- Head of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality list in the Knesset, MP Ayman Odeh.

4- Head of the Joint Arab List bloc in the Knesset, MP Mansour Abbas.

5- Ahmed Tibi, head of the Arab Movement for Change.

6- The manufacturer's request was made by the head of the Arab Democratic Party.

7- Essam Makhoul, head of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality.

Inviting the leaders of the Palestinian Arab community in the 1948 territories to attend and participate in the Palestinian Central Council meeting is a political message affirming the unity of will, means, and aspirations for the future, and the restoration of the Palestinian people's rights: 1- Equality in the 1948 territories. 2- Independence for the 1967 territories. 3- Return for refugees.

Will Rohi grasp the message’s significance and respond to it, and work to achieve it?

There is much talk these days in Palestinian and Arab intellectual forums about the issue of disarming Hamas, following the Israeli government's demands to disarm the movement in the Gaza Strip as part of the negotiations for the second phase of the truce agreement and the cessation of hostilities. The discussion sometimes turns heated between those who support disarmament to spare the Gaza Strip further suffering and to stop the war, and those who oppose it, fearing, on the one hand, a repetition of the events of Sabra and Shatila after the 1982 Beirut War and the withdrawal of the revolutionary forces from Lebanon at that time. On the other hand, there is a fear of granting Israel a victory through negotiations that it was unable to achieve through war, destruction, and killing over the course of a year and a half, and on the third hand, denying the Palestinians the right to use armed struggle as a form of resistance.

This discussion, in principle, indicates a national concern, even if the orientations, opinions, and positions differ and their intensity. It also demonstrates the vitality of Palestinian society in particular in confronting citizens' concerns, and the ability to evaluate, criticize, and correct or strengthen any course of action. It is my conviction of the necessity of speaking out and criticizing at the appropriate time, not after it is too late, and for the person or entity responsible or competent.

In my opinion, the disarmament or disarmament of Hamas or other Palestinian armed factions could take place within two central frameworks. The first: within the framework of a Palestinian-Palestinian agreement on the administration of government, including the nature of dealing with weapons, the mechanisms for their use, how to resolve disputes through law, and the prevention of their use in political disputes. It should also include the provision of related guarantees, especially after the armed conflict between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in 2006 and 2007, and the seizure of power by force of arms by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This could take the form of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland until the end of Israeli colonization of the Palestinian territories.

Or the second: In the context of what is known as the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) process undertaken by the United Nations with the aim of contributing to security and stability in post-conflict environments so that recovery and development can begin, and addressing the post-conflict security problem that arises when former combatants are left without livelihoods or support networks, unlike their former comrades, during the vital transitional period from conflict to peace and development. Or as stated in the reconstruction plan approved by the emergency Arab Summit "Palestine Summit" in Cairo on March 4, 2025, which stipulated that "the dilemma of the multiplicity of Palestinian groups bearing arms is something that can be dealt with, and even ended once and for all, if its causes are removed through a clear horizon and a credible political process that restores rights to their owners."

That is, disarmament is linked to political developments and security arrangements that achieve peace and end Israeli colonialism on the one hand, or security arrangements related to an internal agreement on the methods, means, forms, and nature of Palestinian resistance, or according to what is called in Palestinian custom the “struggle strategy,” which determines which forms of struggle and means of resistance are most beneficial, influential, or effective within the framework of the stages of the popular liberation war.

Both situations require local and international guarantees to prevent the Israeli government from resuming war, assassinations, or military incursions. They also require a credible path to peace based on the two-state solution, leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967, borders. They also require an effective international presence of peacekeeping forces through United Nations missions to create the appropriate conditions for achieving lasting peace.

During the eighteen years of division, we have heard the same rhetoric and the same demands, but those who called for it, and the politicians behind them, perhaps did not realize that it is wrong to repeat the same thing, in the same manner, while expecting a different result. In other words, they did not realize that what was not destined to “succeed” for nearly two decades, and under completely different circumstances, may not be destined to succeed now, or perhaps it is more accurate to say that it is not necessarily applicable in this “exceptional” circumstance that the Palestinian territories in general, and the Gaza Strip in particular, are going through.

Amidst the rapid political transformations, calls have once again escalated, and at a higher rate, to hand over power in the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority, as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. There is no dispute about the validity of this proposal in principle, meaning that Gaza—like the rest of the Palestinian territories—must naturally be under the jurisdiction of a single authority representing the Palestinian people.

This demand, in turn, opens the door to a fundamental debate and requires fundamental clarifications, primarily regarding the nature and form of the authority sought to be restored, as well as its policy toward a sector exhausted and devastated by the ongoing aggression, and toward the Palestinian issue as a whole, along with its national reference and the source of its legitimacy.

Is talk of the "return of authority" to Gaza a restoration of a previous status quo, or is it talk of a return that represents the fruit or culmination of a new national vision that redefines the role of the authority, any authority, as a comprehensive national executive body, not a bureaucratic or security arm, currently confined to the West Bank, or a functional formation governed by agreements that have restricted its movement and emptied it of its liberating content?

Over the long years of division, the Palestinian Authority has been the subject of constant criticism regarding its management of the national file in general, and the Gaza issue in particular. These criticisms, without confirming their accuracy, ranged from accusations of imposing financial sanctions to an inability to formulate a national plan that enjoys popular acceptance, which includes the Gaza Strip as an integral component of the nation. Based on this, talk of handing over power in Gaza should not be reduced to an "administrative procedure." Rather, it must be understood as part of a clearly defined political project that enjoys national consensus and restores the Strip's position as an effective partner in decision-making and destiny.

If the Palestinian Authority is to be the authority of all Palestinians, then its authority must change, transforming it from an authority that is the product of the Oslo Accords into an authority with a consensual national authority based on the outcomes of a comprehensive national dialogue and a political charter based on the minimum nationally acceptable. This necessarily means rebuilding the Palestine Liberation Organization to become a unifying Palestinian umbrella, and expanding its representation base to include all Palestinian forces and factions that have remained outside it.

Over the past decades, the PLO has suffered from a structural flaw that has affected its pluralistic nature, in addition to institutional paralysis for several reasons, foremost among them the periodicity of the meetings of its governing frameworks, especially the Palestinian National Council, which has only convened during the past three decades in emergency contexts or to accomplish specific tasks, thus limiting its role as the supreme legislative representative body of the Palestinian people as a whole. In addition, there has been an absence of clear and effective mechanisms to hold the leadership accountable or renew its legitimacy. Consequently, the automatic extension of members and leaders without elections or serious consultations has become the prevailing pattern, rendering the PLO lacking true representation and thwarting attempts to rebuild it on a comprehensive national basis.

Accordingly, any transition process should not be conducted on the basis of "one authority replacing another," but rather on the basis of "one authority that includes everyone," representing the will of the Palestinian people in all its components, expressing their shared national project, and opening the way for a genuine political partnership.

