Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
On the 50th day of the Gaza ceasefire, Israel carried out continuing airstrikes in defiance of the Trump brokered peace plan. What US President Donald Trump planned on is not holding up in the face of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s impunity.
Israeli aircraft launched strikes on the Al-Tuffah and Al-Shujaiya neighborhoods in Gaza City, while artillery units targeted the eastern area of Jabalia. The Nasser Medical Complex reported the killing of a Palestinian in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis.
According to the Anadolu Agency, Israeli armored vehicles opened fire overnight on the eastern areas of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in southern Gaza City.
Helicopter gunships also fired machine guns at the towns of Bani Suhaila and Al-Qarara east of Khan Younis.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres reaffirmed that the Palestinian people have the right to dignity, justice, and self-determination, stressing that these rights have been violated over the past two years. He renewed calls to end the illegal occupation and to make irreversible progress toward a two-state solution where Israel and Palestine live side by side in peace.
The Executive Director of UNICEF warned that many children in Gaza continue to suffer from hunger, disease, and exposure to cold temperatures, placing their lives at serious risk.
French anti-terror prosecutors have opened a war-crimes investigation into the killing of two French children in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on October 24, 2023. However, prosecutors ruled that there are insufficient grounds to investigate genocide or crimes against humanity, despite petitions filed by the children’s grandmother and the French Human Rights League.
Other complaints have been filed in France concerning alleged Israeli violations, including one accusing two French-Israeli soldiers of summary executions in Gaza.
Turkey, under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is seeking a post-war role in Gaza despite firm Israeli opposition.
A report in the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, authored from Istanbul, highlighted the deterioration in Turkey–Israel relations during the Gaza war. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar attributed Israel’s rejection of Turkish participation in a Gaza peacekeeping force to Erdoğan’s “long-standing hostility.” The comments followed a Turkish arrest warrant issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and associates on charges of genocide.
A spokesperson for the Israeli government declared, “There will be no Turkish ground forces—now or in the future.”
According to the report, Israel has resisted Turkish involvement since the start of the war due to Ankara’s close ties with Hamas, which Turkey views as a liberation movement and whose leaders it regularly hosts.
The report outlines the historical trajectory of the relationship—from Turkey’s early recognition of Israel in 1949, to years of strategic partnership, to severe strain under the AK Party government. Relations collapsed after the 2010 Mavi Marmara raid, then slowly normalized until late 2023—only to sour drastically again after Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Escalating frictions also emerged over Syria and competition in the Eastern Mediterranean. By late 2024, Turkey and Israel had withdrawn ambassadors, halted flights, and Ankara closed its airspace and ports to Israeli traffic. In August, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced a full freeze of trade relations.
Despite official declarations, UN trade data shows Turkey exported $2.9 billion worth of goods to Israel in 2024—down from $5.3 billion the previous year but still making Turkey one of Israel’s top suppliers. Analysts suggest traders circumvented the ban by shipping through intermediary countries or labeling goods as destined for “Palestine.”
The report concludes that while escalation between the two countries is unlikely for now, Turkey continues to seek influence in post-war Gaza arrangements, underestimating Israel’s leverage in Washington.
Egypt once again rejected any attempt to divide the Gaza Strip and condemned Israel’s escalation and settlement expansions. Cairo called for deploying international forces to monitor the ceasefire, facilitate humanitarian aid, and lay the groundwork for reconstruction leading to an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.
U.S. Central Command announced the expansion of its Gaza Civil-Military Coordination Center to 50 participating countries and international organizations. CENTCOM highlighted efforts to repair the main fiber-optic cable supplying Gaza’s internet and facilitate the entry of over 24,000 aid and commercial trucks in the past five weeks. Work is ongoing to clear unexploded ordnance and prepare winter supplies.
A Hamas delegation headed by Mohammed Darwish departed Cairo for Doha without reaching agreement on the “second phase” of the Gaza accord or resolving the fate of Hamas fighters trapped in Rafah’s tunnels. Sources confirmed the delegation did not meet with Fatah leaders as expected.
Negotiations included discussions with senior Egyptian officials, including intelligence chief Hassan Rashad, focusing on extending the ceasefire and managing the tunnel crisis.
The Israeli army announced it had located the bodies of nine additional Palestinian fighters inside tunnels in eastern Rafah, adding that more than 30 fighters were killed as they attempted to flee through the network.
Dozens of Hamas fighters have been trapped for weeks beneath areas now under Israeli control. Mediators—including the U.S., Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey—are discussing a proposal for granting them safe passage out of the tunnels to areas outside Israeli control. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has rejected such an arrangement.
An unusual surge in new smartphones entering Gaza since the ceasefire has prompted widespread concern online. Activists questioned why Israel is allowing large quantities of phones in while still restricting essential supplies such as tents and construction materials.
Some expressed fears that compromised devices could be used for surveillance or sabotage, recalling the 2024 Lebanon pager explosions that killed and injured hundreds and was engineered by Israeli intelligence.
The prospects for peace in Gaza look uncertain, and according to many analysts, they appear dim. The international community has spoken in part through the July 2024 International Court of Justice advisory opinion reaffirming the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.
A UN commission found Israel responsible for acts of genocide in Gaza, and other scholarly groups deemed that Israel had carried out genocide in Gaza.
Trump wants peace, but Netanyahu wants war. The Israeli citizens are held hostage to a government which does not listen to their demands. At the same time, only about 17% of Israeli Jews want a two-state solution, but about 70% of Israeli Jews want an end to the Gaza war.
When the Israeli Jews realize that their long-term security, and the existence of Israel, depends on granting the Palestinian people of Gaza and the West Bank the same human rights, and civil rights, that they have enjoyed since 1948, then the world might see peace in the Middle East.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist.