The ongoing Israeli aggression on the city of Tulkarm and its camp has entered its 80th day, and the 67th day on the Nur Shams camp, amid ongoing escalation on the ground, raids, and arrests.

Tulkarm city, its refugee camps, and its suburbs witnessed a heavy deployment of Israeli occupation forces and infantry units at dawn on Wednesday, accompanied by raids and searches in several neighborhoods, amid heavy gunfire and sound bombs.

Local sources reported that infantry units were deployed after midnight on the Mount Employee Housing in the Aktaba suburb, opposite the Nour Shams camp, amid extensive combing operations. A massive explosion and heavy gunfire were heard.

Late last night, Israeli occupation forces raided the Al-Qaisi and Al-Huda gas station in the Al-Salam neighborhood east of the city, detaining a number of young men there. They searched them, checked their IDs, and abused them. No arrests were reported.

The military deployment extended to the suburb of Dhnaba and the road connecting it to the town of Kafr al-Labad to the east, where the forces fired sound bombs and arrested Osama al-Ali, the brother of the martyr Moatasem al-Ali, and subjected him to field investigation before releasing him later this morning.

Occupation forces patrolled several neighborhoods in the city, most notably: Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital Street, the center of the vegetable market, the eastern neighborhood, Nablus Street, and Courts Street, where they obstructed vehicle traffic and prevented them from passing on many occasions.

In recent days, the occupation forces have escalated their forced displacement campaigns against residents of the Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, Nablus Street, and the traffic circle surrounding the city's northern neighborhood. After threats and intimidation, residents were forced to evacuate their homes, given a short period of time to take their belongings with them, and then turned the homes into military barracks.

Meanwhile, Nablus Road, which connects the Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, has witnessed a heavy deployment of occupation forces, harassing residents and obstructing their movement on the road, which has been closed off with earth mounds in both directions. Roadblocks are being erected along the road, preventing vehicles from passing.

In a related development, in-person classes resumed this morning at five girls' secondary and elementary schools in the city's eastern neighborhood: Al-Adawiya, Abu Salma Al-Karmi, Khawla Bint Al-Azwar, and Ishbiliya. These schools were closed for more than two and a half months due to the aggression.

The resumption of classes at these schools comes days after the resumption of in-person education at the rest of the city's schools and its suburbs, which began on the 6th of this month. However, these five schools were delayed due to the security situation in the region.

The ongoing Israeli aggression and escalation against the city of Tulkarm and its two camps resulted in the deaths of 13 civilians, 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 refugee camps, in addition to closing their entrances and alleys with earth mounds.

Hundreds of settlers stormed Joseph's Tomb east of Nablus last night.

Local sources reported that several buses carrying settlers stormed the shrine under heavy protection from the occupation army and performed Talmudic rituals.

Hebrew media reported that hundreds of settlers, accompanied by Knesset Member Zvi Sukkot and head of the Northern West Bank Settlement Council Yossi Dagan, stormed the shrine and performed Talmudic prayers.

Large forces of the occupation army, accompanied by several military bulldozers, stormed the eastern part of the city of Nablus, deployed on the roofs of buildings surrounding the shrine, and razed the surrounding streets before the settlers stormed in.

Israeli occupation forces launched a campaign of raids and arrests in the West Bank at dawn and early Wednesday morning.

In Qalqilya, the occupation forces stormed the town of Azzun and arrested Nasser Salama and his son Amr, Ashraf Salim and his son Muhammad, Saeed Mazid, and Ibrahim Badwan, after raiding and searching their homes.

At dawn, the occupation forces stormed the city of Qalqilya from its eastern entrance, and deployed in several neighborhoods, including: "Al-Iskan, Al-Masakwa, and Al-Wad," and searched a number of homes, without any arrests being reported.

In Ramallah, the occupation forces arrested journalist Ibrahim Abu Safia after raiding his home in Beit Sira.

The occupation forces also raided the home of the freed prisoner, Salama Al-Qattawi, in the town of Birzeit, north of Ramallah, and handed him a notice to report to their intelligence services.

Meanwhile, the occupation army raided a number of homes during raids on the towns of Birzeit, north of Ramallah, and Beit Liqya, as well as the villages of Budrus, west of Ramallah, and Beit Lilo, northwest of Ramallah, without reporting any arrests.

In Bethlehem, occupation forces stormed the village of Husan, stationed themselves in several neighborhoods, and raided and searched a number of homes. The owners were identified as Firas Ibrahim Hamamra and Muhammad Mahmoud Hamamra, but no arrests were reported.

Israeli occupation forces stormed the towns of Anabta, Bal'a, and Kafr al-Labad, east of Tulkarm, on Tuesday evening.

Local sources reported that the occupation forces, backed by two Eitan armored vehicles, stormed the town of Anabta, coming from the Anab military checkpoint at its eastern entrance. They patrolled its main streets and deployed infantry units, which pursued young men, arrested a number of them, and interrogated them on the spot.

The same sources added that occupation forces then stormed the town of Bal'a, set up a checkpoint at its main entrance, and blocked vehicle traffic. They also stormed the town of Kafr al-Labad, firing sound bombs, but no arrests were reported.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Tuesday that food stocks that entered the Gaza Strip during the ceasefire period have run out.

UNRWA Deputy Director of Operations in Gaza, John White, said in a statement published by the agency on the X platform that the stocks that entered Gaza during the ceasefire have run out.

In early March, the first phase of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel concluded. The agreement, which went into effect on January 19, 2025, was brokered by Egypt and Qatar and supported by the United States.

While Hamas has adhered to the terms of the first phase, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, has reneged on the start of the second phase in deference to extremists in his ruling coalition, according to Hebrew media.

White noted that Gaza has been under siege since last March, and that Israel has not allowed any food, non-food items, or anything else into the Strip.

"We are facing the risk of famine again, as happened last year," he warned.

With full American support, Israel has continued its genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving approximately 167,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them women and children, in addition to more than 11,000 missing.

Israel has been blockading Gaza for the 18th year, leaving approximately 1.5 million of its 2.4 million Palestinian citizens homeless after their homes were destroyed in the war of extermination. The Strip has entered a state of famine due to Tel Aviv's closure of the crossings to humanitarian aid.

Two citizens were killed and others were injured on Tuesday evening, as a result of Israeli occupation forces' shelling of the Mawasi al-Qarara area, northwest of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to local sources, citizens Fathi Abdul Qader Abu Shaar (56 years old) and Yahya Fathi Abu Shaar (33 years old) were killed after the occupation targeted a tent housing displaced people in the Mawasi Al-Qarara area.

In the same context, fires broke out in citizens' homes east of Gaza City as a result of Israeli artillery shelling.

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation forces have launched an aggression against the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of 51,000 civilians, the majority of whom were children and women, and the injury of 116,343 others. This is a preliminary toll, with a number of victims still buried under the rubble and on the streets, unable to be reached by ambulances and rescue teams.

Jordan's General Intelligence Department (GID) has thwarted plots "aimed at undermining national security and inciting chaos and physical destruction within the country."

The General Intelligence Department revealed in a statement on Tuesday that 16 individuals involved in the plots had been arrested, which the department had been closely monitoring since 2021, according to the Jordan News Agency (Petra).

The plots included manufacturing missiles using local tools and others imported from abroad for illegal purposes, possessing explosives and firearms, concealing a missile ready for use, a drone manufacturing project, and recruiting and training individuals within the Kingdom and subjecting them to training abroad.

The General Intelligence Department announced that it had referred all cases to the State Security Court for legal action.

It is noteworthy that in May of last year (2024), Jordan thwarted an "Iranian plot" to smuggle weapons into the country in order to carry out acts of sabotage.

Sources revealed at the time that the weapons were sent by Iranian-backed factions in Syria to a Muslim Brotherhood cell in Jordan with ties to the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement.

It's not shameful for them

It's also worth noting that King Abdullah II, during his meeting with a group of military retirees at the Royal Hashemite Court last February, pointed out that there are individuals within Jordan who take orders from abroad, asking, "Isn't that shameful?"

Thwarting smuggling attempts

It's worth noting that Jordan has repeatedly announced the thwarting of numerous attempts to smuggle weapons and drugs by infiltrators linked to Iranian militias in Syria.

While some shipments were able to enter undetected.

However, last year witnessed significant tensions between Oman and Tehran, which had previously denied involvement in these smuggling operations, following the attack launched by hundreds of missiles and drones against Israel, and the latter's subsequent response.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he visited the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, without providing further details, according to Reuters.

This comes as the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip continues.

The number of Israeli soldiers protesting the ongoing war in Gaza is also increasing, with calls for an end to the war continuing. Discontent is mounting over the continued presence of detainees in the Strip, prompting the army to change its policy toward protesting soldiers, subsequently conducting a dialogue with them during the Passover holiday.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Tuesday that the army command will hold talks with soldiers who signed protest letters demanding a resolution to the detainees' issue, even if it means ending the war.

World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris said that the Israeli blockade is preventing the maintenance of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip, which has been rendered out of service due to the recent bombing.

This came in a written response to Harris on Monday regarding developments at the hospital and the condition of patients and medical staff.

Harris reported that 40 patients were in "critical" condition and could not be transferred to another hospital, noting that some medical staff remained there to care for them.

"The damage to the hospital is so extensive that it can no longer provide any services or admit new patients," she added.

She explained that the laboratory and radiology departments had sustained severe damage, and that the Israeli blockade was preventing the entry of any equipment or spare parts for maintenance.

On Sunday morning, Israeli warplanes bombed the Baptist Hospital, destroying one of its buildings and damaging and setting fire to several of its departments, putting it out of service.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City was out of service after being bombed by the Israeli army.

With full American support, Israel has continued its genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, resulting in approximately 167,000 Palestinian deaths and injuries, most of them women and children, in addition to more than 11,000 missing persons.

Israel has been blockading Gaza for the 18th year, leaving approximately 1.5 million of its 2.4 million Palestinian citizens homeless after their homes were destroyed in the war of extermination. The Strip has entered a state of famine due to Tel Aviv's closure of the crossings to humanitarian aid.

Fadwa Khader: What is happening has exceeded the mind's ability to bear, and there must be a unified position from all churches and Islamic endowments.

Johnny Mansour: The bombing of the Baptist Church is part of the final destruction of what is of supreme value in human life.