Therefore, an authority of this description requires national legitimacy and a popular mandate. Any talk of the Palestinian Authority assuming power in Gaza becomes conditional upon a consensual transitional national dialogue, the formation of a national unity government that represents all, and the burial of the years of division. If holding elections is not possible in the near term due to political complications and the occupation, it may be possible to replace them with possible options. On this basis, this comprehensive national consensus is a way out - temporarily - to reach transitional legitimacy, followed by genuine democratic requirements that restore the Palestinian people's right to choose their representatives.

Therefore, unless the call to hand over power in Gaza to the Palestinian Authority is part of an institutional political reform program and presented within a consensual national context, it will open a new chapter of Palestinian division, one that is more ambiguous and more intractable. This process will be a reproduction of the authority in its current form, whereas what is required is to re-establish it on the foundations of partnership, consensus, and comprehensive national representation, so that it becomes an authority that represents the aspirations of the Palestinian people, capable of mobilizing the street behind it, rather than an authority of self-administration under a specific and pre-defined ceiling.

It seems that most of the decisions under the slogan of “reforming the political system” since the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority came as a result of external pressures, most of them American, and did not result from a national or institutional review of general performance, nor from internal pressures, whether popular or elite. The history of the contemporary Palestinian people has been closely linked to individuals rather than institutions, starting with Hajj Amin al-Husseini, passing through Ahmed al-Shuqairi, then the martyr Yasser Arafat, and up to President Mahmoud Abbas, to the point of almost identifying between the person and the institution. This requires studying the underlying reasons behind the Palestinian national movement’s reluctance since its founding to adhere to the institutional approach, despite its dire need for it, especially given the Zionist movement’s distinction in building institutions and relying on strategic thinking since its inception. Since its early beginnings, the Zionist movement has relied on a number of institutions that achieve its fixed foundation of “more land for the Jews, and fewer Arabs on it,” such as the World Zionist Organization in 1897, the Jewish National Fund in 1901, and the Jewish Colonial Trust Fund in Palestine 1924, and the Jewish Agency 1929. It also established Hadassah Hospital in 1918, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1925. It built kibbutzim, established research centers, security agencies, and armed gangs years before the establishment of Israel, to serve its project. This, along with other issues, contributed to the progress of the Zionist colonial expansionist project and its successive achievements. At a time when the Zionist movement was achieving steady progress, starting with the construction of its first colonies in the coastal plain region in 1878, through the Balfour Declaration, to the establishment of the Zionist entity on the land of Palestine, the Palestinian national movement was drowning in its internal conflicts between opposition and loyalty, Nashashibis and Husseinis, those who wear the keffiyeh, and their opponents who wear the tarboosh, under the name of the “Arab” and “National” parties at that time, while the land was being taken from under the feet of its original owners.

To begin with, I say "American demands," because the European Union has not yet succeeded in freeing itself from American hegemony and its total monopoly over managing the settlement process, as well as its provision of military, financial, and political cover for the genocide of our people in the Gaza Strip. The United States and Germany supply 99% of the Israeli weapons that kill our children, and 49 of the 87 vetoes issued by the United States since 1945 have been to protect Israel from resolutions that criticize it or call for action against it.

Therefore, the European demands for reform, which accompanied the establishment of the emerging authority, or those linked to the recent aid package, lack the ability to achieve a political breakthrough, given the complexities of establishing foreign policy within the Union, which requires consensus, which is considered impossible in light of the growth of right-wing and populist forces in Europe and the sharp divisions they have produced within the Union’s countries. Therefore, while describing the European Union as an economic giant has some degree of accuracy, describing it as a political dwarf is not far from the truth, especially in issues related to the Middle East and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in which interests are intertwined with the burden of the European past, distorted religious interpretations, and European leaders’ fear of being labeled anti-Semites, which would end their political careers, at the expense of the historical right of indigenous peoples to freedom and justice. Despite all the dust that Europe causes in the region, it is similar to that generated by a helicopter, which makes noise and dust during its superficial flight, without delving into the true roots of the conflict or making an impact. A concrete step towards a political approach based on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

While Arab regimes believe their interests transcend the morality of Palestinian rights, they are either mired in internal conflicts, as is the case in Libya, Sudan, Lebanon, and Iraq, or are complacent about American hegemony. Consequently, whatever tune we hear related to the Palestinian issue, whether played on an Arab or European string, does not go beyond the American score and composition.

The first demands for “reform” during the Al-Aqsa Intifada at the beginning of this century aimed to remove the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from the political scene. These demands culminated in statements by US President George W. Bush on the necessity of creating a new Palestinian leadership that did not support “terrorism.” This was followed by Arab and European pressures that led to the martyrdom of President Arafat alone in his besieged office in the Muqata’a. This was followed by what we witnessed after Hamas’s success in the 2006 legislative elections, which the US administration pressured to hold and then rejected. This led to a coup for which the United States and Israel provided all the elements of permanence and continuity, including issuing instructions to Qatar to publicly fund it via Lod Airport until the morning of October 7. The pressures we are experiencing today aim to reshape the political system by raising the banner of “reform” once again, which this time may expand to include radical changes in school curricula, media discourse, and the disbursement of dues to martyrs, prisoners, and the wounded, as well as the rebuilding of the Palestinian security, military, and police institutions. By marginalizing the role of the poor and middle classes in the public sphere, in favor of a new bourgeois minority whose interests are linked to the occupation and who work—whether intentionally or unintentionally—to serve its colonial settlement project, in the hope of achieving personal gains or survival.

The Palestinian Authority's reform movement is making a comeback, this time played by Europeans and Arabs, while being led by the US administration, which is now adopting a new approach based on disregarding direct engagement with the Palestinian leadership, embracing the narrative of the religious Zionist right in Israel, and bypassing the proposal of a new initiative, as Trump did during his first term in what he called the "Deal of the Century" or the "Abrahamic Joint Comprehensive Plan." This approach is aimed at implementing its visions in the region, independent of the Palestinian position, in light of the ramifications of events in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, which the US administration and Israel see as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to resolve the conflict rather than manage it.

Initiatives that raise the slogan of reform or re-aligning the general national path in Palestine are crowding in, whether through the demand to restore the prestige of the Palestine Liberation Organization by rebuilding it on solid democratic foundations, as stated in the final statement of the Palestinian National Conference held in Qatar last February, or reforming the Palestinian National Authority within a plan led by the government of Dr. Muhammad Mustafa, which cannot be separated from the demands of the international community, especially the European Union, which linked its recent aid of 1.6 billion dollars to internal reforms, or the statements of President Mahmoud Abbas at the recent Arab Summit in Cairo, his intention to approve the positions of Vice President of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine, and to call on the Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization – which was entrusted with the powers of the Palestinian National Council – to convene exclusively to approve the signatories in the Palestinian political system, despite his issuance of a constitutional declaration on 27-11-2024 stipulating that in the event of a vacancy in the position of President of the Palestinian Authority, the President of the Palestinian National Council shall assume his duties temporarily until presidential elections are held in accordance with Palestinian electoral law. This justifies the questions raised about the feasibility of these initiatives and decisions, and the legitimacy of all the voices that It inquires about its real impact on the lives of the crushed Palestinian citizen in Gaza, Jerusalem, or the West Bank, or on the fourteen million Palestinians in the homeland and in exile. It is permissible to question the ability of the Palestinian national movement in its current form to advance the Palestinian national project, or protect it from Zionist plans for elimination and displacement. It is established to question the effectiveness of appointing a deputy president of the PLO and the State of Palestine in strengthening the foundations of our steadfastness and survival on the land. It is rational to propose that the priority must be focused on rebuilding the Palestinian national movement, one that preserves the unifying national identity, agrees on the forms of liberation struggle, and redefines the Palestinian national project by returning to its origins, represented by freedom and self-determination, and above all, rebuilding its basic pillar, represented by the Palestinian forces and factions, Palestinian popular organizations, and Palestinian unions.

