Trump says Gaza ceasefire still in place after Israel kills over 100
Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
The US administration has dispatched Witkoff, Kushner, and Vance to Israel to salvage the shaky ceasefire deal.
US President Donald Trump confirmed to reporters on Sunday, October 19, that the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal, which he announced on Wednesday, October 8, is still in place.
Trump’s confirmation came after Israel launched a renewed aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip during the past several days with a series of airstrikes and shooting attacks, which left dozens of Palestinians killed.
Israel claimed that its warplanes waged the deadly airstrikes in retaliation of an alleged shooting attack by Hamas fighters against two personnel of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), leaving them dead. Aid entry into the starved enclave was halted as a response to the purported shooting attack as well.
“We want to make sure that it’s going to be very peaceful with Hamas. As you know, they’ve been quite rambunctious. They’ve been doing some shooting, and we think maybe the leadership isn’t involved in that, that it’s some rebels within, but anyway it’s going to be handled properly. It’s going to be handled toughly, but properly,” Trump told reporters.
When he was asked: “Is the ceasefire still in place?” The US President replied: “Yes.”
Israel has committed scores of violations since the ceasefire started
Although the ceasefire deal went into effect on Friday, October 10, Israel has committed scores of violations, killing at least 100 Palestinians and wounding 230 others, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip reported that after the renewed Israeli aggression, the death toll in the war-torn strip has risen to 68,216 fatalities since October 7, 2023.
Read More: The genocide will not end until the Palestinian political leaders are free
Trump sends Witkoff, Kushner, Vance to Israel to bolster the fragile ceasefire deal
In an effort to salvage the fragile ceasefire deal, the US administration dispatched its “Middle East” envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to Israel on Monday, October 20, to meet Israeli officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and two IOF major generals.
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance is set to arrive in Israel on Tuesday, October 21, to join the discussions on the deal.
Israeli media outlets reported that Witkoff and Kushner warned Netanyahu against taking any action that may jeopardize the first phase of the deal.
“Do not act in a way that would endanger the ceasefire. We want to do everything to reach the second phase,” the two US envoys were cited saying while addressing Netanyahu. “Self-defense is acceptable, risking the ceasefire is not,” they insisted.
Maintaining the first phase of the ceasefire deal was not the only topic to be discussed during the meetings. The “entire mechanism for dismantling and demilitarizing postwar Gaza”, and “all the preparations necessary to carry out the second phase of the agreement” were also on the table.
Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
EU keeps sanctions on Israel ‘on the table’ despite Gaza ceasefire
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The European Union has not ruled out imposing sanctions on Israel, despite the recent ceasefire in Gaza, EU foreign policy chief Kaya Kallas said on Monday.
Speaking after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Kallas emphasised that while the ceasefire had shifted the political context, the bloc would maintain pressure on Israel to ensure the truce is upheld and humanitarian conditions improve. “The ceasefire has changed the context—that is very clear to everyone,” Kallas said. “However, unless we see real and sustainable change on the ground, including more aid reaching Gaza, the threat of sanctions will remain.”
Prior to the ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump, Brussels had discussed potential punitive measures against Israel, including the blacklisting of senior Israeli officials and restrictions on trade relations. “We are not taking these measures now, but we are not taking them off the table either, because the situation is fragile,” Kallas added.
EU officials have repeatedly urged Israel to facilitate unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza and warned that any backsliding on ceasefire commitments could reignite instability across the region.
Gaza’s silent generation: Psychological toll of Israel’s genocide strips children of speech
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300,000 students resume classes in Gaza amid aid blockade, UN refugee agency says
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About 300,000 Palestinian students will resume classes in Gaza on Saturday under the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, the agency said, although Israel’s blockade continues to prevent hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from entering the enclave, Anadolu reports.
The agency has “put plans in place to resume the educational process for 300,000 Palestinian students in UNRWA and this number is likely to increase,” Adnan Abu Hasna, UNRWA’s media advisor, said in televised remarks published through the US social media company X.
He said around 10,000 students will attend in-person classes in schools and shelters, while the vast majority will receive remote instruction because “it is absolutely impossible to have two years without schooling, preceded by two years of Corona.”
Abu Hasna said 8,000 teachers will take part in the program.
The educational process in Gaza has been suspended since Oct. 8, 2023, following the start of Israel’s genocide in the enclave. Most UNRWA and government schools were turned into shelters for displaced families, while many others were destroyed or severely damaged.
According to data from the Palestinian Education Ministry, as of Sept. 16, Israel had destroyed 172 government schools, bombed or damaged 118 others, and struck more than 100 UNRWA-run schools.
The ministry said 17,711 students have been killed in Gaza since the start of the genocide and 25,897 injured. It also reported the deaths of 763 education-sector employees and injuries to 3,189 others.
READ: Netanyahu’s office says remains of 11th Israeli hostage received from Gaza under ceasefire deal
“We also have a plan in the health sector to revitalize 22 central clinics in the Gaza Strip,” he said. “We have dozens of food-distribution points and thousands of employees with great logistical experience.”
He added that UNRWA had already purchased supplies worth hundreds of millions of dollars that remain stuck outside Gaza.
Abu Hasna condemned Israel’s obstruction of the relief effort, saying: “Many basic necessities, including shelter materials, blankets, winter clothing, and medicines, are not being allowed into Gaza from the Israeli side, worsening the humanitarian situation.”
He warned that 95% of Gaza’s population now depends on humanitarian assistance after losing their sources of income, and that conditions are deteriorating rapidly.
“Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are living in the open after returning to Gaza City following the entry into force of the ceasefire on Oct. 10,” he said. “Bringing in aid has become an urgent necessity before winter.”
The Gaza ceasefire deal was reached between Israel and Hamas last week, based on a plan presented by US President Donald Trump. Phase one included the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The plan also envisages the rebuilding of Gaza and the establishment of a new governing mechanism without Hamas.
Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, and rendered it largely uninhabitable.
READ: UN official says Gaza situation catastrophic, urges unrestricted entry of essential supplies
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