A senior American official has issued a stark warning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if he allows the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas to collapse, he will face severe consequences from US President Donald Trump, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.
Speaking in Hebrew on Channel 12, Axios correspondent said the US official warned him that Netanyahu is “walking a very thin tightrope with President Trump. If he keeps this up, he’ll end up screwing up the deal, and if he screws up the deal, Donald Trump will screw him.”
The comments come amid rising tensions between Washington and Tel Aviv over moves by Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, to advance legislation tied to the annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank.
According to the report, US Vice President JD Vance, who concluded a diplomatic visit to Israel earlier on Thursday, was taken aback after learning that the Knesset had given preliminary approval to two non-binding annexation-related bills the previous day.
Speaking to reporters at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport before his departure, Vance criticised the vote, saying: “If this was a political stunt, it’s a very foolish one. I personally take offence to it.”
Israeli move angered Trump
An Israeli official told Channel 12 that Netanyahu had been warned several days earlier about the strong backlash such a move would provoke but did nothing to stop the vote from going ahead.
The Israeli Knesset approved both annexation-related bills in a preliminary reading, with three more votes required before they can become law.
The legislation advanced despite open opposition from President Trump, who said last month that he “would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.”
The vote also coincided with Vance’s visit to Israel, part of a wider US diplomatic effort to preserve the Gaza ceasefire that took effect on October 10 according to TRTWorld.
The UN on Monday said it was encouraged by renewed Gaza ceasefire commitments, warning that recent violence risked undermining fragile progress, as recovery efforts – including a large-scale rubble removal project – slowly gain momentum across the war-ravaged enclave.
“We are encouraged that the parties have reaffirmed their commitments to implementing the ceasefire in Gaza and commend the steadfast efforts of the mediators,” said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric at the regular news briefing in New York.
“We do, however, remain concerned by all acts of violence in Gaza and the reported attacks and strikes that took place yesterday.”
Mr. Dujarric urged all sides to honour their obligations and avoid any action that could lead to renewed hostilities, reiterating the Secretary-General’s call for the release of the remains of all deceased hostages.
Over the weekend, Humanitarian Affairs chief Tom Fletcher wrapped up a visit to Gaza, where he met aid workers and inspected UN-supported projects, including a child nutrition centre, a hospital and a road clearance operation.
Debris removal underway
In Gaza City, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has begun a major debris removal operation – the first phase of a comprehensive debris management plan aimed at restoring access to essential services such as hospitals and schools.
“Rubble represents a major challenge in Gaza, where the estimated amount is between 55 and 60 million tonnes,” said Jaco Cilliers, UNDP Representative in Palestine.
The UN agency taking the vital first step by clearing roads and recycling materials to pave new access routes and temporary facilities.
Dozens of diggers and other vehicles have been deployed along Al-Jalaa Street, where UNDP says it is working around the clock to open roads that have been blocked for months.
“This is a very arduous process and will take many years to complete,” Mr. Cilliers cautioned.
Aid crossings open
UN humanitarians also reported progress in aid delivery under the ceasefire, with the UN agency assisting Palestine refugees (UNRWA) expanding temporary learning spaces and partners resuming food parcel distributions in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.
“Over the weekend, we along with our partners continued to collect aid from the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem and Kissufim crossings. This included post-partum and hygiene kits, medical supplies, fuel, water and food,” Mr. Dujarric said.
He added that on Sunday, for the first time, Israeli authorities allowed the UN to deploy monitors at the Kissufim crossing.
“This is of course a welcome development, as it provides us with much-needed visibility into that segment of the pipeline,” Mr. Dujarric added according to UN News.
Around $70 billion will be needed to reconstruct Gaza and make it safe after two years of war, UN development experts said on Tuesday, while aid agencies reported that far too little aid is getting in to meet the needs of desperate Palestinians.
At just 41 kilometres long (25.4 miles) and two to five kilometres wide (1.2 to 3.1 miles), few places in the Gaza Strip had been left unscathed by the constant Israeli bombardment before the latest ceasefire came into effect haltingly last Friday.
According to the UN Development Programme Special Representative for the Palestinians, Jaco Cilliers, destruction across the enclave “is now in the region of 84 per cent. In certain parts of Gaza, like in Gaza City, it’s even up to 92 per cent.”
$20 billion needed now
Speaking from Jerusalem, the UNDP’s Mr. Cilliers highlighted the findings of the latest Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (IRDNA) on Gaza by the UN, the European Union and the World Bank, which estimated the damage at $70 billion.