One does not need any intelligence or wisdom to notice the extent of the decline of the Palestinian national movement, starting with the unions, syndicates, and popular organizations, which are experiencing a state of senility and decline, with the exception of some that hold their elections regularly and transparently. The impact of the Palestinian division on them inside and outside the homeland cannot be overlooked. In addition, the reality of the Palestinian factions and forces is no less painful than the unions and syndicates. The Fatah movement, which today constitutes, for objective and subjective reasons, the cornerstone of the Palestinian political system, especially in the West Bank, and a hope for the Palestinians to strengthen their steadfastness and survival on the land, as it is a comprehensive national framework that tolerates differences, diversity, and diligence, and enjoys international acceptance and horizontal extension within Palestinian society in the homeland and diaspora, is not the same Fatah that lived with the citizens their bread, their pain, their sacrifices, and their hopes during the past six decades, and which included Palestinians, Arabs, foreigners, adherents of all heavenly and earthly religions, students, youth, women, the elderly, children, religious and secular people. And the rationalists, the enthusiasts, the advocates of conservative thought, and those who believed in the necessity of drawing inspiration from the socialist-Leninist experience, and those who founded the student battalion and disagreed with Yasser Arafat, so they debated him in the morning, and the debate became heated repeatedly, but he trusted their rifles to protect him and guard his office, which was dozens of meters away from their camp at night. Nor is it that horizon that expanded to diversity, difference, and diligence, and entered every tent of refuge, and every camp in the homeland and the diaspora, and every Palestinian and Arab city, village, neighborhood, and home, and about which Nizar Qabbani wrote his most beautiful poems, "Fatah." Nor is it the renewed and young movement that reflects the diversity of Palestinian society, as today its movement institutions are led and its organizational positions are held by a group of citizens, most of whom are from the civil and military class, whose individual ambitions to improve their working conditions limit the ability of most of them to express their opinions frankly and freely. Add to that all the stagnant pebbles in the waters of Fatah from Oslo until today. Therefore, reforming Fatah, unifying its ranks, and rebuilding it by embracing all its members, regardless of their efforts, abilities, and diversity. It is also necessary for the movement to open up to its people, both the elites and the masses, who hold great love and resentment for Fatah. Fatah must also return to leading the field through a national resistance program based on mobilizing all the energies of our people, as it is qualified for this task, with its capabilities to mobilize and direct, if it invests well in the capabilities of its members and its enlightened thought. Therefore, rebuilding Fatah’s idea, movement, and message, correcting the movement’s relationship with the authority, and liberating it from the burdens of its obligations, as a means, not an end, and a project that must be evaluated and corrected whenever necessary, must precede the reform of the PLO.

As for Hamas, it is experiencing a state of acute alienation from reality. After the major blows dealt by the Iranian axis in the region, starting with the consequences of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, in which Israel demonstrated shocking intelligence and military superiority, as field data indicated that the Israeli occupation possesses advanced generations of destructive weapons and security capabilities, in light of the worn-out traditional Arab weaponry. Also, there is the fall of the Syrian regime, or Iran's tendencies towards understanding with the US administration, and above all, the heavy price of the October 7 operation, for the results of which Hamas cannot escape responsibility, as it planned and executed it unilaterally, and is now negotiating to end the war in the Gaza Strip in isolation from all Palestinians. Therefore, the demands of citizens and political and societal elites for Hamas to read the reality more realistically and logically, and to rebuild the movement on foundations that are consistent with the data of the stage, must take precedence over its adherence to rule in Gaza, or its insistence on denying reality, ignoring the facts on the ground and the new power equations in the region, as Hamas is required today to reconsider its path over the past four decades. The past, including its educational curriculum for its children, which is still confined to the curriculum of the first Brotherhood school represented by Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Sabiq, the ideas of Sayyid Qutb, the ideological Salafi ideas, and the school of Ibn Taymiyyah after removing his fatwas from their spatial and temporal context, and adopting the position of the Muslim Brotherhood on the issue of governance, imamate, and politics, as well as its regional relations and ties with Iran, which have proven to be a heavy burden on its people and their national interests. It is Hamas’s duty today to champion nationalism over factionalism, and to re-evaluate the previous stage rationally, wisely, and realistically. This must transcend any other priorities.

As for the Islamic Jihad movement, it remains confined within its military wing, despite its genuine popular acceptance and broad-based ideology, enabling it to play a broad political and societal role. Furthermore, its relationship with Iran requires a profound strategic review, one that is consistent with its sacrifices as a national liberation movement, which it has made and continues to make, without becoming embroiled in Palestinian bloodshed, unlike other Islamist movements in Palestine.

The Palestinian leftist forces can be divided, in terms of popular presence, into two categories. The first consists of the Popular and Democratic Fronts, and the People's Party. These forces have a relative presence on the Palestinian scene, as is evident in their presence on the academic and intellectual scene, and their relative presence on the ground. However, these forces generally live off their revolutionary history and the legacy of their founding leaders. Today, these movements suffer from a complex set of crises, foremost among which is their immersion in theorizing at the expense of programs, their alienation from the founding principles, in addition to the leadership crisis, the vagueness of positions, the absence of charismatic figures, their drowning in fruitless ideological conflicts at the expense of the fundamental national struggle, and the rush of a number of their leaders to lead a number of civil society institutions whose funding is based on Western liberal capitalist support, in a scene that calls for both irony and sadness.