Bishop Atallah Hanna: They celebrate our holiday with bombing, and we respond by adhering to our humanitarian and national message and our deep belonging to our land and our people.

Wadih Abu Nassar: We pray that the war will end, peace will prevail, and that we will not have to request permits to access our holy sites.

Hatem Abdel Qader: The international community and the World Council of Churches must break the wall of silence and take immediate action to protect the Christian presence and freedom of worship for Christians and Muslims.

Rev. Munther Ishaq: The bombing of the Baptist Church is a clear message to all residents: either leave or die, as part of a clear plan for ethnic cleansing.

Dimitri Diliani: The occupation authorities are trying to impose a coercive reality that isolates people from their land, their churches, their mosques, and their fundamental right to worship.

Youssef Daher: Israel's targeting of these headquarters is inseparable from the international silence regarding the genocide being committed against the Palestinians.

The occupying state deliberately chose the day when Christians celebrate one of their most important religious holidays, Palm Sunday, and bombed the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which belongs to the Evangelical Episcopal Archdiocese of Jerusalem. This comes as part of the war of extermination it has been waging against the Gaza Strip for eighteen months. It is a clear message to all Christians in Palestine, to all churches, and to the Christian world in general, that it has no regard for anyone in this world, and that it is continuing with its plans aimed at uprooting Palestinians from their land, Muslims and Christians alike, as long as it enjoys open support from the colonial West, led by the United States.

Although this is not the first time the Baptist Hospital has been bombed since the beginning of the war, as the first of the most horrific massacres committed by the occupying state in the Gaza Strip was in the Baptist Hospital itself, where nearly five hundred citizens were martyred and hundreds were injured, this time it included deliberate political and bloody messages that it is above the law, and that it does not care about religious occasions or places with religious or humanitarian immunity, nor about any of the Palestinian people, Muslims and Christians, who are living the same pain and oppression and facing the same dangers and threats of deportation and displacement from their land.

On the other side of the country, specifically in Jerusalem, home to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Christian citizens were unable to reach the city to participate in the Palm Sunday celebrations due to the restrictions, checkpoints, and strict measures imposed by the occupation authorities in the city and its surroundings.

Activists, politicians, and religious figures who spoke to Al-Quds.com considered the bombing of the Baptist Hospital a clear message to all residents, presenting them with two options: either leave or die, as part of a clear plan for ethnic cleansing. They emphasized that Israel's targeting of these facilities is inseparable from the global silence regarding the crimes of genocide committed against the Palestinians.

They emphasized that what is happening has exceeded the capacity of reason to bear, and that there must be a unified stance from all churches and Islamic endowments. They called on the international community and the World Council of Churches to break the wall of silence and take immediate action to protect the Christian presence and freedom of worship for both Christians and Muslims.

The strict lockdown prevents Christians from reaching their churches.

Fadwa Khader, a member of the Political Bureau of the Palestinian People's Party, said that what is happening daily in our Palestinian society, through the occupation's aggression and the fierce Israeli assault, is evident in the assassinations and daily violations to which our people are subjected. She noted that this is happening at a time when we are experiencing Holy Week, which holds special sanctity for Christians.

She explained that the measures taken by the occupation government have no connection to any kind of humanity or wisdom, and do not reflect any feeling or acceptance of others. Rather, it practices all forms of violence that violate international law and international legitimacy, in complete disregard for international humanitarian law, the International Criminal Court, and all international institutions. She stressed that Israel has become above international law, and unfortunately, there is no one to put an end to this barbaric rule against our Palestinian people wherever they are.

She added: "During Holy Week, Christians head to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Church of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives to complete Palm Sunday rites. However, the strict closure around Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories—between villages, cities, and governorates—prevents freedom of movement and worship, rights guaranteed by international humanitarian law."

She continued: "The deadly situation we are experiencing aims to drive us to despair and leave this land and our country. This is unacceptable despite all the oppression and violations we are subjected to. Our people still possess a strong will that strengthens our presence."

She recalled how Palm Sunday in Jerusalem was an occasion that brought together all the Palestinian people, with the participation of Muslim and Christian scout groups in a wonderful display of Muslim-Christian integration and brotherhood. However, today, the occupation is pursuing a policy of "divide and conquer," and continues to practice racial discrimination and closures against Jerusalemites and Palestinians.

The Baptist Church in Gaza was bombed on Palm Sunday!

In a related context, Khader expressed her strong condemnation of the bombing of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza on Palm Sunday morning, describing it as a fascist crime that has no connection to any human or moral values. She said, "Al-Ahli Hospital, which is supervised by the Evangelical Episcopal Church in Jerusalem, was bombed at a time when the Palestinian people should have been celebrating Palm Sunday.

"Israel was given only 20 minutes to evacuate a hospital containing hundreds of sick and wounded! This is an unimaginable scene. Even in world wars, we have never witnessed what we are witnessing today."

She asked, "Where is the international community? How can it remain silent in the face of these violations? How can the sanctity of churches and mosques be violated, and our peoples be denied freedom of worship?"

She emphasized that what is happening has exceeded the mind's capacity to bear, and that simply raising one's voice is no longer sufficient. Rather, there must be a unified stance from all churches, Islamic endowments, and all mosques. Together, we must put an end to this bloodshed.

She stressed that continued silence and division will lead to further weakening, explaining that the Ahli Hospital has been targeted numerous times, but its bombing on Palm Sunday morning carries messages that are unacceptable on religious, humanitarian, and civilized grounds.

Khader concluded her remarks to Al-Quds by saying: “The slogan they used to say – the old die and the young forget – no longer applies. Rather, history has proven that we do not forget, and that we remain despite everything. I extend my congratulations to our people from all Christian sects on the occasion of Palm Sunday. With all the pain and suffering, we wish a speedy recovery for our wounded, freedom for our prisoners, the reunification of our people everywhere, and the establishment of our state with Jerusalem as its capital. We must raise our voices in international forums and continue to recruit supporters around the world to pressure their countries to stop the aggression and recognize the establishment of our state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Israel is committing genocide without international deterrence or accountability.

For his part, historian and Middle East researcher Johnny Mansour said that Israel continues its crimes against Palestinians in Gaza by destroying all aspects of life, including the remaining health services, by bombing the Baptist Hospital.

He added: "By bombing this hospital, Israel is sending a message to the world that it is against life and for death. The act of genocide, without any international or Arab deterrent or accountability, is extremely dangerous for the future of understanding the presence of human and moral values in the world. There has already been a total collapse and near-total disappearance of the entire system of human, moral, and social values that the enlightened world boasts about."

Mansour asserted that Israel has won two permits to liquidate life in the Gaza Strip: the first from Joe Biden, who granted it the right to self-defense. The second from Trump, who opened the door to the deportation and displacement of Palestinians from Gaza because nothing is left in it fit for life. Nothing is left in it fit for life, thanks to the Israeli killing machine supported by the US administration.

He pointed out that the bombing of the Baptist Church is part of the final destruction of what is of supreme value in human life. There is no cure after the noes of water, electricity, and food.

Palestinian Christians are prevented from performing their religious rituals.

Mansour stated that Israel uses the same methodology to impose restrictions and deny Palestinian Christians the right to practice their religious rituals, especially since Palm Sunday is one of Jerusalem's most important holidays. He explained that preventing Christians from reaching Jerusalem and celebrating this celebration is equivalent to denying Palestinians their right to life and access to medical treatment, medicine, and water.

Mansour believes that the occupation's policy of uprooting the Palestinian people is being implemented through increasing sieges, restrictions, surveillance, punishment, and cover-up of the crimes of settler gangs who burn and attack everything Palestinian.

He said: "Israel's claims that it respects international law by preserving freedom of worship and the right of access to Christian and Islamic holy sites have been completely disproven. These claims have been completely disproven by the unprecedented age restrictions imposed on Muslim worshippers entering the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and now by Christians entering Jerusalem and practicing their religious rituals related to Palm Sunday."

Mansour noted that there are growing concerns that Israel will adopt the same tactics regarding Holy Saturday celebrations this weekend, in preparation for Easter.

Historian Mansour concluded by saying, "The policies of the Netanyahu government and its fascist right-wing coalition have become exposed to everyone, and we believe that it has become imperative for whatever remains of human values in the world to prevent the criminal from escaping accountability and punishment."

Palestinian Christians are being systematically targeted.

In turn, the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia, Archbishop Atallah Hanna, affirmed that Palestinian Christians are being systematically targeted, as is the case with all Palestinian citizens, particularly in Jerusalem, where attacks and violations against the Christian community are increasing at an alarming rate.

He said, "We see the Christian presence being targeted not only during religious holidays and occasions, but throughout the year, through restrictions on Christian endowments and properties, alongside growing racism, as Christians are subjected to insults and spitting by some extremist settlers in their churches and in the alleys and streets of the Old City of Jerusalem."

Bishop Hanna addressed the bombing of the Baptist (Ahli) Hospital in Gaza, a long-established Christian healthcare institution that has served the Palestinian people for over 150 years. He described the attack on Palm Sunday as "an Israeli message to Christians on the occasion of the holidays, but a harsh and painful message."

He added: "They are returning us with bombardment, and we, as Palestinian Christians, respond by affirming our commitment to our humanitarian and national message, our deep sense of belonging to our land and our people, and our continued defense of their rights."

The Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia concluded his statement to Al-Quds by calling on the international community to take immediate action to stop the "war of extermination" targeting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, stressing that "the first and most fundamental demand in these difficult times is to stop this war."

The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem condemns the bombing of the Baptist Church

Wadih Abu Nassar, coordinator of the Holy Land Christians Forum, commented on the Israeli bombing of the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, saying that he joins the Church in condemning this attack.

He pointed out that the Church, specifically the Evangelical Episcopal Archdiocese of Jerusalem, which is directly responsible for the hospital, issued a strongly worded statement the day before yesterday condemning the Israeli bombing. He stated that this was the fifth time the hospital had been bombed by the Israeli military, stressing that targeting hospitals is completely unacceptable and unacceptable.

Regarding the permit issue, Abu Nassar said: "I understand that the Israeli side said that approximately 5,000 permits were issued, while other sources spoke of 6,000. However, what was clear during the Palm Sunday March in Jerusalem the day before yesterday was that the number of Palestinian Christian participants did not exceed a few hundred, which raises questions about the announced numbers."

