Retired child and adolescent psychiatrist and American expatriate in New Zealand. In 2002, I made the difficult decision to close my 25-year Seattle practice after 15 years of covert FBI harassment. I describe the unrelenting phone harassment, illegal break-ins and six attempts on my life in my 2010 book The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee.
The US has invested heavily in Israeli surveillance technology (see The Palestine Laboratory EP 1) to restrict illegal immigrants from entering the US, Trump paid two million dollars to supplement his border wall with 55 surveillance towers the US government has installed in remote border area. Each tower covers a 5 mile radius and includes underground censors.
In addition the border state of Arizona has purchase Celebrite software from Israel. It enables them to extract cellphone data without a password. Meanwhile drug cartels have installed (with the collusion of law enforcement) Israel’s Pegagus software (see The Palestine Laboratory EP 1) on the phones of 60,000 people they disappeared in Mexico city. At present the Mexican army is the country’s biggest Pegasus user user of Pegasus in the country, despite having no legal authorization to use it.
The EU is the second biggest buyer of Israeli surveillance technology. In 2021 Samos closed its migrant refugee camp and transferred thousands of refugees to a Closed Control Access Center (CCAC). The latter is a massive concrete building equipped with cameras in every corridor and external surveillance via tall pole-based camera and drones. This technology transfers data in real time to police and security centers, capable of calling up fingerprint and other AI biometric data in real time. The EU has been using Israeli surveillance drones since 2011 to monitor sea born migrants, which it pays Libya to intercept.
India is Israel’s largest weapons and surveillance client. The filmmaker interview an Indian farmer who was tear gassed via drone while protesting government farm policy. Prior to its collapse, the Soviet Union was India’s main supplier of weapons technology. Since India turned to Israel for its weapons, they account for 55% of the country’s total imports. They have also allowed Israel to build missile factories and launch missiles on Indian soil. India also exports Indian-made and drones to Israel.
In 1948 India was one of the first countries to support Israel. Their current right-ring Hindu supremacist government also supports the genocide in Gaza owing to longstanding Islamophobia.
Israel was also a major supporter of South African apartheid (which started in 1948).* In the 1960s, South Africa supplied Israel with the uranium they needed to develop a nuclear bomb (the ANC voluntarily shuttered its nuclear industry when it took power in 1994). In 1970 Israel provided South Africa the military technology they needed to topple Angola’s left wing government. By the 1980s, international condemnation of apartheid-related atrocities left the UK, US and Israel as the only three countries supporting apartheid.
*Under apartheid all non-white residents were forced to move to primitive townships.
Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza. As the I.S.F. establishes control and stability, the Israel Defense Forces (I.D.F.) will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and time frames linked to demilitarization that will be agreed upon between the I.D.F., I.S.F., the guarantors, and the United States, with the objective of a secure Gaza that no longer poses a threat to Israel, Egypt, or its citizens.Practically, the I.D.F. will progressively hand over the Gaza territory it occupies to the ISF according to an agreement they will make with the transitional authority until they are withdrawn completely from Gaza, save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.
What is at stake is the formation of a U.S. neocolonial entity in the Levant.
In early February, barely two weeks after his inauguration, President Trump intimated that Gaza would become a US territory, with a view to developing a luxury real estate project with mansions, luxury apartments, hotels and casinos.
How many years would it take to remove the ruble and rebuild?
Under Trump’s advisory, Palestinians would be relocated and excluded from their homeland.
“I would like Egypt to take people,…You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say: ‘You know, it’s over.’” [Trump told the king of Jordan] ….
“I would love for you to take on more, ‘cause I am looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.”
Video: President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu: Press Conference
Will this Multi-billion Dollar Real Estate Project be Carried Out?
It’s doubtful. There is an unspoken objective, which is barely mentioned by the mainstream media.
As outlined by Felicity Arbuthnot with foresight 11 years ago in a December, 30 2013 article:
Arbuthnot was referring to the ownership of Gaza’s maritime natural gas reserves, which belong to the State of Palestine.
At the time of writing, the Netanyahu government is planning to appropriate these maritime gas reserves.What this signifies is that Israel is intent upon annexing Gaza as well as destroying an entire country.
Recent Developments: All Things are NOT Going Well for Netanyahu.
Washington’s intent is to eventually scrap “The Greater Israel” project.
Confrontation between Netanyahu and Trump is currently unfolding, so far behind closed doors.
Washington’s unspoken intent is to transform Gaza into an “American Territory” to prevent the Netanyahu government from appropriating Gaza’s maritime gas fields. The management of the latter is already underway under the auspices of Israel’s Ministry of Energy. (for details see below)
Secret negotiations are currently unfolding (Reuters May 7, 2025) regarding the creation of a “U.S led administration” (aka American Territory).
“The “high-level” consultations have centered around a transitional government headed by a U.S. official that would oversee Gaza until it had been demilitarized and stabilized… There would be no fixed timeline for how long such a U.S.-led administration would last, which would depend on the situation on the ground, ….” (Reuters May 7, 2025)
US. Foreign Policy will eventually overshadow the so-called “Greater Israel” project.
We can expect a shift in the Zionist narrative. Netanyahu is a proxy. Is regime change in Israel contemplated?
While Israel has invaded part of Syria’s Southern territories, the U.S project consists in transforming Gaza into a U.S territory under U.S laws. This project would be part of broader US agenda which consists in the militarization of the entire Eastern Mediterranean coast line, namely the Levant extending from the Egypt-Gaza border to the Northern tip of Syria.
