6 February 2025
After 470 days of the Israeli genocide against our steadfast people, the long-awaited ceasefire entered into effect on Sunday 19 January 2025. The ceasefire came 15 months too late, with Palestinian factions having accepted similar proposals as early as November 2023 and an almost identical deal in May 2024. The ceasefire offers a temporary and necessary respite, but it’s far from a solution. It is a key moment for accelerated global popular mobilization and a radical political paradigm shift toward Palestinian self-determination and liberation.
The Current Reality:
Gaza: Holding Onto Hope Amidst Destruction
For over 15 months, Israel has committed one of the most atrocious genocides in history, carrying out massacres, annihilating entire families, using starvation as a weapon of war, and destroying 92% of homes. The genocide on Gaza has killed over 47,035 Palestinians, including more than 20,000 children, and injured over 111,090. Israel has further forcibly displaced 90% of the population, most of whom are already refugees denied their right to return since the 1948 Nakba. The devastation caused by Israel is indescribable, and the statistics offer only a glimpse of the misery that will haunt Palestinians for generations to come. Studies estimate the actual death toll in Gaza may surpass 186,000, and clearing the rubble could take 20 years.
Since the ceasefire, more killings are being recorded in Gaza, with hundreds of Palestinian bodies being pulled from beneath the rubble, many succumbing to their wounds, and others killed in violation of the ceasefire. Between 22 January and 6 February 2025, an additional 548 Palestinians have lost their lives, including at least 21 in direct violation of the ceasefire. Over 560,000 displaced Palestinians returning to the north are confronted with the destruction of their homes, the loss of their families, and uncertain futures—yet they remain determined to rebuild their lives from the rubble.
The West Bank: Under Intensified Genocidal Colonial Violence
Israel has exploited the ceasefire to escalate annexation and domination in the West Bank. Military raids, mass arrests, movement restrictions, and violent settler attacks have increased dramatically.
On January 21, Israel launched a full-scale military attack, targeting the northern West Bank. The ongoing military attack includes a siege on Jenin, Tulkarem, Tubas, and Qalqilya areas, attacks on hospitals, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, airstrikes, homes and infrastructure destruction, and forced displacement. In two weeks, more than 50 Palestinians were killed, and over 26,000 forcibly displaced. This mirrors the early stages of the genocide in Gaza, with similiar genocidal acts and Israeli officials openly calling for the replication of the genocide in the West Bank. Israel’s Defense Minister, Katz, referred to the military attack on Jenin as “the first lesson from Gaza,” while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for widespread destruction on the West Bank, stating: “Funduq, Nablus, and Jenin need to look like Jabalia.”
The ongoing attack in the West Bank is a continuation of decades-long occupation, with the period since October 2023 marking the highest levels of colonial violence and ethnic cleansing. Over 828 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank between 7 October 2023 and 19 January 2025. Over 2,464 homes and structures were demolished, forcibly displacing 5,482 Palestinians. An additional 1,757 Palestinians were forcibly displaced due to settler attacks between 7 October 2023 and 5 December 2024.
Mass Arrests, Torture, and Political Suppression
Before the ceasefire, 10,220 Palestinians—including 345 children and 3,376 administrative detainees —were held in Israeli prisons under torture and inhumane conditions. This excludes Palestinians detained from Gaza since 7 October 2023. Since October 2023, over 58 Palestinian prisoners have died from torture and medical neglect.
As part of the ceasefire deal, 1,900 prisoners are set for release in the first phase. Many have returned with visible signs of torture, abuse, and malnutrition. Meanwhile, mass arrests in the West Bank continue, with at least 380 Palestinians detained since the ceasefire and as of 4 February 2025.
Zionist Attacks against the Palestinian People as a Whole
Since the genocide, the Palestinian people everywhere have been facing intensified Zionist attacks. Palestinian citizens of Israel have been facing intensified repression, including a ban on protests, mass arrests, and arbitrary suspensions at workplaces and academic institutions.
Meanwhile, millions of Palestinian refugees, who remain denied their right to return, are threatened with their access to basic aid, health, and social services after Israel’s illegal ban of UNRWA, the main agency serving Palestinian refugees.
Globally, Palestinian activists, groups, and their allies face increased repression. Governments and corporations have cracked down on solidarity protests, arrested people for speaking out, censored voices, criminalized accountability efforts, and allowed hate crimes against Palestinians to rise.
Zionist Colonial Domination across the Region
In the region, Israel has been exploiting the genocide in what Netanyahu calls an opportunity to ‘expand the Abraham Accords… and thus change even more dramatically the face of the Middle East.” In Lebanon, Israel’s military invasion has claimed over 3,189 lives, injured 14,078, and forcibly displaced more than 1.2 million people. Exploiting the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has launched unprecedented military aggression into Syrian territory, deepening its occupation in the territory.