Obstacles at checkpoints

He explained that there are two possible explanations for this disparity: "The first is that permits were not granted to all family members. Perhaps a permit was granted to the father without the wife or children, which prompted families not to come.

He added: "The second explanation is the presence of obstacles at checkpoints, as some sources in Bethlehem informed me of harassment and insults during passage."

Abu Nassar continued: "In any case, we hope that citizens will be allowed to enter Jerusalem during the holidays without the need for permits. It is important that people be given the opportunity to practice their religious rituals freely, without restrictions or insults, and that all families be allowed to enter, rather than selecting some and preventing others, and then saying that permits have been granted."

Abu Nassar concluded his interview with Al-Quds by saying, "We pray that the war will end and peace will prevail, and that we will not have to request permits in the future to access our holy sites."

A clear Israeli message to the Christian world

For his part, Hatem Abdel Qader, Secretary-General of the Islamic Christian Committee for the Defense of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, condemned the ongoing attacks against the Palestinian Christian presence, which culminated on Sunday in the Israeli occupation authorities preventing thousands of Palestinian Christians from reaching Jerusalem to participate in Palm Sunday celebrations.

He pointed out that these violations are in addition to the heinous crime committed by the occupation army when it bombed the Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in dozens of martyrs and wounded, most of whom were women, children, and the elderly.

Abdul Qader emphasized that targeting Christian holy sites, denying religious freedoms, and bombing religious humanitarian institutions reveals the true face of the occupation and exposes the falsity of its claims to protect religious freedoms and respect holy sites.

Abdul Qader believes that these violations carry a clear message to the international community, particularly the Christian world, that the occupation respects no religious or human sanctity and does not hesitate to transform places of worship and hospitals into military targets in blatant defiance of all international values and norms.

The Secretary-General of the Islamic Christian Commission called on the international community and the World Council of Churches to break the wall of silence and take immediate action to protect the Christian presence and freedom of worship for Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land, to halt the occupation's crimes against the Palestinian people, and to open an international investigation into the bombing of the Baptist Hospital as a war crime.

A flagrant violation of religious freedoms

For his part, Rev. Dr. Munther Ishaq, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem and Beit Sahour, condemned the ban on Palestinian Christians from reaching Jerusalem to celebrate Palm Sunday. He considered this measure a flagrant violation of religious freedoms and a further entrenchment of the separation of Jerusalem from Bethlehem, with its profound religious and national dimensions.

"We are now experiencing a tragedy and a real catastrophe on all levels," said Father Isaac. "Jerusalem is completely separated from Bethlehem for the first time in human history. Jerusalem and Bethlehem hold great spiritual and moral significance for us as Palestinian Christians, and being denied access to them causes us immense pain. This is not the first holiday during which we have been deprived of prayer in Jerusalem."

Father Isaac emphasized the steadfastness of Christians in the face of these policies, noting that "Prayers on Palm Sunday were held in all Palestinian cities, including Gaza, in a clear message of our commitment to our land, our faith in God, and the principles of truth, justice, and peace."

In a related context, Father Isaac commented on the Israeli occupation's bombing of the Baptist Hospital (Al-Ahli) in Gaza City, describing the incident as "a clear message to all residents of the Strip: either leave or die, as part of a clear plan for ethnic cleansing that Israel continues to implement."

He added, "This is a dangerous message: No place in Gaza is safe, and no church or church hospital will be immune from bombardment. I believe the ultimate goal is forced displacement."

An Israeli policy to obliterate the authentic spiritual component of Jerusalem

For his part, Dimitri Diliani, head of the National Christian Gathering in the Holy Land, emphasized that closing roads, setting up checkpoints, and preventing worshippers from reaching their churches on one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar is just one aspect of a systematic policy pursued by the occupation authorities to obliterate Jerusalem's authentic spiritual component and empty the city of its cultural depth rooted in its diverse faiths.

"This is not just a security issue," Diliani added. "It's an existential battle waged by the occupation authorities against Palestinian history in Jerusalem, where they are trying to impose a coercive reality that isolates people from their land, their churches, their mosques, and their fundamental right to worship."

Diliani continued: This occupation policy, which besieges churches and prevents prayer, aims to redefine the Palestinian presence as an exception, subject to surveillance and restrictions, when in reality it is an authentic, permanent presence, and the foundation of the identity of the Holy City and its religious and cultural landscape.

Diliani concluded by emphasizing that the Palestinian insistence on going to churches despite the ban, and carrying palm branches despite the repression, is an expression of adherence to the right not as a slogan, but as a daily practice, and of faith not only as a belief, but also as an act of survival and steadfastness. Jerusalem, despite all the occupation's attempts to isolate it from its people, will remain a city of unending prayer, an irreducible identity, and an unquenchable light.

The final stage of the ethnic cleansing plan

Youssef Daher, an activist specializing in church affairs, believes that the Israeli occupation's targeting of the Baptist Hospital and the Zeitoun neighborhood, where churches and Christian institutions are located in Gaza, is part of the final phase of an ethnic cleansing plan aimed at emptying the Strip of its population.

Daher explained that "Christian institutions in Gaza are virtually the last remaining strongholds held by residents who refuse to leave their city despite the bombing and destruction."

He pointed out that these institutions have become a powerful symbol of steadfastness and determination to survive.

He added that Israel's targeting of these headquarters is inseparable from the global silence surrounding the genocide being perpetrated against the Palestinians, as there is no international accountability or genuine questioning, which encourages the occupation to continue its crimes without deterrence.

Zahir considered the Israeli message clear and shocking: There is no safe place, even inside churches, and evacuation is the only option available to residents, paving the way for the reoccupation of Gaza after its complete evacuation.

Today, Tuesday, settlers vandalized agricultural rooms in the town of Kafr ad-Dik, west of Salfit.

According to local sources, settlers completely destroyed agricultural rooms in the "Khalat al-Shanara" area, north of Kafr ad-Dik, owned by citizens Muslih Saleh Qaoud and Bashir Taher Mustafa Ahmed.

Two civilians were killed and six others injured Tuesday afternoon when an Israeli drone bombed a house near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip.

A citizen was killed and others were injured in an Israeli drone strike on the Shuja'iyya neighborhood east of Gaza City.

According to medical sources, the number of martyrs in the Gaza Strip has risen to 51,000, and the number of injured to 116,343 since October 7, 2023.

The Madar Strategic Report 2025 concluded that in 2024, Israel was able to contain the shock caused by the October 7 attacks and restore its strategic balance, with unprecedented American support and backing from major international powers. This allowed it to regain the initiative on the ground, adopt genocide to restore its deterrence, and direct the course of events towards an attempt to finally resolve the Palestinian issue. This was achieved by “legitimizing” the discourse of displacement and preparing for it in Gaza, replicating the form of harsh military intervention in the West Bank, alongside silent annexation, reshaping the relationship with the Palestinian Authority, and directly handing over the keys to managing the occupation to the settlers. This was in addition to adopting a broad regional bullying approach that expresses a new concept of deterrence that seeks to reshape the map of powers in the region.

The report, which was launched by Madar at a symposium held at its headquarters in Ramallah yesterday, added: “On the other hand, two counter-processes have deepened, with far-reaching, counterproductive repercussions. The first is external, represented by the acceleration of Israel’s transformation into a “pariah state,” whose name is globally associated with apartheid, neo-McCarthyism, and the global rise of neo-fascist movements. The second is an internal process, in which the political and societal division between the various Israeli movements and groups has intensified, and the conflicting groups have entered into a state resembling a “cold civil war,” open to the possibility of confrontation.

The report considered that the return of Donald Trump to power in the United States, with his entourage representing the far right, neoconservatives, and Christian Zionism, constitutes a strategic variable that will have profound effects on internal Israeli dynamics and on the Palestinian issue. His presence will strengthen Netanyahu's boldness in dismantling the "deep state," which is similar to Trump's own strategy in the United States. On the other hand, his presence may constitute a "golden opportunity" for the Israeli government to "liquidate the Palestinian issue" and transform the ideological projects proposed by Bezalel Smotrich in his "decisive plan" from theoretical projects into achievable projects.

Domino effect

The report focused on what it called the "domino effect" of the October 7 attack and the reshaping of the regional map, as Israel launched a multi-front war, characterized by an exceptional and unprecedented nature in terms of intensity, force, and timescale. The military operations extended to include Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and Yemen, coinciding with the ongoing military escalation in the West Bank, and the intensification of surveillance policies and collective punishment against Palestinians inside Israel. This resulted in the destruction of Gaza, then the strategic weakening of Hezbollah, and ultimately the dismantling of the Iranian-backed axis of resistance.

Regarding the genocidal war on Gaza, the report considers that this war, with its apocalyptic spectacle and destructive images, aimed to achieve two goals: first, to transform Gaza into a deterrent means of demonstration against the region in general, and against countries and organizations it considers hostile in particular; and second, to transform it into a tool for achieving the "final resolution" of what it calls the "Gaza problem," by transforming the Strip into an uninhabitable area, with the aim of forcing the population into mass forced migration.

On the Lebanese front, the report analyzes the consequences of the battle with Hezbollah and the outcomes of the controlled support front in Gaza. The Israeli attacks resulted in thousands of fighters being harmed by the detonation of pagers and pagers, the assassination of Hezbollah leaders and its Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, the disengagement between the northern and southern fronts, and the strategic damage inflicted on the party, exacerbated by the changes in Syria.

The report states that with the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime—although there is no direct causal link between its downfall and the multi-front war—Iran and its axis lost a crucial strategic ally in the region, and vital supply lines that fed Lebanese Hezbollah, already exhausted by Israeli strikes, were cut off. Ultimately, the transformations directly impacted the Lebanese domestic political landscape, altering the balance of power between the various political factions.

Geo-regional transformations

The report focused on a set of radical strategic shifts in the geo-regional landscape, given their potential profound impact on future regional geo-strategic balances and Israel's status and role. It considered these shifts to be in a state of fluctuating dynamics, linked to the ambiguity and fluidity of the Syrian situation, and the potential for the conflict to revert to a regular Arab-Israeli conflict in light of the erosion of relations between Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, and the rising role of Saudi Arabia.