The remaining factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization, namely: the Vanguard of the Popular Liberation War – Al-Sa'iqa, the Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA), the Popular Struggle Front, the Palestine Liberation Front, the Arab Palestinian Front, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command, and the Palestinian National Initiative, suffer from a more complex set of challenges, foremost among which is their inability to attract and mobilize members. Indeed, some of these factions, which have a distinguished history of struggle, have limited membership to the Political Bureau and dozens of members, while they are unable to recruit a single new member in the camps, villages, neighborhoods, or higher education institutions that include hundreds of thousands of students, with the exception of membership arising from family inheritance. To avoid accusing this discourse of generalization and bias, one can review the results of student and local elections over the past years, which witnessed competition between the Fatah and Hamas movements, to demonstrate the level of weakness that these forces suffer from. Moreover, the Palestinian National Initiative movement, despite adopting a mature civil and human rights discourse, lacks an effective popular and organizational presence, especially in the camps. And the villages and popular neighborhoods, and it is almost losing its ability to attract, as a result of the monopoly of the image of the initiative by its Secretary-General, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, whose image has come to overshadow the institution itself, especially with its lack of tangible and influential resistance action. While the initiative emphasizes resistance in all its forms, it practices a single method, represented by peaceful, non-violent resistance, which makes its discourse lack persuasive power, due to its lack of a model and its presentation of an example, which extends to include all the factions mentioned above, which lack not only the desire, but also the ability to act. In addition to that, the connection of some Palestinian factions to the former Syrian regime, and before that to the Baathist regime in Iraq, constituted one of the reasons for its weakness, and perhaps its complete absence from the Palestinian political scene.

This panoramic picture of the reality of the Palestinian factions, which form the backbone of the national movement, makes the question “Can the PLO be reformed” in light of this tragic reality a legitimate, rational, and essential question, as there is no point in building the most beautiful palaces on dilapidated foundations, because they will inevitably collapse at the first tremor.

We must acknowledge that our factions, without exception, whether Islamist or nationalist, leftist or rightist, are in dire need of comprehensive reconstruction, an honest review, and a real reorientation of course, instead of continuing to wail and fight over the skin of a bear before it is caught or over an authority without authority. We must first acknowledge that the Palestinian national movement is more in need than ever of reconstruction, of learning from its lessons, of returning to its founding principles, and of adopting the most appropriate mechanisms of struggle for the current stage, instead of searching for patchwork solutions that will only further complicate and exacerbate matters.

The Israeli occupation forces continue their aggression on the city of Tulkarm and its camp for the 83rd consecutive day, and on the 70th day on the Nur Shams camp, amid an escalation in the field, including raids, vandalism, and attacks on citizens and their property.

Local sources reported that the city witnessed a heavy deployment of military vehicles and infantry units last night, positioned around Gamal Abdel Nasser Square, Al-Haddadeen Street, and the eastern and southern neighborhoods, amid heavy firing of live ammunition and sound bombs at vehicles and civilians.

Israeli occupation forces detained a number of young men in the southern neighborhood, interrogated them on the spot, and set up a military checkpoint at the old education junction. They began stopping vehicles and checking citizens' IDs, but no arrests were reported.

Infantry forces also stormed the Dhenaba suburb east of the city, positioning themselves near the Attar platforms and carrying out extensive combing and search operations, while their vehicles patrolled the Al-Uqda roundabout area and Al-Firdaws Mosque at its northern entrance.

In Nour Shams camp, late last night, occupation soldiers fired heavy live ammunition at civilians' homes in the Jabal al-Nasr area. Meanwhile, the camp witnesses a daily heavy deployment of occupation vehicles and foot patrols, wreaking havoc and destruction in its neighborhoods and on civilians' property.

An occupation bulldozer also began leveling the schoolyard in Tulkarm camp, and closed its northern entrance with more earth mounds in an attempt to surround and isolate it from its surroundings.

Eyewitnesses reported that the occupation forces placed barbed wire at the entrances to the camp, particularly from the Abu al-Foul and al-Murabba'a neighborhoods, while large numbers of occupation soldiers were deployed in the airport neighborhood and began raiding a number of homes, causing widespread vandalism and destruction.

The occupation continues to seize homes and residential buildings on Nablus Street and the adjacent northern neighborhood, converting them into military barracks after forcibly evacuating their residents. The occupation continues to position its vehicles and bulldozers in the vicinity.

The ongoing Israeli aggression and escalation against the city of Tulkarm and its two camps resulted in the deaths of 13 citizens, including a child and two women, one of whom was eight months pregnant. Dozens more were injured and arrested.

It also resulted in the forced displacement of more than 4,000 families from the Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps, along with hundreds of citizens from the city's northern neighborhood after their homes were seized and a number of them converted into military barracks.

The aggression caused widespread destruction to the infrastructure, including homes, shops, and vehicles, which were completely and partially demolished, burned, vandalized, looted, and stolen. 396 homes were completely destroyed and 2,573 partially destroyed in the Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps, in addition to the closure of their entrances and alleys with earth mounds.

About two weeks ago, Palestinian citizen Yasser Abu Aram, from the northern Jordan Valley, faced a new chapter in his endless suffering after Israeli occupation forces stormed the Ras al-Ahmar community, demolished and dismantled his tents and all of his facilities, and seized them.

About a month earlier, Abu Aram, along with his sons and their families, five families totaling 35 individuals, were forcibly displaced from the Wadi al-Faw community where they lived. They were the last families to be forcibly displaced from the area, with families being displaced one after the other over the course of a year and a half, coinciding with the aggression on the Gaza Strip, as settler attacks in the area escalated and reached extremely dangerous levels.

The forced displacement faced by the Abu Aram family is similar to what hundreds of families have recently faced in the West Bank, particularly in the eastern foothills and Jordan Valley, where settlers backed by the occupation forces have increasingly targeted them. Displacement has escalated to an unprecedented level, coinciding with the war of extermination on the Gaza Strip over the past year and a half.

Data from the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission indicates that 29 communities in the West Bank have been displaced since October 2023.

Speaking to local sources, Abu Aram recounted the details of the settler violence he and his sons and their families endured over the past two months. This violence ultimately forced him to leave Wadi al-Faw, leading to the persecution, demolition, and dismantling of his facilities by the occupation forces in the Ras al-Ahmar area, where he had recently moved, forcing him to leave as well.

Abu Aram points out that life for residents of Wadi al-Faw has become hell over the past decade, following the establishment of two pastoral outposts by settlers on the eastern and western sides of the community. The first of the outposts was established in 2015, while the second was established in 2019.

He asserts that, for many years, he has not known a sense of security, as the settlers have spared no effort to terrorize and assault the residents, forcing them to leave their homes and communities in the Jordan Valley. They then fence off these lands and incorporate them into existing settlements and outposts.

Settler attacks ranged from assaulting citizens in their homes, to assaulting them, to harassing them over their livelihoods, which depend on livestock, by pursuing them in pastures and preventing them from entering them, in addition to trampling over livestock while grazing or stealing them.

Abu Aram adds: "All the suffering we have endured from the settlers over the years is nothing compared to the cruelty we witnessed from them during the last few days before our departure from Wadi al-Faw. At the end of last February, settlers from nearby outposts set up a tent a few meters from our homes, and that's when things started to get more dangerous."

For days afterward, the Abu Aram family lived under what he described as a state of siege, experiencing many forms of fear and being subjected to round-the-clock intimidation and attacks by armed settlers. They were then forcibly removed from the community at the beginning of March, heading to the Ras al-Ahmar area.

According to Mahdi Daraghmeh, head of the Al-Malih Village Council and Bedouin encampments, 13 families were living in the Wadi al-Faw community about a year and a half ago. These families were displaced one by one due to settler terrorism, the most recent being the family of Yasser Abu Aram and his sons, who number five.