Zionist Impunity
For decades, Israel has continued its colonial project with impunity. This is evident in its systemic dismissal of and attacks on international rulings and bodies, as well as its consistent bad faith when it comes to violating deals and agreements. Since the genocide, Israel has dismissed three orders and an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice—ordering that Israel end its occupation, and halt genocidal acts in Gaza —alongside arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court against war criminals Netanyahu and Gallant. Further, Israel has violated both the Lebanon and Gaza ceasefires. Israel’s complete disregard for international law and its obligations is the direct result of the complicity of the global political establishment, who continue to reward Israel’s international crimes through unconditional military, economic, and political support.
The Failure of the International Community to Address Root Causes
The dominant international political approach to the Palestinian struggle has been to use two-sided conflict resolution frameworks, which have been perpetuating the oppression of Palestinians, rather than addressing the root causes of Israel’s crimesin order to build a just future: colonization, apartheid, and occupation.
The discussions revolving around the rebuilding of Gaza are no exceptions. The U.S, the Israeli regime and their close allies are actively promoting plans to ethnically cleanse Palestinians and reshape governance to serve Israeli colonial interests. The current attempts to shape state alliances—such as the “global alliance for a two-state solution”— continue to promote harmful paradigms instead of addressing the root causes, and must not be given political backing.
Aid on the other hand, has been increasingly weaponized, with attempts to replace UNRWA with private sector alternatives reflecting a broader effort to dismantle the rights of Palestinian refugees. Simultaneously, “people-to-people” and “peacebuilding” initiatives, encouraging “dialogue” et “mutual understanding” between Palestinian and Israeli civil society and business actors are entrenching Israeli colonial domination, by deliberately failing to hold the illegal occupation and apartheid to account, sidelining Palestinian agency, and failing to center the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
What Needs to Happen Now?
1. Push for the Respect of the Ceasefire in all its Phases
The current deal, divided into three phases, includes full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a complete ceasefire only in the final stage—an outcome Israel is unlikely to pursue, based on historical patterns of negotiations and agreements.. However, with sanctions and accountability, Israel might reconsider its decisions. Collective and immediate action is needed to ensure the full implementation of the deal.
2. Reject the Weaponizing of Aid
Ongoing efforts to replace UNRWA and the UN coordination humanitarian system – despite its many flaws – with private contractors aligned with U.S. and Israeli interests undermine the integrity of humanitarian efforts, and advance Israeli colonial objectives. Reject any governance or aid delivery plans, void of Palestinian agency and sovereignty. Combat any efforts to replace UNRWA with privatized alternatives and advocate for ending Israel’s banning of the agency.
3. Sanction Israel and Hold Criminals Accountable
Demand justice for war crimes, apartheid, genocide, and atrocity crimes. Advocate for arms and energy embargoes, and diplomatic and economic sanctions against Israeli apartheid. This is not only a moral duty for governments, but also a legal one. Sanctions and ending complicity with Israel were voted for by a global majority of 124 states at the UN General Assembly and reaffirmed by the International Court of Justice this year. These legal obligations do not end with the ceasefire.
Support Campaigns for Justice:
– Demand a Global Energy Embargo for Palestine.
– Hold complicit corporations accountable. Databases and campaigns: BDS List / Don’t Buy into Occupation List / AFSC Investigate Database / WhoProfits database / The WaterMelon Index
4. Protect Palestinian Civil Society and End Repression of Solidarity Activism:
The global suppression of Palestinians’ right to resist oppression, and the solidarity movement is escalating. Advocate for an end to all policies that criminalize and suppress solidarity activism. At the same time, reject the increased “people-to-people” initiatives that bring together Israeli and Palestinian civil society and private sector actors, and only serve to normalize the apartheid regime.
5. Demand Political Processes that Ensure Palestinian Agency and Address Root Causes
Now more than ever, political processes must center Palestinian liberation, return and self-determination. From the partition of Palestine to the Oslo Accords and Trump’s plans, history has repeatedly shown that Palestinians are asked to surrender their fundamental rights. The plans to “rebuild Gaza” are no exceptions.
“Rebuilding Gaza” must not perpetuate dependency on humanitarian aid, undermine Palestinian agency, or contribute to further forced displacement. True rebuilding must be a Palestinian-owned process —both in decision-making as well as in implementation. This process must include representatives of all political and social stakeholders without being captured by foreign-sponsored individuals or authorities.
More importantly, “rebuilding Gaza” is not only about the rebuilding of infrastructures and livelihoods but about a liberatory rebuilding that reclaims Palestinian dignity and unity. Key for reclaiming Palestinian unity is freeing all Palestinian political prisoners, ending Israel’s arbitrary detention system, and guarantees against the re-arrest of those released in the prisoner exchange deal. Prerequisites to enabling Palestinian self-determination are ending the blockade, occupation, and settler-colonial apartheid regime, and enabling the right of return.
In the coming months, our team and our coalitions will redouble their efforts to continue supporting the strengthening of the Palestinian international movement for liberation and lobby strategically for accountability.