In Syria, the report believes it is too early to make a final judgment on the direction of field and political developments in Syria, given the fragility of the new regime and the risk of sliding into a new civil war. It is also not yet clear what form this transformation will take in future alliances, and whether it will lead, for example, to the emergence of a new Turkish-Sunni axis to replace the declining Iranian axis. This would have potential repercussions for regional conflicts and a potential Turkish-Israeli escalation involving Syria.

The report added: In the face of this uncertainty, Israel is actively preemptively intervening in the Syrian arena to control developments on the military (destroying the Syrian army) and field levels (establishing buffer zones) and attempting to win over non-Sunni sects.

Regarding the chances of reframing the conflict as an Arab-Israeli conflict, the report focuses on two strategic developments with significant future implications in the near term: First, the erosion of Egyptian and Jordanian relations with Israel, as Israel's repeated proposals to relocate Gaza's population to Sinai have provoked a sharp Egyptian-Jordanian reaction. Second, the shift in the Saudi role, as the kingdom is witnessing a significant strategic shift reflecting a broad ambition to reposition itself regionally, evident in its growing role in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza, and its strengthening position as a central regional power amid the decline of Iran's role.

Trump's Return... and Three Arms of "Liquidation"

The report devotes space to examining Donald Trump's return to power in the United States, coinciding with the rise of the right-wing Israeli government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu.

The report predicts that, with Trump in power, Israeli right-wing settler movements will redouble their efforts to ensure the continuation of Netanyahu's government until the end of its term in late 2026, exploiting the limited "time window" available to Netanyahu's government to liquidate the Palestinian cause through several means:

First: The arm of war for the purpose of displacement by intensifying the war on Gaza to force the population to emigrate. This is the optimal scenario for the Israeli government, and can be achieved by combining firepower, siege, and starvation, while opening an exit for the population through an Israeli gate. However, this scenario can be stopped with serious and genuine Arab intervention.

Second: The aggression against the West Bank by reshaping the map of the West Bank and undermining the role of the Palestinian Authority. In this context, several Israeli practices combine, including escalating military operations, the systematic destruction and displacement of the northern camps in Tulkarm and Jenin, and the expected gradual expansion of these camps into new areas, targeting UNRWA, hollowing out the West Bank economy, undermining the authority's powers and violating its presence, thus transforming it into an authority with very limited civil powers and no strategic significance.

Third: Annexation by law, as Israel moves towards transitioning from a policy of de facto annexation of Palestinian lands to a policy of formal legal annexation of part of the West Bank.

Internal recruitment developments

On the domestic Israeli front, the Madar report continues to examine the intractable, organic, and dual crisis created by the structure of the colonial-settler regime. This crisis is linked to the persistence, stubbornness, and escalation of the conflict with the Palestinian people on the one hand, and to the raging internal conflict between groups with opposing visions, particularly regarding religion-state relations, governance, and democratic values in the Jewish state on the other. Although the intensity of the internal conflict subsided after the October 7 attack, it has since deepened.

In this context, the report argues that this conflict is heading toward further escalation in light of Netanyahu's war against the state's professional institutions, including the judicial, security, and military institutions. The opposition believes that undermining these institutions would undermine the foundations of Israel's democratic system and lead to Netanyahu becoming an authoritarian ruler.

The report asserts: The dynamics of the internal conflict and the structural relationship between the alignments and the ethnic, social, and ideological identities of the warring camps indicate that the conflict will not be resolvable in the foreseeable future and is likely to escalate. Some believe that Israel has entered a state of cold civil war, resulting in a significant exodus among educated, secular youth groups. If this continues, this will weaken the liberal secular groups while increasing the power of religious, nationalist, and conservative settler groups. It also carries the seeds of a weakening of Israel's economic standing.

Israel's international isolation

The Madar report tracks international developments surrounding the war on Palestine during 2024, including attempts to dismantle international court rulings and a clear decline in the strength and breadth of the global popular movement against the war and in support of the Palestinian cause. This movement, which began with unprecedented scale and spread to American and European universities, quickly lost momentum and subsided despite the ongoing crimes.

The report states: This decline is primarily due to the fierce campaigns launched by official and unofficial entities, particularly in the United States and Europe, against the movement's focal points. These campaigns include threats to cut funding to universities and research centers that host pro-Palestine student movements, as well as harassment, defamation campaigns, and the personal targeting of activists.

The report concludes that, despite this, the popular, legal, and international movement, its cumulative impact, and the often brutal suppression efforts, will, in the medium term, further intensify Israel's international isolation and push it toward becoming a broader pariah state, which Israel considers an existential threat.

It's worth noting that the annual Madar report, edited by Dr. Hanida Ghanem and featuring a group of experts in Israeli affairs, includes seven main axes: the Israel and Palestinian issue axis, the internal political/party axis, the foreign relations axis, the security/military axis, the economic axis, the social axis, and finally the Palestinians in Israel axis.

The following participated in preparing the chapters of the report for this year (according to the chapter order): Walid Habbas, Antoine Shalhat, Azar Dakour, Fadi Nahhas, Asaad Atrash, Raymonda Mansour, Areen Hawari, and Ahmed Amara.

Today, Tuesday, settlers seized a flock of sheep and severely assaulted the owner in Kisan, east of Bethlehem, injuring a number of citizens.

Local sources reported that settlers attacked Mustafa Ibrahim Abayat, in his fifties, and severely beat him, causing bruises and wounds. They also seized a number of his sheep.

The sources added that citizens tried to confront the settlers, but were beaten and a number of them sustained bruises and wounds.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Tuesday that the death toll from the Israeli aggression has risen to 51,000 dead and 116,343 injuries since October 7, 2023.

According to the ministry, 17 dead and 69 injuries were admitted to Gaza Strip hospitals in the past 24 hours.

It pointed out that the death toll and injuries since March 18, 2025 amounted to (1,630 dead, 4,302 injuries).

By Xin Ping

Washington's latest tariff blitzkrieg – slapping "universal" levies on over 180 nations and regions – is setting things on fire at home.

The moment the executive order was signed, U.S. markets went into freefall: the Dow plunged nearly 4 percent, Apple and Nike stocks nosedived, and $6.4 trillion vanished from Wall Street in two days.

This isn't economic policy. It's economic arson.

The art of self-sabotage

Will tariffs bring manufacturing home? Despite years of arm-twisting, American tech giant Apple still works with 94.5 percent of its suppliers being overseas.

Apple isn't an outlier. The semiconductor industry is facing obstacles in reshoring back to the U.S. as well. Intel has paused its Arizona factory. TSMC is delaying U.S. production. The problems hindering "made in America" are systemic and may only be addressed through a broad and profound economic restructuring. Tariffs won't magically resurrect dead industries; they only inflate prices for already-struggling consumers.

The U.S. tariff spree, unleashed in the name of "America First," is in fact a masterclass in shooting oneself in the foot. U.S. farmers will be hard hit. In the aftermath of the 2018 China tariff, while U.S. soybean exports eventually rebounded, the farming community suffered irreparable damages: Midwest farm bankruptcies spiked 30 percent, wiping out generations of family farms. Today's "Tariff 2.0" risks repeating history – but with higher stakes.

China's counterpunch

Beijing has been defending itself with precise actions, hitting back with matching levies. But its market remains open to others. Germany's automakers, for instance, now sell more cars in China than at home. ASEAN's durians and lobsters enter Chinese markets tariff-free under RCEP – a stark contrast to America's "walled garden" approach.

As China's commerce ministry stated: "Bullying tactics won't work. We defend rules, not whims." Similar tactics have failed before. When the U.S. tried weaponizing small-parcel exemptions to target Chinese goods, U.S. retailers revolted, as 60 percent of affected imports are everyday essentials for low-income households.

Allies: from partners to prey

American allies are not spared either, and their response has also been strong. The EU is poised to approve retaliatory measures. France is warning against "suicidal trade wars." German industries are lobbying Brussels to hit back harder. Japan is calling the moves "deeply regrettable."

In Southeast Asia, the irony is thicker than durian pulp as countries like Vietnam face 46 percent tariffs but remain trapped supplying components to U.S. tech giants. An economist in Hanoi reveals the reality: "Trump wants us to be his factory, but not his competitor.

 That math doesn't add up."

The U.S. tariff crusade isn't just failing – it's uniting the Global South against Washington. The U.S. only accounts for around 15 percent of global trade. The remaining 85 percent is made up by the rest of the world – including China – and it will not stand idly by and watch the international trade system, the very thing that fostered global prosperity for decades, destroyed by self-serving political motivations.

The ghost of Smoot-Hawley

History has long given its verdict on tariffs. The 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariffs turned a recession into the Great Depression. The déjà vu is uncanny: U.S. steel tariffs briefly boosted producers but killed 75,000 downstream jobs. American icon motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson was forced to shift production overseas to avoid costs. "Made in America" has become "priced out of America."

Those in Washington are preaching "short-term pain for long-term gain." Tell that to the 27 U.S. textile mills shut down in the past 20 months, or the single mom paying 17 percent more for Walmart clothes. Some on Reddit have put it quite well: "Tariffs are taxes on the poor."

Epilogue: The unlearned lesson

The White House insists this is "historic" – and they're right. Not since the 1930s has the U.S. so recklessly weaponized trade. But the world has changed: China is deeply integrated into global supply chains, the EU makes its own decisions, and ASEAN won't ditch prosperity for geopolitics.

The clock is ticking. Every tariff tweet coming from Washington is shredding U.S. credibility. Every market plunge erodes the White House's "strong economy" narrative. And America's isolation deepens with every trade deal other countries make on lowered tariffs, such as those between China and ASEAN and European countries.

In the end, it's not just about the economy. America is turning its back on the world. The path it has chosen is a solitary one.

Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz on Tuesday imposed an administrative detention order on Raja Ighbaria, 74, a leader in the Abnaa al-Balad movement, for six months. This comes about a week after his arrest and the failure of the intelligence and police to file an indictment against him.

The administrative detention order came hours before Ighbariya was scheduled to appear in the Hadera Magistrate's Court today, where he was expected to be released, according to his defense team.

Ighbariya was arrested last Wednesday from his family's home in Umm al-Fahm, following a raid by police, Border Guard, and intelligence agents. He was then transferred to the Jalameh detention center.

Ighbaria is being represented by attorney Badr Ighbaria. A court session was held last week to consider extending his detention. The court agreed to extend his detention until today, before the Minister of Security issued the administrative detention order.