Draghmeh estimates that more than 30 families from the northern Jordan Valley alone have been forcibly displaced from their homes due to settler attacks. This coincides with the ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip, which has been ongoing since October 2023.

Data from the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission also indicates that 29 communities in the West Bank were subjected to forced displacement during the same period. This represents a multiple of the displacements during the previous period. Over the two years prior, only four communities were displaced.

Draghmeh adds that the northern Jordan Valley, which has witnessed escalating settler attacks aimed at forcibly displacing its residents, is also being subjected to an unprecedented assault by the occupation forces, in a clear merging of roles.

He asserts that the occupation forces have recently seized large areas of land, in addition to implementing new laws that allow for the demolition of structures without prior notice. This was recently implemented with the Abu Aram family in the Ras al-Ahmar area, as well as other families in the Jordan Valley.

After the Abu Aram family was displaced from Wadi al-Faw and relocated to Ras al-Ahmar, they began experiencing new forms of suffering in the area where they had settled. The demolition and seizure operations carried out by the occupation forces included all their residential facilities, livestock pens, and their possessions, including electric generators, solar energy systems, and water tanks and tanks.

As a result, the family was forced to move again to a neighboring land in the same Ras al-Ahmar area, where they endured difficult and arduous conditions, while the threat of displacement continued to haunt them.

The family also suffered livestock losses when the occupation forces dismantled the pens while the livestock were inside. A number of iron poles and bars fell on them, leading to the deaths of approximately 10 heads of livestock, one after the other, over the following days. Abu Aram fears further losses to his livestock, which he relies on for his livelihood, due to the damage they sustained and the fact that they are now homeless.

Abu Aram, who owns around 2,000 head of cattle with his sons, asserts that he used to own a larger number in previous years, but that his livestock has gradually diminished in recent years due to several factors, all related to violations and restrictions imposed by settlers and occupation forces, including the persecution of shepherds, the seizure of pastureland, and the remaining springs and water sources.

As a result, shepherds have lost access to water and pasture, and the land has become increasingly cramped for them. They are now forced to purchase fodder year-round and transport water by tanker truck from neighboring areas. This is also a dangerous journey, as residents are subjected to harassment by settlers and occupation forces, who often seize the tankers.

A research paper issued by the Institute for Palestine Studies, published in September 2024, entitled "The Reality of the Agricultural Sector in the Jordan Valley after October 7, 2023," indicates that "before 1967, the Jordan Valley was home to approximately 320,000 Palestinians, but this number has decreased significantly due to the ongoing forced displacement policies implemented by the occupation."

Today, the number of Palestinians in the Jordan Valley does not exceed 65,000, distributed across 27 population centers (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 2023). Meanwhile, the number of Israeli settlers has doubled to more than 15,000, living in 37 settlements that seize over 50% of agricultural land (B'Tselem, 2023). These demographic shifts aim to alter the demographic composition of the Jordan Valley and facilitate Israeli control over the region.

According to the paper, "The challenges facing the agricultural and pastoral sector in the Jordan Valley have increased since October 7, 2023, as a result of the Israeli occupation's war of extermination against Gaza and the systematic ethnic displacement campaigns in the West Bank. During this period, the Jordan Valley witnessed an unprecedented escalation in attacks on farmers and shepherds, including the destruction of crops, the cutting down of fruit trees, and the displacement of shepherds from pastures."

These attacks not only aim to undermine agriculture and grazing, but also seek to empty the Jordan Valley of its Palestinian inhabitants, turning it into a purely colonial area.

A recent report by the Israeli anti-settlement movement Peace Now confirms that "the past year, 2024, was marked by a policy of reducing Palestinian space in Areas C and B, and expanding the Israeli presence in these areas."

The report adds that "at least 59 new colonial outposts have been established, most of them agricultural outposts, participating in the land grab and systematic displacement of Palestinians from the area," stressing that "this is an unprecedented number of new colonial outposts. From 1996 to the beginning of 2023, an annual average of less than 7 outposts were established."

Sheikh Ikrima Sabri: They crossed the red lines by performing ancient Talmudic religious rituals in an attempt to delude the world that Al-Aqsa is now under their control.

Rassem Obeidat: The process of total Judaization of Al-Aqsa is approaching, and there is a state of Arab and Islamic "death" that contributes to the implementation of Israeli plans.

Ismail Muslimani: The raids are not merely provocative acts, but rather part of a broader strategy aimed at Judaizing Jerusalem and changing its identity.

Dr. Talal Abu Afifa: Raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque have witnessed a significant escalation since Itamar Ben-Gvir's return to Netanyahu's government.

Tawfiq Taama: The incursions aim to gradually impose a fait accompli, and these policies are part of a larger plan aimed at displacing Jerusalemites from their city.

The past few days have witnessed an unprecedented escalation in settler incursions into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque (both quantitatively and qualitatively), under the full sponsorship and extensive participation of leaders, ministers, and Knesset members. These incursions included Talmudic rituals and attempts to slaughter sacrificial animals, coinciding with the Jewish celebration of the so-called "Passover."

This escalation in Israeli violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque comes amidst a growing focus on the ongoing war of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, as well as political efforts to reach a truce that would halt the bloodshed and allow humanitarian aid to reach more than two million Palestinians living in hellish conditions. This is all part of an effort to establish a new reality at Al-Aqsa Mosque, leading to the imposition of a spatial division similar to that imposed at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the 1990s.

Clerics, writers, and analysts who spoke to Al-Quds said that settlers and Israeli extremists have crossed red lines by performing ancient Talmudic religious rituals in an attempt to delude the world that Al-Aqsa Mosque is now under their control. They emphasized that these incursions are not merely provocative acts, but rather part of a broader strategy aimed at Judaizing Jerusalem and changing its identity.

They noted that raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque have significantly escalated since Itamar Ben-Gvir's return to Netanyahu's government, emphasizing that these raids aim to gradually impose a fait accompli, and that these policies are part of a larger plan aimed at displacing Jerusalemites from their city.

Violating the Palestinian presence to please the extreme right

Sheikh Dr. Ekrima Sabri, head of the Supreme Islamic Council and preacher at Al-Aqsa Mosque, described the settlers' incursions during the Jewish Passover holiday as unprecedented. He said, "The city of Jerusalem has been transformed into a military barracks, and Israeli security forces have tightened the siege around the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, preventing Muslims from entering, thus paving the way for hundreds of settlers to storm and desecrate the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Sabry emphasized that what is happening now is a violation and an emptying of the Palestinian presence, and is intended to please the extreme right so that they can play and riot as they please in the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque.

He said: "They have crossed red lines these days by performing ancient Talmudic religious rituals that provoke Muslims' feelings, in an attempt to delude the world that Al-Aqsa is now under their control."

Youth in Jerusalem rush to defend Al-Aqsa

Sheikh Sabri pointed out that on the first day of the Gaza war, we witnessed an escalation by the occupation, which exploited the situation and intensified its measures against worshippers. Meanwhile, we observed the enthusiasm of young people in Jerusalem who came out to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque, demonstrating their popular awareness and commitment to it.

He stressed that Jerusalem has been distinguished from other regions since the beginning of the Gaza War until today, as the occupation has exploited the wartime atmosphere to encroach on Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

He said, "It is true that during the month of Ramadan, under pressure from the masses, the occupation authorities backed down a bit and allowed thousands of worshippers to reach Al-Aqsa Mosque. But as soon as Ramadan ended, these authorities reimposed strict restrictions."

Sheikh Sabri pointed out that, with the recent Jewish holidays approaching, the occupation authorities have begun preventing thousands of young Muslims from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque. These aggressive measures are unacceptable and devoid of any right or legitimacy, as they constitute a blatant assault on the sanctity of the mosque.

Attack on Jordanian custodianship of Al-Aqsa

He said: "During the holy month of Ramadan, there was a large turnout from our people in the 1948 territories, and we thank them for their efforts. However, after Ramadan, this enthusiasm and turnout declined, particularly on Saturdays and Fridays, while extremist incursions occurred on other days as well."

He added: "The call must be directed - as the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, called - to all Muslims, to make their pilgrimage to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque."

He emphasized that these violations by the occupation constitute an assault on Al-Aqsa Mosque and the authority of the Islamic Waqf Department. They also represent an attempt to strip Al-Aqsa's guards, who are affiliated with the Islamic Waqf, of these powers, as their movement is paralyzed during Jewish holidays.

Sheikh Sabry concluded by saying, "This constitutes a blatant attack not only on Islamic endowments, but also on Jordanian custodianship of Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Raids with the participation of ministers and Knesset members

For his part, writer and political analyst Rasem Obeidat said that the repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque, with unprecedented numbers and official participation from ministers, Knesset members, and rabbis, are a clear indication of the growing threat posed by the occupation.

He added: These incursions come within the context of a systematic plan to Judaize Al-Aqsa Mosque, which goes beyond what is known as the temporal and spatial divisions, but rather impose new realities in Al-Aqsa, and change the religious, historical and legal character of Al-Aqsa, such that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is being transferred from its Islamic era to the Jewish era, and its special Islamic sanctity is being stripped away, in terms of the shared sanctity, Islamic-Jewish temporarily, in exchange for the Muslim sheikh a Jewish rabbi, and in exchange for the Muslim worshipper a Jewish worshipper and in exchange for the Muslim child a Jewish child.

Obaidat emphasized that the mastermind behind the project to Judaize Al-Aqsa Mosque is the so-called Jewish Minister of National Security, Ben-Gvir, who has stormed Al-Aqsa eight times since his appointment. He boasts that the Judaization and imposition of new realities at Al-Aqsa achieved during his tenure has not been achieved for 30 years. He also expresses his joy at the participation of Knesset members such as Zvi Sukkot and Amelet Halevi, and rabbis such as the extremist Rabbi Shimshon Elbaum and Arnon Segal, an activist in the so-called Temple Faithful group, in the storming operations.

Completion of the ritual of reviving the spiritual structure

Obaidat pointed out that the process of complete Judaization of Al-Aqsa is approaching, as is the case with the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. There is a state of Arab and Islamic "death" that contributes to the implementation of Israeli Judaization projects and plans. They have completed everything known as the rituals of reviving the spiritual temple: public individual and collective Talmudic and Torah prayers, epic prostration, the introduction of prayer shawls and black wraps, entering in the white garb of priests, the blowing of the trumpet, and the introduction of plant throne offerings into the heart of Al-Aqsa Mosque, consisting of saffron leaves, palm fronds, and dried citrus fruits. What remains for them is the introduction of what are known as Passover animal offerings and their slaughter in Al-Aqsa Mosque, as the final ritual of the "revival of the spiritual temple." After that, the transition will take place to practically establish the Third Temple, preceded by the establishment of a Jewish synagogue in the eastern region in place of the Bab al-Rahma prayer hall, and after that the slaughter of what is known as the red cow, five of which were brought from the American state of Texas, "bred" through genetic engineering. That cow, which had completed its legal age of "two years," was intended to be slaughtered on the summit of Mount Sinai.

Expect a tsunami of extremists storming Al-Aqsa

Obaidat confirmed that plans are currently underway to slaughter the cow in the heart of Al-Aqsa Mosque and scatter its blood over as many rabbis as possible, in order to circumvent the decision of the so-called Chief Rabbinate not to ascend to what is known as the Temple Mount, as they refuse to ascend without a clause to purify themselves from the impurity of graves. The ashes of the slaughtered cow will be scattered over as many rabbis as possible, to purify themselves from the impurity of graves.

He added: “We will witness a ‘tsunami’ of extremists storming Al-Aqsa. Instead of 100-150 settlers daily, the number will become 1,000-1,500 settlers daily. This means that the Judaization of Al-Aqsa and the threat to it have become serious and great. Arabs and Muslims will continue to repeat the lie of religious war and religious conflict, while they do not lift a finger regarding the place of ascension of their Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and their first qibla.”

Obaidat recalled what former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir said after Michael Rohan, a Jew of Australian origin, burned Al-Aqsa Mosque on August 21, 1969, including the historic pulpit of Saladin. She said that she stayed up all night crying, fearing for the fate of her country, fearing that it would be invaded by Arab and Islamic armies due to the desecration and burning of Al-Aqsa. When dawn broke and nothing had happened, she said: "Now we can do anything without fear, for this nation is a vocal phenomenon."

Changing the historical and legal status of Al-Aqsa Mosque

In turn, Ismail Muslimani, an expert on Israeli affairs, said that the repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound carry multiple messages and objectives, and lead to dangerous consequences on the religious, political, and social levels.

He added, "One of these messages is that the Israeli occupation, through these incursions, seeks to send a clear message that it is imposing its control over Jerusalem and Islamic holy sites. The incursions are used as a tool to provoke Palestinians and push them to react in ways that justify further repression."

Muslimani explained that the occupation aims to change the historical and legal status of Al-Aqsa Mosque, demonstrating clear Judaization intentions.

Regarding the objectives, he said, "The occupation seeks to divide Al-Aqsa Mosque between Muslims and Jewish settlers, as happened with the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron." He added, "Extremist groups seek to build the 'Temple' on the ruins of Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is a long-term strategic goal."

He added that the raids also aim to undermine the morale of the Palestinians and weaken their steadfastness.

Regarding the consequences, Muslimani explained that these incursions lead to an escalation of tensions in Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, increasing the likelihood of clashes.

He believes that the raids fuel religious conflict, threatening peace in the region.

In contrast, Muslimani said that these practices strengthen the Palestinians' steadfastness and unify their ranks in confronting the occupation.

Devotion to spatial and temporal division

He emphasized that the incursions are not merely provocative acts, but rather part of a broader strategy aimed at Judaizing Jerusalem and changing its identity. He noted that these repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound carry profound strategic, political, and religious dimensions and are used as a tool to achieve long-term goals.