To kickstart the massive operation, some $20 billion will be required in the next three years alone, he told journalists in Geneva.
The UN development agency is present in Gaza alongside humanitarian partners to provide immediate support to the enclave’s 2.1 million people.
This includes providing clean water, emergency employment, medical supplies, solid waste removal and making homes and public spaces safe by clearing rubble potentially hiding unexploded ordnance or the many thousands of missing Palestinians.
“We’ve already removed about 81,000 tonnes. That is about…3,100 truckloads,” Mr. Cilliers explained. “The majority of the debris removal is to provide access to humanitarian actors so that they can provide the much-needed aid and support to the people in Gaza. But we also help with hospitals and other social services that need to be cleared of debris.”
The UNDP official pointed to “very good indications” from potential donors in support of reconstruction from Arab States, but also from European nations and the United States “which has also indicated that they are going to be coming in supporting some of the early recovery efforts”.
Immediate aid essential
Important as reconstruction is for Gaza’s long-term future, UN humanitarians once again clamoured for the Israeli authorities to open all access points into Gaza, after the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages were freed on Monday and Palestinian prisoners were released from Israel.
The development followed the signing of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel signed on Monday evening in Sharm El-Sheikh by US President Donald Trump, and the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and Turkïye.
Earlier on Monday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the release of all living hostages from Gaza, two years since they were among some 250 taken during Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023.
Gaza City testimony
Speaking to UN News from Gaza, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) aid worker Tess Ingram described the story of one family displaced five times by the war:
“I met a family today, Mustafa and Syeda and their children, and they told me that they were among the lucky ones because while Mustafa was pulling rubble out from the building, that is their home, at least he said, we have a home.”
The family was relieved on Monday at the appearance of a water truck, Ms. Imgram told us: “But they live in fear that truck might not turn up today or tomorrow. She also can’t get the medicine she needs and her sons had to walk a really long way today just to buy the basics that she needed to make some bread.
“Families need absolutely everything right now. We need the hundreds of trucks a day that were promised to get into the Gaza Strip.”
On Tuesday, the focus shifted to the transfer from Gaza of all deceased hostages, an extremely difficult process overseen by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It remains unclear how many deceased hostages will be transferred by Hamas.
“When it comes to the living hostages or Palestinian detainees – and believe me that’s a big issue for us – we actually don’t know, we know that we have to be ready,” said ICRC spokesperson Christian Cardon, adding that the complex search is getting underway today.
In the meantime, needs in Gaza remain enormous and “fluid”, aid teams report, with more than 300,000 Palestinians heading north to Gaza City since Friday, as the ceasefire agreement seemed to hold.
“The enthusiasm that came from the international community, from people on the ground that this was the beginning of the end of all the suffering and things would change rapidly, is just not being reflected on the ground, day in and day out. We are not getting enough aid in,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson Ricardo Pires.
The Israeli authorities have agreed to allow 190,000 tonnes of relief supplies into Gaza and UN agencies and their partners are scaling up operations rapidly, but a far greater amount is needed overall, humanitarian agencies including the UN aid office, OCHA, have said repeatedly.
“Of course, we are advocating with everyone, and we were there in Sharm El- Sheikh yesterday as well, with 22 heads of state of government, who we are asking to help us push all buttons you can to get this up and running as soon as possible,” said OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke.
Aid hub carnage
Aid teams continue to insist that there needs to be a move away from handing out lifesaving supplies from remote areas including non-UN aid hubs that are difficult to reach and where hundreds of Palestinians have been shot or injured.
“Most of the actors – ICRC included – were not able to organize sufficient distribution of aid inside Gaza,” said Mr. Cardon. “And what we’ve seen instead, it’s people coming back from distribution sites being wounded, if not killed, in many instances…It’s about aid coming to the people and not any more people going to the aid,” as reported by UN News.
International media, fact-finding commissions, UN special rapporteurs, ICC investigators, and all expert technical teams must be granted unfettered access to Gaza to document the genocide committed by Israel and ensure accountability for those responsible, thereby promoting justice and redress for victims.
The success of the ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions, which entered into force at noon on 10 October 2025, depends on full respect for international law, cessation of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and concrete steps to address the root causes of their suffering. Foremost among these are ending Israel’s illegal occupation, fully lifting the blockade on Gaza, dismantling the system of segregation and apartheid imposed on Palestinians, and guaranteeing their right to self-determination.