Available statistics and information indicate that approximately 27 young men from the Arab community in the country are under administrative detention, the majority of whom have been subjected to administrative detention for six months.

Eyad Abu Shakra

It is an absurdity of Middle Eastern politics that many politicians and analysts are still betting on the complete elimination of Iran’s role in the region. Even more absurd is the expectation that Israel will drag Washington into this "war of elimination." True, this is the most right-wing US administration since the end of World War II, and no American administration has ever been as closely aligned with Israel as President Donald Trump.

It is also true that, since its founding in 1948, Israel has never been governed by a more fanatical, racist, and fascist government than that of Benjamin Netanyahu and his two “transferist” partners, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

It is just as true that the Iranian leadership never showed the kind of hostility to Arab "neighbors" that we are now seeing from the regime of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which boasted about their control over four Arab capitals until very recently!

Nevertheless, we Arabs remain reluctant to wrap our heads around the realities underpinning Washington, Tel Aviv, and Tehran’s approach to the region’s existential political issues, including the question of whether Arabs will retain any presence or say in it in the foreseeable future.

On the other hand, those of us with strong memories still clearly recall the first “secret” rounds of negotiations between the US and Iran under Democratic President Barack Obama... that culminated in the famous 2015 nuclear deal.

At the time, the talks were held behind closed doors in the Omani capital, Muscat, hidden from the eyes of the Arabs and the world. As for the new round of negotiations that began on Saturday (also in Muscat), they have been public and are being led by Republican President Donald Trump, the same man who suspended the deal in 2018, during his first term.

And while the American negotiating team may have changed, the same figures remain in power in Tehran and its negotiating team has not been altered; indeed, one of the most prominent negotiators, Abbas Araghchi, is now foreign minister.

The fact is that in the ten years between “yesterday’s agreement” and the current attempt to broker a new one, things have changed considerably on the ground.

Things have changed in the region’s “theater of operations.”

The region’s violated, fragmented, and broken polities have been shaken, paving the way for new facts on the ground that facilitate Israel’s “transfer” plan. This plan is sponsored, promoted, and supported by Washington, which has sought to remove the obstacles that stood (or once stood) in the way of achieving it.

To begin with, the Palestinian cause has been pushed to the top of the “taboo” list, as the world waits for investments to begin along the now depopulated shores of the Gaza Strip.

The “transfer” plan is gaining regional momentum. To the north, in Lebanon, the Israeli war machine has clipped the wings of Iran’s leverage. In Syria, the Assad regime collapsed after 54 years of double-dealing and double-speak, once it outlived its utility to most of its patrons and handlers.

To the east, in Jordan, the leadership has long been pressured to accept the “alternative homeland” project, and the Trump administration, chose not to empathize with Jordan’s chronic economic hardship, imposing some of the highest tariffs on the country of any in the Middle East as Trump announced his broader tariff wars against both adversaries and allies.

And to the west, we find the most populous Arab state, Egypt. It was targeted by Netanyahu’s government early on, with pressure and blackmail to facilitate the displacement from Gaza. Neither the peace treaty with Israel, nor full normalization, nor the years Egypt has spent mediating between the parties to the conflict (despite the criticism from both domestic and international opponents) have spared it from such coercion.

Even in the Gulf region, where some countries have adapted to normalization, Netanyahu’s government has shown no good faith, refusing to engage with any genuine regional peace deal founded on respect for UN resolutions and the proposals of Arab Summits.

What we are now seeing, as Washington and Tehran hold negotiations over the heads of the region’s concerned and suffering nations, is the Israeli right’s forward escape, its expansion of targets and mobilization.

With its military machine and security apparatus, this right-wing bloc continues to occupy positions in Lebanon and tamper with Syria’s fragile domestic stability. It is now escalating its threats against Türkiye. Meanwhile, in Washington, the master of the White House is threatening to destroy and ruin Iran if it insists on moving forward with developing nuclear military capabilities.

Trump’s threats undoubtedly amount to pressure that leaves the Iranian leadership in an awkward position both domestically and vis-a-vis the regional forces and non-state actors that are continuing to bet on it, in Iraq, Yemen... and even Lebanon.

Moreover, the US envoys currently managing this pressure campaign against Iran, such as Steve Witkoff and Morgan Ortagus, are considered part of the “Israeli lobby” in the United States. They understand that Washington’s objective with Iran, which essentially doesn’t change, is to curb its ambitions, excesses, and blackmail, without necessarily leading to a decisive confrontation.

Accordingly, one could say that, thanks to Washington’s unconditional support, Netanyahu has, for the time being, achieved his aim.

But the lingering question remains: Will he be content with the outcomes of this new round of negotiations with Tehran, or (as is his habit) will he choose to push his politics of blackmail and entrapment further?

A senior Palestinian source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Palestinian Authority is "engaged in serious and decisive discussions with all parties regarding its future and its ability to govern the West Bank and Gaza in the post-war phase."

The source, close to the decision-making circle of the Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, stated that "the Palestinian leadership is engaged in discussions with the Americans, Europeans, Arab countries, Hamas, and Israel, both directly and indirectly (through Arab countries), regarding the day after the war."

The source emphasized: "We are not only discussing the issue of governing Gaza; this is part of the whole... The Authority wants to advance a path that leads to a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem."

He stated that "there are discussions with influential Arab countries and Hamas." The United States is at the heart of these discussions," expressing his hope that "a ceasefire agreement in Gaza will lead the United States to adopt a political path (satisfied by the Arabs) that will ultimately lead to the establishment of a state and an end to the conflict."

"For the sake of statehood"

The source said that for the sake of establishing a state, "we (the PA) are prepared, and we have made major changes, and even Hamas is prepared to go the furthest point, not only to hand over the Strip and relinquish power, but also to hand over its weapons," he said.

Abu Mazen has begun making unprecedented changes to the structure of the Palestinian Authority since its inception, calling on the Central Council to create and appoint a deputy.

Appointing a deputy for the 90-year-old Abbas would be a clear message indicating a desire for profound changes within the Authority. The deputy, who is expected to have broad powers, serving as a "de facto president," would also head new security agencies and a relatively new government. The positions of the concerned parties regarding the governance of Gaza after the war reveal wide disagreements. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects any Palestinian Authority presence in the Gaza Strip, considering it "weak and unqualified." Meanwhile, the Americans are discussing somewhat contradictory plans, while Arab countries are seeking to form forces and committees in which the Authority would initially participate before taking control of the Strip at a later date.

The recent increase in the activity of Palestinian forces and police on the ground in the West Bank has been notable. This includes, in addition to pursuing armed and wanted individuals, settling issues related to civilian life, such as conducting security campaigns, arrests, and campaigns to remove encroachments on roads. A security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Authority is "regaining its presence and re-emerging its prestige."

European Support

While there appears to be a response to the significant change initiated by the Authority toward a new political phase, the European Commissioner for Middle East Affairs announced that the European Union intends to increase financial support to the Palestinian Authority with a package amounting to approximately 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) over three years. Dubravka Suica, the EU's commissioner for the Mediterranean, told Reuters that the financial support would go hand in hand with reforms by the Palestinian Authority, which faces accusations of corruption and mismanagement from its critics. "We want them to reform themselves, because without reform, they won't be strong enough or trustworthy enough for dialogue, not only for us, but also for Israel," Suica said.

Hundreds of settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Tuesday morning, marking the third consecutive day of the Jewish Passover holiday, under heavy protection from Israeli police.

These raids were carried out from the Maghariba Gate, in successive groups, and included provocative tours and rituals within the mosque courtyards, including public dancing.

Meanwhile, the occupation forces imposed strict security measures, transforming Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings into a military barracks, preventing the entry of many Palestinians, and confiscating their ID cards at the external gates. They also reinforced the presence of their special forces units throughout Jerusalem's streets, coinciding with the Jewish Passover holiday.

Al-Aqsa Mosque witnessed a massive storming yesterday morning, Monday, involving 1,149 settlers who entered in coordinated groups under tight security protection, amid heavy reinforcements in the Old City, which appeared to resemble a closed military zone.

During the raids, a number of settlers performed the "priestly blessings" ritual inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, a traditional biblical ritual that usually accompanies the offering of "sacrifices."

In a related development, the extremist group "Temple Mount in Our Hands" launched promotional campaigns to encourage raids on the mosque. These campaigns included providing "subsidized transportation" and free tours for settlers, as part of what it called "central raid days" during the holiday. The group called on settlers to reserve and participate extensively in the raids.

The Passover holiday, which began Saturday evening, is considered one of the most important Jewish holidays and is considered one of the most dangerous periods for Al-Aqsa Mosque due to the Judaization rituals and ceremonies it entails.

The holiday will last for a week, until sunset next Saturday, and includes five days of raids, taking place from Sunday to Thursday, while the gates will be closed on Friday and Saturday.

The rituals performed by settlers during these incursions include public prayers in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, facing the Dome of the Rock, during which they recite the so-called "Book of Exodus." Some of the intruders, who are members of the "priestly" class, also wear white "repentance" robes, in an attempt to demonstrate symbolic leadership of the biblical rituals within Al-Aqsa Mosque, which they claim is a center of Jewish worship.

Meanwhile, Palestinian calls for increased security and presence in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound from the early hours of dawn continue to confront settler plots and prevent attempts to bring "sacrifices" or perform Talmudic rituals inside the Noble Sanctuary.

The International Organization for Migration announced that more than 60,000 families were displaced from the Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons in El Fasher, North Darfur, over the course of two days.

"The Displacement Tracking Organization received multiple reports of large-scale displacement from the Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons on Sunday and Monday," the international organization said in a statement.

The statement added: "Based on initial estimates, field teams reported that between 60,000 and 80,000 families have been displaced from Zamzam camp due to worsening insecurity."

The majority of families remain displaced within El Fasher, while others have been displaced to sites in the towns of Tawila and Dar al-Salam in North Darfur, according to the same statement.

Clashes erupted on the outskirts and inside Zamzam camp for the third consecutive day between the army and its supporting forces from Darfur's armed movements, who confronted the Rapid Support Forces.

The El Fasher Resistance Committees Coordination (Popular) announced on Sunday that more than 320 people were killed and injured, and thousands displaced, as a result of the Rapid Support Forces' attacks on El Fasher and the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps.