He explained that one of the strategic dimensions is imposing spatial control, as the occupation seeks to change the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque by dividing it temporally and spatially, paving the way for permanent control. He noted that these incursions are part of a broader strategy to Judaize Jerusalem and alter its historical identity.

He added, "The incursions aim to spread fear and frustration among Palestinians, weakening their ability to resist. The occupation uses these incursions as a means to demonstrate its strength and control to the international community."

Regarding the political dimensions, Maslamani noted that the Israeli government uses these incursions to gain support from extreme right-wing movements within Israel. They are also seen as a means of appeasing hardline religious groups pressing for their goals.

He added that the occupation, through these incursions, seeks to impose a new fait accompli, which will complicate any future negotiations on Jerusalem.

Building the "alleged temple" on the ruins of the mosque

He pointed to the religious dimensions, including the revival of biblical narratives, with extremist groups seeking to promote religious narratives calling for the construction of the "alleged temple" on the ruins of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

He explained that these narratives are used as a tool to justify the incursions before the Israeli and international community, noting that Al-Aqsa Mosque is considered a religious and cultural symbol for Palestinians and Muslims around the world, and targeting it is an attempt to undermine this symbolism.

Regarding the repercussions and consequences, Muslimani said that the raids lead to an escalation of tensions in Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, increasing the likelihood of violent confrontations. He added that these tensions could spread to other countries, threatening the stability of the region.

He emphasized, however, that these incursions strengthen the Palestinians' steadfastness and unify their ranks in confronting the occupation. Consequently, Al-Aqsa Mosque becomes a symbol of resistance, which stimulates popular and international support for the Palestinian cause.

Muslimani considered the visit of Knesset members and Israeli officials, along with recent statements by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said, "For the first time in 30 years, prayer, prostration, singing, and dancing are taking place at Al-Aqsa Mosque," a real threat to the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque, and clearly demonstrates that Israel has violated international and historical laws governing the status of Jerusalem and its holy sites.

Concluding his statement to Al-Quds, Maslamani emphasized that the repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque are no longer merely provocative acts, but rather part of a systematic strategy aimed at changing the political and religious reality in the holy city. However, the steadfastness and resilience of the Palestinians, along with the growing international support for their cause, confirm that this strategy faces strong resistance and real challenges at the popular and diplomatic levels.

An international position that does not go beyond the limits of "condemnations and denunciations."

For his part, Dr. Talal Abu Afifa, a member of the General Secretariat of the General Union of Palestinian Writers and Authors, confirmed that raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque have witnessed a significant escalation since the return of Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Israeli government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu.

He pointed out that Ben-Gvir enjoys clear support from Netanyahu and the majority of the government's components in all his provocative actions and ongoing incitement against Jerusalemites and Palestinians in general.

Abu Afifa explained that the Israeli Prime Minister is counting on Ben-Gvir's support to prevent the collapse of his government, especially since Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party holds eight of the 14 seats it obtained through its alliance with Bezalel Smotrich. Conversely, Ben-Gvir needs Netanyahu's cover to continue his extremist policies under a government described as "entirely right-wing."

Abu Afifa criticized the international community's silence regarding the repeated violations taking place at Al-Aqsa Mosque and the genocide being perpetrated against people, trees, and stones in the Gaza Strip. He argued that the international stance does not go beyond "condemnations and denunciations," which have no impact on the ground.

Abu Afifa said: While European countries rushed to impose severe sanctions on Russia for its occupation of parts of Ukraine and the killing of hundreds of civilians, they continue to impose those sanctions to this day. What happened in Ukraine represents only 5% of the systematic destruction and killing that the Gaza Strip has suffered, without receiving similar deterrence from the international community.

Symbolic and strategic messages and goals

For his part, writer and researcher Tawfiq Ta'ma asserted that the ongoing incursions into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli settlers are carried out under official sponsorship and with the support of the Israeli security and military establishment. They carry multiple messages and objectives, some symbolic and some strategic, that vary from period to period according to political and security circumstances.

Taama explained that Israel has been seeking for years to impose a temporal and spatial division at Al-Aqsa Mosque, and has already succeeded in imposing a kind of temporal division, setting specific times for settlers to enter.

He added that the next phase of this project involves attempting to implement spatial division, as previously occurred at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

He pointed out that the continued incursions are part of a policy of gradually imposing a fait accompli, noting that the number of settlers invading the area is increasing daily, reaching hundreds on some days, which constitutes a dangerous precedent.

He emphasized that extremist ministers like Itamar Ben-Gvir use the Al-Aqsa issue to gain support from their far-right base, particularly during times of political tension or during elections, by flexing their muscles and asserting control over Jerusalem.

He also pointed out that these incursions aim to provoke Palestinians and drag them into confrontations, as worshippers and worshippers are assaulted and expelled from the mosque's courtyards to provide a safe environment for settlers to perform their religious rituals. This constitutes a blatant provocation to Muslims around the world.

Preventing influential Jerusalem figures from entering the mosque

Taama explained that the occupation authorities are preventing many influential Jerusalemite figures from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque, in an attempt to silence voices conveying the truth to the world. They also impose strict restrictions on Palestinian entry, sometimes extending to a six-month ban.

He added that these policies are part of a larger plan aimed at displacing Jerusalemites from their city, through revoking residency permits, confiscating homes, and demolishing real estate and industrial facilities under the pretext of lacking permits. This makes life in Jerusalem unbearable and forces Palestinians to forcibly leave.

Taama emphasized that extremist Jewish groups have clear ideological and religious motivations, through which they seek to demolish Al-Aqsa Mosque and build the so-called "Third Temple." He noted that extremist religious thought has become the dominant ideology within Israeli society, which is increasingly leaning toward the extreme right.

At the end of his statement to Al-Quds, Taama warned that the repetition of these incursions aims to make them "normal" and acceptable, not only to Palestinians but also to international public opinion, which has begun to treat these violations as ordinary events. He emphasized that this is extremely dangerous, as it reinforces the Israeli narrative, obscures the truth, and threatens the Palestinian presence in the Holy City.

A number of citizens were killed and others were injured when Israeli occupation aircraft bombed the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Local sources reported that five civilians were killed and dozens injured when a tent housing displaced members of the al-Qadi family was targeted on Roni Saleh Street in the al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Yunis.

Four civilians, including two children and a girl, were also killed, and others were injured, when a tent housing displaced persons belonging to the Abu Nada family was bombed in the same area.

Local sources confirmed the death of one citizen and the injury of 20 others, including 15 children, some of whom sustained serious injuries, when Israeli warplanes bombed the Abu Shamala family home in the western camp of Khan Yunis.

In Gaza City, a number of citizens were killed and others injured when the occupation forces targeted a tent on Abu Hasira Street in the west.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that no aid has entered the Gaza Strip since March 2.

UNRWA indicated, in tweets on the "X" platform, that this period is three times longer than the blockade imposed in October 2023.