There is an urgent need to open Gaza to international journalists and media teams for unrestricted field access to cover the humanitarian catastrophe left by this genocide. Israel has systematically sought to erase truth by targeting Palestinian press, killing at least 254 journalists, destroying most media institutions, and continuing to bar international journalists from entering the enclave.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor calls on International media outlets to immediately dispatch their teams to Gaza to document the scale of destruction, the extent of civilian suffering, and to monitor compliance with the ceasefire. Covering developments in Gaza is not merely a professional mission but a moral and humanitarian duty toward victims of one of the most brutal crimes of modern times.
Any restriction on press freedom or denial of entry to media and international investigation mechanisms perpetuates efforts to conceal facts and withhold evidence from the global public, obstructing independent documentation of genocide and widespread destruction inflicted upon civilians and infrastructure.
Immediate, unconditional access must also be granted to forensic and criminal investigation teams, with the necessary equipment, to assist in recovering victims’ bodies from beneath rubble and areas of Israeli military incursion, identifying their identities, and clarifying the fate of missing persons. Swift field access for experts is essential to preserving truth and ensuring justice for victims and their families.
Initial field visits following the ceasefire revealed large numbers of bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli bombardment, many decomposed after being trapped for extended periods beneath rubble or within former combat zones. Volunteer rescue and civil defence teams retrieved 135 bodies, mostly from Gaza Governorate, while many others remain buried due to the vast destruction and lack of necessary equipment.
Investigators from independent UN inquiry committees, the ICC, UN special rapporteurs, and other international mechanisms must be allowed into Gaza to examine crimes, gather and preserve forensic evidence, and ensure accountability for serious violations, particularly genocide. Gaza’s population requires far more than a ceasefire; they demand a complete end to the genocide and destruction, and a radical remedy to the root causes through the full lifting of the siege, free movement and supply of aid, and reconstruction led by Palestinians, grounded in dignity and the right to life.
Any ceasefire or arrangement must uphold human rights standards and not condition humanitarian aid on political considerations. Such aid is a protected right under international humanitarian law, not subject to bargaining or restriction.
All agreements must guarantee the complete cessation of hostilities, the removal of all restrictions on the movement of food, medicine, fuel, and reconstruction materials, and the restoration of essential civilian services after years of systematic destruction. Central to this is ensuring the immediate and full withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from Gaza and the rapid reconstruction of vital infrastructure, including health, education, and public services.
Israeli attempts to impose permanent “security zones” or buffer areas in Gaza must be firmly rejected, as these measures seek to demographically and geographically reconfigure the Strip, annex fertile land under false security pretexts, entrench segregation, and turn Gaza into isolated ghettos, threatening food security and Palestinians’ right to life.
Any political or security arrangements that impose external oversight or governance over Gaza undermine Palestinians’ right to self-rule and constitute extensions of Israeli domination. Such measures threaten Gaza’s unity, territorial integrity, and legal status.
Ignoring human rights or the ongoing occupation in any political initiative perpetuates impunity and enables Israel to repeatedly commit atrocities without accountability. Rigorous monitoring of Israeli practices in Gaza is vital to prevent the recurrence of genocide. Preventing genocide is not a political choice or negotiable matter but an absolute legal and moral duty requiring decisive international action.
Tolerating serious violations or settling for temporary or conditional promises effectively legitimises the re-creation of conditions that enabled genocide and prolonged civilian suffering. The international community must activate accountability mechanisms, punish perpetrators, ensure full reparations and redress, uphold victims’ dignity, and enforce the principle of no impunity.
The international community must act swiftly and decisively on its legal obligations: to end the root causes of Palestinian suffering and persecution over the past 77 years; to guarantee the inalienable rights of Palestinians to freedom, dignity, and self-determination under international law; to terminate Israel’s illegal occupation; dismantle settler colonial and apartheid structures; fully withdraw Israeli presence from the 1967 occupied territories; lift the unlawful blockade on Gaza; ensure full accountability for crimes committed; and secure fair, comprehensive compensation and justice for Palestinian victims.
Dr Fayez Abu Shammalah says the Israeli aggressor has up till now dropped 200,000 tons of explosives on Gaza.
He added this vast amount equals to 13 nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima in Japan.
The US bombing forced the hands of Japan and it surrendered. However Abu Shammalah says: Gaza, its people and resistance are still fighting and refuses to surrender.
Dr Abu Shammalah is a university professor, a freed prisoners after spending 10 years in Israel jails, is a member of the Palestine National Council, and previously a mayor of the Khan Younis Municipality.
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