Since May 10, 2024, El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, has witnessed clashes between army forces and the Rapid Support Forces, despite international warnings of fighting in the city, which serves as the center of humanitarian operations for the five Darfur states.

The two sides have been waging a war since April 2023, leaving more than 20,000 dead and nearly 15 million displaced and refugees, according to the United Nations and local authorities. Research by American universities estimates the death toll at around 130,000.

Recently, the Rapid Support Forces' control over Sudan's states has been rapidly declining in favor of the army.

In what appears to be an attempt to raise awareness, I watched a short clip on the pages of official media figures and dozens of posts on social media, all explaining the meanings of the colors of the gates spread at the entrances to Palestinian cities and villages. The stated goal was to raise “awareness” about the significance of the color used, thus helping people act accordingly. However, what was absent from this or any other discourse is that explaining the tools of oppression does not lead to dismantling them. Rather, it contributes – unintentionally – to entrenching them in the collective consciousness, as a component of a system that appears to be “normal” in daily life under occupation. Color is presented as if it were a neutral symbol, and the rules are explained as if they were simple traffic instructions, as if these gates did not belong to a comprehensive colonial system that reshapes the public and private space of Palestinians and “engineers” the movement of individuals and consciousness simultaneously. Thus, official and community media are unintentionally transformed into an indirect mediator that “reproduces” the logic of control.

In the heart of Palestinian geography, despite its limitations, the gate is no longer just a colorful piece of iron separating two places. It has become a central symbol of the systematic system of control exercised over Palestinians on a daily basis. For years, the West Bank has been witnessing, and has intensified significantly in recent months, an unprecedented and widespread deployment of gates. There is no precise number for this, perhaps a thousand, more or less, but - despite their different colors - they conceal a single logic: the consolidation of settler superiority at the expense of Palestinians, psychologically, spatially, and temporally.

The gate is not just a physical barrier, but a tool for producing psychological helplessness and collapse. It is intended to instill in the Palestinian consciousness a constant sense of isolation from their surroundings, of weakness and dependence. It closes and opens according to a vague "security logic" determined by the occupation, subjecting Palestinians to a constant state of waiting and suspicion, amid what can be described as the "certainty of uncertainty." They are certain that something uncertain will happen: Will they be able to reach work? Will they be allowed to cross to attend a family event or the opening ceremony of a shopping mall? Will they arrive at the hospital in time? This chronic anxiety generates a state of collective tension and psychological exhaustion, fueling a "psychology of oppression" that contributes to the fragmentation of collective will.

The philosophy behind these gates is based on a right-wing assumption that the settler has "exclusive priority" or the "first right" to move around, without having his sight and hearing "polluted" by the sight of "others." Accordingly, the gates are managed to serve this logic, even if the "price" is the isolation of entire Palestinian cities and villages and the re-demarcation of "public space." In this way, the "shared" space is transformed into a temporal and geographical colony, reshaped to serve the supremacy of the settler minority at the expense of the indigenous majority.

When a gate closes, it doesn't just close a road, it closes an entire social fabric. Family ties are severed, students are prevented from reaching their universities, farmers are isolated from their lands, and families are separated from one another. Thus, the gate is used not only to isolate a person from a place, but also to isolate him from himself, and to dismantle the link between geography and identity.

Although some may think that the different colors of the gates are random, this visual multiplicity is part of the colonial symbol system and an additional means of psychological control. Each color has an unspoken "security" significance. This ambiguity adds an additional layer of confusion and uncertainty, in an attempt to force Palestinians to deal with the reality of confinement as part of their daily lives. This ambiguity is imprinted on the consciousness over time, and oppression is reproduced as "normal."

The "psychology of gates" reveals a "renewed" face of the occupation, one that is not satisfied with military control, but rather seeks to program the Palestinian consciousness to accept and coexist with the constraints. In this context, the occupation is not merely a brutal force, but rather becomes an "engineer" of geography and the psyche, "reshaping" time, place, and the self.

Faced with this reality, it is imperative to examine these practices, which may seem simple or "technical," but which, in essence, embody the deepest and most dangerous forms of domination: domination of being. Therefore, we must not limit ourselves to understanding the significance of colors, but rather go further and ask: Who and why? What messages does he want to convey to the mind of the Palestinian before he shackles his body?

On the eve of the 32nd session, "No to displacement, no to annexation, steadfastness in the homeland, saving our people in Gaza, stopping the war, protecting Jerusalem and the West Bank, yes to comprehensive national unity," scheduled for April 23 and 24, preparations are underway in Ramallah, and numerous meetings and dialogues will begin, which will continue intensively over the remaining few days, with the President of the National Council extending an invitation to the members and the specialized teams starting work on completing the technical and logistical preparations, and completing the preparations for an emergency session held under extremely dangerous circumstances and challenges that have begun to threaten the national cause, in light of the occupation's efforts to eliminate it, whether through the decisive plan or the termination of the agency, the Relief Agency, or what is happening in Jerusalem, and not the least of these measures is what is also being witnessed in the prisons. The Central Council is convening amid an acceleration in the pace of urgent questions that haunt the vast majority of the sons and daughters of the Palestinian people everywhere after the ongoing war of extermination on Gaza, the violation of the West Bank, and attempts to consolidate the reality of colonial settlement and forced displacement plans. Difficult and weighty questions about what is required and what can be done in a bitter reality characterized by an unprecedented situation in the history of the Palestinian people and the stages of their struggle in the past, i.e. a state of internal fragmentation, so to speak. And what is meant is not only the state of political division, but the situation in all its manifestations and details, from successive crises and structures, frameworks and bodies whose role is gradually weakening. A situation that not only delights the occupation, but also provides it with complete comfort to implement what it wants without difficulty!! These questions intersect with the current debate that occupies wide circles around what President Mahmoud Abbas announced in his speech at the Arab Summit of March 4th regarding the creation of a vice president position. Is the intention a vice president of the Authority or a vice president of the PLO? Or the election of a vice president for both?! And what this issue leaves behind in terms of interaction, widespread discussion and expectations raised in public places, political salons and the media amid reluctance to provide clear and definitive answers about it.

The issue is undoubtedly important and relates to the top of the political pyramid and what the PLO represents, beyond the revolving door and the conundrum. The more important question remains: How can the current situation be overcome by preserving the PLO, the unifying home and moral entity, and protecting it before reforming it? In other words, what is required is to row side by side on a clearly defined path with measured steps toward both protection and reform, but protection must come first, and everyone must agree on this. It is not permissible to expose the organization to attempts to overthrow or overthrow it, because any threat to the organization’s position and role would further harm the situation as a whole, despite the importance of reform, which no one can deny, if it aims to develop and improve the performance of the organization’s institutions and activate them. However, the most important thing in this regard is to protect the component, because the organization is not a faction or a party among the parties, and the rule that says that disagreement with it is acceptable, but not against it, remains correct and existing. It is the moral political expression of the goals of the Palestinian people and the broad front framework for achieving national liberation, which enjoys undisputed world recognition as the sole and only representative of the Palestinian people, which grants it the legitimacy of the title and the legitimacy of work for national convergence and addressing differences, whatever they may be, and the ability to move with political discourse around the world. Protection is also a mandate and means preserving the capabilities of the Palestinian people, and it is the guardian of its interests and goals, that is, more clearly, protecting the national program represented by the PLO, which, by the way, has become the program of national consensus since the nineteenth session of the National Council, the “Intifada session,” held in Algeria in 1988, as there is no political disagreement today about the independent state with full sovereignty over all The territories occupied in 1967 and the right to self-determination and return in accordance with Resolution 194. This national program of the PLO is unanimously agreed upon and supported by everyone, far from the turmoil of emotions, academic analyses and exaggerated dazzle, as is the custom with political rhetoric with a "revolutionary flavor." Strengthening this program is the basic advanced step for protection and not accepting any formulas to change it or diminish its ceiling, far from phrases decorated with reform and recording positions, nothing more!! Except to serve the supreme national interest of the Palestinian people, no one is allowed to exceed the agreement and national custom that has been strengthened by long years of joint work despite the differences and disagreements that remained under the ceiling of preserving unity and its continuity.

The broad national workshop that the Central Council session must open must not accept hesitation, stammering, or half-answers. Its foundations are agreement to protect the PLO from dissolution, internalization, or regional axes and alignments, restoring the prestige of its institutions and their role, regularity and periodicity of meetings, resolving the overlap between the PLO and the PA, and establishing a broad, solid foundation for everyone’s involvement. It is clearly and without ambiguity required to stop the PLO’s seizure by the PA, which is one of the institutions established by its decision on December 10, 1993, shortly after the signing of the Oslo Accords. So that no one is deceived by the talk and continued regurgitation about reforming the PLO, it is likely that there is no disagreement about reform and its importance, but an PLO without protecting its program, institutions, representative capacity, and the essence of its work will inevitably be exposed to further erosion and instability and at the mercy of the wind. This is what the enemies of the Palestinian people want, and we must work to seize the opportunity, prevent it from happening, and block the road to all attempts aimed at this.

Today, in this session and the preparations underway for its convening, the most difficult task is not electing or agreeing on a vice president, which can be postponed or postponed, as it is not a sword hanging over the necks of the Palestinian leadership. What is more important is initiating an in-depth and comprehensive political discussion about the means to confront challenges, including urgent ones that cannot be postponed. These include the so-called day after the war of extermination on Gaza, or the annexation plans and the status quo in the West Bank. Linking this to the future of the Palestinian national struggle and the forms of struggle practiced with the least expected losses? How can we prevent a major deterioration in the internal situation, given the tremendous changes taking place in the region, which is teeming with developments whose future directions and imminent dangers to the Palestinian cause can be predicted, as well as the imposition of conditions on the Palestinian people, given the golden opportunity currently available to the extreme right-wing camp in Israel? All of this may lead to an important question: What is the best formula that suits the current reality, capable of maintaining adherence to the right to national struggle, while at the same time being able to overcome the major dangers facing the fate of the national cause? Especially if everyone realizes that we are engaged in an existential war aimed at uprooting the Palestinian people and liquidating the national cause, what are the most realistic ways to build approaches that minimize losses while simultaneously restoring confidence among the expectant public, who want to see something that reinforces a culture of steadfastness and survival on this land in the face of hostile policies, including forced displacement and deportation?