She noted that approximately 69% of the Gaza Strip is subject to forced displacement orders following the issuance of at least 20 such orders by the Israeli military. She explained that UN estimates indicate that approximately 420,000 citizens have been displaced again since Israel resumed its offensive on Gaza.

She pointed out that approximately 90% of the Gaza Strip's population was displaced from their homes during the Israeli war on the Strip.

She stressed that the resumption of bombing and the lack of access to humanitarian supplies are impacting the ability of humanitarian agencies to meet the needs of Gaza's citizens, including food, water, sanitation, shelter, and other needs.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reported that 1.9 million people had been forcibly displaced amidst bombing, fear, and loss in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli bulldozers demolished several homes in the al-Damj neighborhood of Jenin refugee camp on Wednesday, as the Israeli aggression against the camp continues.

According to the Jenin Municipality, estimates indicate that the occupation has demolished approximately 600 homes in the camp since the beginning of its aggression 79 days ago, in addition to rendering 3,200 housing units uninhabitable.

A number of citizens were killed and others were injured when Israeli warplanes bombed a group of citizens in the Al-Jurn area of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip.

Jamal Ahmed Omeira Al-Tarabin was also killed as a result of shelling that targeted the Qizan Rashwan area, south of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Medical sources announced the death of citizen Musa Ibrahim Za'rab, who succumbed to his wounds sustained on Thursday following an Israeli bombardment of the Al-Shakoush area, northwest of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Paramedic Yasser Adel Qudaih and young man Suleiman Abu Daraz were also martyred after the occupation targeted a group of citizens and bombed a house in the town of Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunis. They were subsequently transferred to the European Hospital.

At least seven civilians were killed and dozens more wounded, including women, children, and the elderly, most of them seriously, on Friday when the Israeli occupation forces bombed a house southeast of Gaza City.

Local sources reported that Israeli warplanes bombed the home of the Nassar family in the vicinity of Al-Sikka Street in the Al-Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, resulting in the martyrdom of: Abdul Latif Nassar, Nayef Abdul Latif Nassar, Amani Abdul Latif Nassar, Rowan Abdul Latif Nassar, and Hala Abdul Latif Nassar.

Medical sources reported that 43 civilians were killed in several raids launched by Israeli occupation forces on the Gaza Strip since dawn today.

Today, Friday, the Israeli occupation forces bulldozed main and side streets in the town of Burqin, west of Jenin.

Local sources said that occupation bulldozers began razing streets between the towns of Burqin and Al-Hashimiya, west of Jenin, in addition to side roads.

The occupation forces also arrested the young man, Thaera Samar, while he was riding his motorcycle near the town of Nazlat Zeid, west of Jenin.

The occupation's aggression on the city and camp of Jenin continues for the 88th consecutive day, leaving 38 martyrs and dozens of injuries and arrests.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that the stifling blockade imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities on the Gaza Strip for nearly seven weeks is the most severe since the start of the aggression on October 7, 2023.

This came in a report published by the agency on Friday regarding the current situation in the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to Israeli aggression for more than a year and a half.

UNRWA stated that 420,000 citizens have been displaced again in the Gaza Strip since March 18 due to the renewed aggression.

The agency confirmed that the lack of humanitarian aid entering Gaza and the ongoing blockade imposed by Israel for nearly seven weeks are more severe than the initial period following October 7, 2023.

She stated that as a result of the blockade, vital humanitarian supplies in Gaza, including food, fuel, medical aid, and vaccines for children, are rapidly running out.

She pointed out that many civilians have lost their lives due to the occupation's bombing since the ceasefire agreement was violated on March 18.

US media sources reported on Friday that Iran proposed a three-stage agreement during talks last Saturday (April 25) in Muscat, Oman, that would limit uranium enrichment to the same levels agreed upon in the 2015 agreement from which US President Donald Trump withdrew in May 2018, in exchange for lifting US sanctions.

According to the International Iran News Agency, Iran's proposal would temporarily reduce uranium enrichment to 3.67%, the level set in the 2015 agreement (which Trump withdrew from during his first term). In exchange, the United States would allow Iran to access frozen financial assets and export its oil in the first phase, the agency reported. Uranium is considered weapons-grade when enriched to 90%.

In the second phase, the United States will lift more sanctions and prevent the return of UN sanctions, according to Iran International. In return, Iran will reportedly allow the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to resume inspections of nuclear sites, while implementing the Additional Protocol, which allows the agency to conduct surprise inspections of undeclared sites.

During Saturday's talks, Tehran proposed a three-stage agreement that would limit uranium enrichment to the same levels agreed upon in the faltering 2015 deal in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions, the opposition Iran International News Agency reported Thursday, citing three diplomatic sources.

According to Iran International, Iran's proposal would temporarily reduce uranium enrichment to 3.67%, the level set in the 2015 agreement that Trump withdrew from during his first term. In exchange, the United States would allow Iran to access frozen financial assets and export its oil in the first phase, the agency reported.

It's worth noting that uranium is considered weapons-grade when enriched to 90%. In the second phase, the United States will lift further sanctions and prevent the reimposition of UN sanctions, according to Iran International.

In return, Iran will reportedly allow the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency to resume inspections of nuclear sites, while implementing the Additional Protocol, which allows the agency to conduct surprise inspections of undeclared sites.

In the final phase, the report stated that Iran would transfer its highly enriched uranium stockpiles to a third country, the US Congress would ratify the nuclear agreement, and the Trump administration would lift primary and secondary sanctions.

According to the agency, White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff surprised the Iranian delegation by welcoming the offer made by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi during their talks in Oman. This report comes as Witkoff and Araqchi are scheduled to hold a second round of talks in Rome on Saturday, April 19th and 25th. Witkoff indicated on Monday that the White House is seeking an agreement that limits, rather than destroys, Iran's nuclear program, with a minimum limit on uranium enrichment and inspections to ensure that Iran is not advancing toward potential weapons development.

However, the next day, he toughened his stance, saying that any agreement would require the Islamic Republic to "cease and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weapons programs."

Iran insists it is not seeking nuclear weapons, but since December it has increased its already substantial stockpile of 60% enriched uranium by about half and is on track to nearly quadruple its uranium ore production this year, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that President Donald Trump, who had threatened to bomb Iranian nuclear sites, had "backed off" such an attack planned by Israel next month. Trump, who instead opted to begin negotiations with Tehran, partially confirmed the report later Thursday, saying, "I wouldn't say 'backed off,' but I'm in no rush."

Ten civilians were killed and others injured on Friday when the occupation forces bombed a tent housing displaced people in the Zeitoun neighborhood and a barbershop tent in Khan Yunis.

Local sources reported that an Israeli drone targeted a tent housing displaced persons near the Badr Mosque in the al-Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, killing four civilians and wounding others.

She added that an Israeli drone bombed a barbershop in central Khan Yunis, killing six civilians.

Medical sources said that 38 citizens were killed in the occupation's bombing of various areas in the Gaza Strip since dawn on Friday.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 51,065, and the number of injuries to 116,505, since the start of the aggression on October 7, 2023.