A very important session begins in the next few days, and a glimmer of hope looms on the horizon, carrying within it the possibility of restoring unity and strengthening the unified popular stance in the face of the occupation’s aggression on Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem, the interior, and everywhere. An unrelenting war on UNRWA on the land, borders, and Jerusalem, and with it, of course, there is no room for discussion for the sake of discussion. The state of heated debate is over the superficial and leaving the core. The margins are no longer the basis, as the challenges relate to the continuation of existence. Rising to the level of blood spilled in an ongoing holocaust requires courage, not only in decisions, but also in the extent of the ability and potential to implement them and derive what is possible from what exists. The decisions taken in previous sessions of the Central and National Councils, as a reminder, were correct and realistic. Ending the relationship with the occupation and dissolving the agreements was met with broad popular and national consensus, but they have not been implemented today. The occupation has restored the “Civil Administration” and no agreements remain to govern the relationship with it. The confiscation of the clearance revenues, the attack on prisoners, the daily plundering of land, and the ongoing war of extermination are evidence of what the occupation wants, and it does not hide its ambitions. Publicly and officially, while we must not enter into the game of distraction in the labyrinths of getting out of the current impasse in a state of debate over the basic details, laying the foundations for confrontation, the path to salvation is to end the occupation, even if we are facing a moment of making fateful decisions and surgical treatment of reality, we must go for it without hesitation.

The lesson is what the coming days hold, whether they will be a starting point for construction and establish a new phase of joint action and unification of efforts and energies, including protecting the PLO before reforming it, considering it a national achievement and a legacy of struggle far from glorifying the past, but also for the future, as the PLO is the identity of the Palestinian people, of which we are all members. Or will the situation continue and stagnate in the same place, perhaps with more erosion and perhaps withdrawal? In the midst of all this debate and struggle for influence and interests, we must not forget that there is an enemy lurking around us, targeting everyone without exception. Therefore, the capabilities should be put in place for a national program of popular steadfastness and confrontation, and a state of political steadfastness and struggle that establishes the protection of the PLO, because protecting the homeland protects the PLO, and vice versa. This is the measure of success for the session of the PLO Central Council and one of the most important indicators for reading the near future in order to overcome the situation riddled with wounds, so that it may carry a touch of healing and the revival of hope and life.

They were to him as the sun was to the earth, when they reached his throne, he felt reassured.. But it is war; it takes the air from us, so the sobs are suffocated, and no time returns, and no crying restores.

They grew up between a ram and sadness, a vow, a long night, and a feast.

He remained on his way, plowing the mud, watering the fireflies from his spring, and he built a house other than that for the birds and the reassured down to dwell in, and a fiery bow might ascend, that might repel the flames from a light sleep, caressing him with a return to the country they had stolen, so he was like the refugees who sleep to dream of returning, and there are no promises and no threats.

Wars broke out, so he carried his grandchildren in his arms, and secluded himself under his trees, and called upon God to protect his children, and he choked a lot, because the waters of the seasons are blood, and the bread of the feast is the charcoal of porridge.

He would trot here and there, finding those who had been displaced in the paths, and he would weep over them! He remained in this state for ten thousand massacres on the way... dragging tents and some mattresses, and he kept praying. It would be okay if he died, but he did not want his children to die, for the heart of a father is fragile and cannot bear iron.

And they died! So what do we say and what do we add?

He stood up, prayed and saluted, then performed ablution again with dirt and said: To Him be praise in every situation and at all times. To You be praise, O Lord. You have honored me with a vast honor. For them is Paradise, eternal. This is a great reward. We will all go to the grave, no matter how old we are. The winner is he who wins both Paradises, so much praise. And I hope, O Lord, that I will not remain alone, so leave my little one, my only grandson, for me.

He said: Come, let us pray for them, for I am satisfied. So the men wept and the homeless man was terrified.

And when they finished and walked to the graves, the sound of their trees came from behind the rubble; rattling, like bereaved women over a dried corpse.

They have reached the hour of revelation, the eldest firstborn resembles his father in features and walk. He married him off twenty years ago, so he became his metaphorical brother in height, and laughs up to the molars. He loves stove tea, while he is on the field dam, facing the sky, and may return home alone in the afternoon, so the old father stays with the branch until the night lights up for him, then he prays the evening prayer and walks back.. In the courtyard they gather to play with him, before they go to the cradles, and he spends whatever is easy for them, until the butterflies fly from their tomorrow to schools, so the classroom is candy, a drawing book, and a happy face.

The second man works in his laboratory, analyzing the veins of the tired, and spends his days busy with bottles, until he married the most beautiful bottle that awakened his perfume, then brought him swings, so his chest expanded, until when the war broke out, he went to work as a backup doctor. He remained there in the heart of the clinic, day and night, and did not sleep, because they bombed everything, so only two rooms remained, for the emergency room and examination. He remained, and did not return to the house when they bombed it, so he flew away with everyone in it, I mean Al-Waleed and Umm Al-Waleed.

The third is the master of the waves and the fish, he knows the moods of the water and the wind, he rides his lantern, then goes far away to return, at sunrise full of his pulsating fish, and in mind a mermaid who tormented him, so he did not leave the flute, but wounded the sea with the Nahawand, and asked it about the barrier of tears and the return of youth, and the young man, behind its weeping waves, revolves and searches for a star in the distance.

The fourth one engraves the perishing cities on the soul, until their foundations are restored as they were created. So demolish as much as you can! He dug out the gate, the market, and the wall. He kept the minarets and the golden beach, and lined the houses with roses. Then he brought all the stars to pave the paths, and said: It has a moon that never sets, It will remain with all its weddings in Upper Egypt.

The fifth of his brothers is he who sings when the storms intensify, and sends the handkerchief of a lover to the galaxies, when they have lost their sun, or returns to her with hell, so that she seizes it on the right, and walks with it to the barricades, until when the fire blows, it throws its hellfire upon the soldiers, and returns, patting the fetus that will come, to cut off their roots once again.

The sixth is a calm moon, who knows God without words, and spends nights with his sheikh, or says to him: I am not like you. The obligations are nothing if my house remains under bitter siege. What are prayers if they are not a cry in existence? What is fasting, when people are hungry? What is the Hajj if the shackles remain on the hand? Does God care about people if they do not revolt against the tyrannical ruler, and do not send fire into the army? Be hell in the face of an invader's tank, and say: Here is Gaza of fire. Is there more!

And the seventh of them is a thousand thousand martyrs who have gone to paradise, but they did not die, and they remained on the balconies of heaven, and they left our land for the light, and left our skies for the anthem.

Thousands of Israelis from various sectors, including some 3,500 academics, 3,000 education professionals, 1,000 parents, and some 1,500 armored corps soldiers, as well as dozens of ambassadors and former senior Foreign Ministry officials, signed petitions calling for an immediate end to the war on Gaza in exchange for the release of prisoners. This joined the pilots' protest and a new escalation of civilian protests against the ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Just before midnight on Monday, hundreds of members and officers from the IDF's offensive cyber units, the Shin Bet, and the Mossad, along with hundreds of reserve officers and fighters from the Military Intelligence Special Operations Unit, issued two strongly worded protest petitions against the ongoing war in Gaza. They called for an immediate end to the war and a prisoner exchange deal, and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The petitions included direct support for a petition issued by reserve Israeli Air Force officers and pilots, who demanded an end to the war as a condition for the return of the prisoners. Signatories to the petition, including former Foreign Ministry employees, ambassadors, and retired Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, a former attaché at the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

The petition by former Israeli Foreign Ministry employees stated, "The resumption of fighting has not resulted in the release of any prisoners. We demand immediate action to release all prisoners at once, even if the price is to stop the war" that Israel has been waging on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.

The signatories of the petition, composed by members of the Military Intelligence Special Unit, strongly attacked the Netanyahu government, writing in the petition: "Netanyahu's crimes are countless, but the conclusion is clear – Netanyahu poses a danger to the lives of prisoners, to the security of the state, and to its democracy." They emphasized that the ongoing war only serves the political interests of the "criminally indicted" prime minister and leads to "the establishment of a reality of perpetual war" without achieving its goals.

They called for "an immediate investigation into the failures of October 7, the conscription of hundreds of thousands of religious school students who refuse to serve, an end to attempts to politicize the judiciary," and "an end to incitement against anyone calling for an end to the war."

In a separate petition signed by former officers and soldiers in the army's offensive cyber units, the Shin Bet, and the Mossad, it stated: "We, who served the country in sensitive technological positions, believe that Netanyahu has reignited the war solely to protect his political survival." They added: "The continuation of the war threatens the lives of the prisoners, many of whom have already been killed, while Netanyahu continues to ignore their daily suffering in captivity, including torture and starvation."

The signatories noted that Netanyahu "abandons values and chooses his narrow political interests over human lives." They accused him of attempting to "obstruct the investigation into the 'Qatar Gate' affair." At the end of the petition, they called for "an immediate end to the war and action to release the prisoners," followed by "Netanyahu's resignation, the dissolution of the Knesset, and the setting of a date for general elections."

While the Israeli military has yet to issue an official comment, the process of collecting signatures for various petitions continues, while protests against the war's leadership and government policies are growing within the ranks of reserve soldiers and the Israeli security establishment.

In a petition signed by academics from Israeli higher education institutions, universities, and colleges, it stated: "We join the call of the air force personnel and demand that the prisoners be returned to their homes without delay, even if this requires an immediate cessation of hostilities."

The signatories added that the current war "serves political and personal interests more than it serves national security," warning that its continuation "will lead to the deaths of more prisoners, soldiers, and innocent civilians, and will deplete reserve forces."

Education system workers wrote in a similar statement, "This is not a call for disobedience, but a call to save lives." Teacher Avital Masterman, from a school in Tel Aviv, said the thousands of teachers signing the petition reflect civic courage.

She added, "In these difficult times, with the escalation of rhetoric of treason and persecution, we raise a clear moral and educational voice: Human lives must not be sacrificed for unattainable goals."

Hundreds of parents (about 1,000 of the students' parents) also signed a petition that read: "For the sake of our children's future, and for the sake of our neighbors as well, we refuse to raise them in an eternal war. We refuse to turn a blind eye to the killing of children, and we will not cooperate with the idea that there are no innocents in Gaza, nor with abandoning prisoners or dehumanizing others."

Likewise, some 170 graduates of the elite Talpiot military program, both reserve and retired, issued a statement in support of the pilots' petition, saying, "The call to rescue civilian and military prisoners is a fundamental moral call stemming from the values upon which we were raised and served. We condemn attempts to silence the voices of our colleagues, who are active citizens, have served the state, and are expressing their concerns."

As for the 1,500 armored soldiers, they signed a petition that stated: "The continuation of the fighting does not serve the goals set for the army, and work must be done immediately to return the prisoners to their homes," according to what Haaretz reported today.

Rami Matan, the initiator of the initiative and former deputy commander of the Yiftach Brigade, said, "The Chief of Staff himself openly admitted today that not all of the objectives in Gaza can be achieved. If that's the case, why do we continue to sacrifice lives for impossible goals?"

Haaretz revealed that the Air Force leadership attempted to prevent the pilots' petition from being published, with commanders with the rank of brigadier general personally contacting the signatory reservists, demanding they withdraw their signatures and threatening them with sanctions.

According to the newspaper, only 25 of the signatories responded. Later, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Air Force Commander Tomer Bar announced their decision to dismiss the reservists who signed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the measure, saying they were "an extremist group trying to undermine Israeli society from within" and that their goal was "to bring down the government."

An informed Palestinian source reported Monday evening that Israel had presented a new proposal for a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for 45 days. The proposal includes field, humanitarian, and security arrangements, as well as a phased prisoner exchange, as part of mediators' efforts to resume stalled negotiations.

According to the source, "the proposal Egypt conveyed to Hamas stipulates the handover of living and dead prisoners by the end of 45 days in order to extend the truce and allow aid into the area. The proposal Egypt presented on behalf of Israel also includes the release of half of the occupation's prisoners within the first week of the agreement."

According to the source who spoke to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the proposal stipulates that Israel will begin, on the second day of the agreement's entry into force, redeploying its military forces to the locations they were stationed in on March 2, 2025, in the Rafah and northern Gaza Strip areas, while resuming the entry of humanitarian aid in accordance with an agreed-upon protocol.

He added that the Israeli proposal also includes the release of five living Israelis on the second day, in exchange for the release of 66 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 611 detainees from the Gaza Strip.

The source indicated that the proposal also includes the commencement of negotiations on a permanent ceasefire on the third day of the agreement, including arrangements related to Israeli redeployment and disarmament, an item that Hamas and the resistance factions in Gaza categorically refuse to discuss.

The Israeli proposal stipulates that Hamas release four living hostages on the seventh day in exchange for 54 prisoners serving life sentences and 500 detainees held after October 7. Hamas is to provide full information on all living hostages on the tenth day, and the bodies of 16 Israelis are to be released on the twentieth day.

Hamas: We are studying the proposal we received from the mediators and will respond soon.

In a statement issued shortly before midnight on Monday, the group affirmed that it was "studying, with great national responsibility, the proposal it received from the mediating brothers," noting that it "will submit its response to it as soon as possible, once the necessary consultations are completed."

The movement reiterated its "firm position that any future agreement must achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of occupation forces from the Gaza Strip, a genuine prisoner exchange deal, the start of a serious process to rebuild what the occupation has destroyed, and the lifting of the siege on the Gaza Strip."

Netanyahu: Intensive negotiations are underway to return the prisoners.

In a related development, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a meeting with the family of one of the prisoners on Monday that "the ongoing negotiations are focused on the release of 10 prisoners, and we are not prepared to make any concessions."

He added, "As I have previously pledged, we will work to release everyone, and we will continue the fight until Hamas is eliminated." Netanyahu indicated that there are "solutions that no one has ever imagined," without revealing further details.

A statement issued by Netanyahu's office said he had phone calls with the mothers of three prisoners held in the Gaza Strip: Tamir Nimrodi, Avinatan Or, and Eitan Horn.

During the talks, Netanyahu, according to the statement, presented details about what he described as "ongoing efforts" to return the prisoners, and said that "intensive negotiating efforts are underway these days" with the aim of reaching an agreement.

Netanyahu's office reiterated its commitment to "returning all prisoners, living or dead," according to a statement issued by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

The dispute lies in ending the war and disarming the resistance.

In this context, Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Hamas has expressed a willingness to increase the number of live hostages it might release compared to its previous offer, but the central issue now is obtaining clear guarantees for an end to the war, a position the movement insists upon.

The newspaper noted that relevant Israeli authorities are awaiting Hamas's response to the amended proposal within days, and that if a basis for negotiations is found, Israel will send a negotiating delegation to Doha or Cairo to resume dialogue, and is prepared to do so whenever necessary.

For its part, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, Kan 11, reported that Hamas is prepared to release a larger number of living prisoners than it had previously proposed, and that its current position seeks to ensure Israel's full commitment to the terms of the agreement, particularly those related to ending the war.

On Monday evening, the channel quoted an informed source as saying that Israel had expressed a willingness to make "certain concessions," but refused to make any commitment that might be interpreted as a waiver of the goal of "eliminating Hamas."

Kan 11 reported that the mood among Israeli professionals is currently pessimistic about the possibility of reaching an agreement soon. However, these sources stress the need to reach a deal, as time is running out to save the lives of the hostages, as they put it.

Hamas also reportedly expressed its dissatisfaction during the Cairo talks with the inclusion of a clause relating to the disarmament of the Palestinian resistance. Hamas informed the Egyptian mediator that it categorically refuses to discuss this issue at this stage, and considers the basic condition for any agreement to be a cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

A leading Hamas source denied the movement's willingness to relinquish its weapons. The source explained that, "In general, numerous proposals have recently been put forward to meet Israeli conditions regarding the weapons of the resistance and its leaders. These are proposals that all resistance factions unanimously rejected, not just Hamas."

Agence France-Presse quoted Taher al-Nunu, media advisor to the head of Hamas's political bureau, on Monday as saying that the movement is prepared to release all Israeli detainees in exchange for a ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Al-Nunu added, "We are ready to release all Israeli prisoners in exchange for a serious exchange deal, an end to the war, an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the entry of aid." He accused the Israeli occupation of obstructing the agreement.

He said, "The problem is not the number of prisoners, but rather that the occupation is shirking its commitments, obstructing the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, and continuing the war." He emphasized that Hamas "confirmed to the mediators the need for guarantees to compel the occupation to implement the agreement."

He explained that "Hamas responded positively and with great flexibility to the ideas presented in the negotiations, regarding a ceasefire and prisoner exchange." He added that "the occupation wants to release its prisoners without moving to the second-stage issues related to a permanent ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip."

An Egyptian source told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the talks in Cairo, from which the Hamas delegation departed on Monday morning, included contacts with representatives of the US mediator. The source said that Hamas expressed its willingness to agree to the release of nine prisoners, while US administration officials demanded an increase in the number, with pledges that if Hamas agreed to the agreed-upon increase, it would push Israel toward negotiations to enter the second phase of the ceasefire agreement signed on January 17.

The source explained that the formula proposed by the US side was not accepted by the Hamas delegation, which considered it evasive, as it did not explicitly stipulate direct entry into the second phase of the agreement, which includes an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal. The US proposal was limited to initiating negotiations regarding the transition to the second phase.

Israeli occupation forces launched raids and arrests in the West Bank on Tuesday.

In Jericho, Israeli occupation forces have continued to tighten their military measures around the Jericho Governorate, besieging it since last night.

Local sources reported that the occupation forces continue to tighten their military measures at the main and secondary entrances to Jericho.

The sources said that the occupation soldiers closed the iron barriers (gates) erected at the city's four entrances, preventing citizens from entering or leaving the city, causing severe traffic jams and obstructing the movement of travelers to and from Jericho.

In Nablus, occupation forces stormed the town of Qablan, raiding and searching a number of homes, but no arrests were reported.

Israeli special forces also surrounded a home belonging to the Odeh family on Al-Taawun Street, shot and arrested Yazan Odeh.

Local sources reported that the occupation forces sent more reinforcements from the Al-Murabba'a checkpoint and the Al-Tur area, amid widespread deployment in the area and the closure of roads leading to the area.

She said that the occupation forces stormed Tal Al-Taawun Street and assaulted an 86-year-old man, who was then transported by Red Crescent ambulance to Rafidia Hospital.

In Ramallah, the occupation forces arrested three young men from the eastern farm: the brothers Muhammad and Mahmoud Saeed Hijaz, and the young man Amir Alqam Zaban. They also arrested the young man Hadi Bashar Mustafa Barghouti from the village of Kobar, after raiding their homes and ransacking their contents.

In the same context, occupation forces stormed Al-Manara Roundabout in the center of Ramallah and the village of Deir Nizam, northwest of the city, without any reported raids or arrests.

Five civilians were killed and others injured early Tuesday morning when the occupation forces bombed the tents of displaced people in the Gaza Strip.

In the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Yunis, three citizens were martyred and others were injured when a tent was targeted. The dead were: Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Tahrawi from Rafah, Khalil Mahmoud Hassouna, and Mamdouh Attia Al-Qadi.

In Beit Lahia, two citizens were killed in the bombing of a tent belonging to the Hamdan family near a playground opposite the village of Canaan. They were: Haitham Hamdan and Mahmoud Hamdan.

The number of dead since the beginning of the war of extermination on the Gaza Strip has risen to 50,983.

A child was shot by Israeli occupation forces during a raid on the town of Awarta on Monday evening, forcing shopkeepers to close their stores in Hawara, south of Nablus.

The director of the Red Crescent's emergency and ambulance center in Nablus, Amid Ahmed, reported that ambulance crews transported a child to the hospital who had been shot in the back by the occupation forces following the raid on the town of Awarta.

In the same context, occupation forces forced shop owners to close their stores in the town of Hawara, amid a widespread deployment of occupation soldiers conducting searches in the area.

The European Union's foreign policy chief affirmed the bloc's solidarity with the Palestinian people as they face the devastating loss of life and widespread destruction caused by the ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip.

The European official condemned the complete blockade on humanitarian aid to Gaza, stressing the need to allow it to enter without delay.

The occupation authorities also called for the resumption of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as part of the first phase of the agreement, stressing that urgent humanitarian needs cannot tolerate any further delay.

She stressed that the war on Gaza will not be resolved militarily, believing that negotiations are the only way to end the ongoing suffering and pave the way for a comprehensive and sustainable solution.