As outlined below, Israel’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure has already awarded licenses to six Israeli and international companies “to explore for natural gas in areas that are considered Palestinian maritime areas under international law”. That announcement was made 3 weeks after October 7, 2023.
America’s Levant Military Corridor
The administrative arm of America’s Levant military corridor is the gigantic American Embassy in Beirut (in a country of less than 6 million inhabitants), 10 times bigger than that of London, it’s the second largest US Embassy Worldwide after that of Baghdad which serves to administer America’s unspoken colonial project in Iraq.
US “Embassy” in Iraq. Largest Worldwide
Cost: a staggering 750 Million Dollars. “1,350 government employees, and thousands of contractors”
[…]
Israel’s Ministry of Energy
Already in July 2023, Israel’s Ministry of Energy (IEM) opened the bidding for the exploration of maritime natural gas in Gaza.
And then, three weeks after October 7, the Ministry (IEM) announced the granting of licenses to both Israeli and international companies to explore for maritime natural gas.
On October 29, the Ministry on behalf of the Israeli government announced the winning bidders for two Zones within OBR4 (Gaza overlapping with Israeli territorial waters).
The companies included Eni S.p.A (Italy), Dana Petroleum (UK based subsidiary of the South Korean National Petroleum Company), and Ratio Petroleum (an Israeli company).
“Israel awarded gas exploration licenses for Zone G, a maritime area adjacent to the shores of Gaza as depicted in the green area of Map 2 above.
Notably, 62 percent of Zone G falls within the maritime boundaries declared by the State of Palestine in 2019, in accordance with provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), of which Palestine is a signatory.
In addition to the licenses already awarded in Zone G, Israel has also issued tenders for Zones H and E (as depicted in pink on Map 2); 73 percent of Zone H falls within Palestine’s declared maritime boundaries, along with five percent of Zone E.:” See Adalah
For additional information, see the Ministry’s press release.
Gaza: “A U.S. Territory”? Is Trump “Attempting” to Bypass the Israeli Government?
Visibly, the illegal ownership of Gaza’s maritime gas reserves by the State of Israel (as mentioned above) is in blatant contradiction with Donald Trump’s recently announced plan to transform Gaza into a “U.S territory”.
If Trump’s project of a “U.S Territory” were to be carried out, Gaza’s maritime offshore gas reserves, worth billions of dollars WOULD NOT BE MANAGED BY ISRAEL. They would be brought under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Government with a status similar to America’s 14 territories including Guam, America’s Samoa, the US Virgin Islands.
What is at stake is Colonial-style theft in derogation of International Law. Negotiations with oil and gas companies would be under the jurisdiction of the “US Territory”, in liaison with Washington.
“Territories are areas that belong to and are governed by the “parent” country” [U.S.]
“Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions and dependent territories overseen by the federal government of the United States.
What should also be understood, is that the Gaza maritime gas reserves are part of broader coastal maritime area of natural gas extending from the Egyptian border to Northern Syria. (See map below)
Goodbye to “Greater Israel”?
Under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Government, the Gaza “U.S Territory’s” maritime gas reserves would be under the mandate of the U.S Department of Energy which is now in the hands of Trump’s appointee EnergySecretary Chris Wright.
While the U.S and Israel are collaborating in the field of energy, Washington and the U.S Energy Department would be calling the shots, if and when the U.S Territory is established. .
“Three months before the October 7, 2023 attacks, Hamas made a US-brokered deal [?? yet to be confirmed] to allow development of a potentially significant gas field off the coast of Gaza”.
While the war in Gaza has been raging major energy developments in the region have been progressing rapidly”
“displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the U.S. take “ownership” in redeveloping the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
President Trump confirmed that the U.S annexation of Gaza would be in the form of a “long-term ownership position”. Meanwhile, Trump has been calling for the exodus of the entire population of the people of Palestine from Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Ironically, the protest movement against Netanyahu has shifted. Both Netanyahu and Trump are accused of ethnic cleansing and genocide.
It is now abundantly clear that the U.S. was involved in the planning of the genocide
“The long-term ownership” position is tantamount to an act of colonization against the People of Palestine. It suggests the creation of a U.S Territory, which would enable the US government to acquire ownership of Gaza’s maritime natural gas reserves, as well as establish a military base in Gaza. (see below)
Smoking Gun? Gaza and The Rothschild Energy Plan
Who’s behind Donald Trump? According to Dean Henderson (outstanding analysis):
In addition to the Rothschild riviera plan, there is also the Rothschild energy plan. In 1999 British Gas (BG) discovered a significant gas field in the Gaza Marine fields just 20 miles off Gaza. The Palestinian Authority granted BG a 25-year exploratory concession as a partner, but the Israelis blocked its development.
In 2016 Royal Dutch Shell, whose biggest shareholder is Victor Rothschild, paid BG $52 million for the field. But they would not help the PA develop it either. If the US were to take over Gaza, surely the Rothschilds would commence with its development.
Trump’s declaration yesterday can only be seen as blatant colonialist piracy (Henderson, February 12, 2025)
Trump and Netanyahu’s 20-point diplomatic initiative — marketed as a plan to restructure governance in Gaza and redefine Palestinian political participation — is neither a peace plan nor a novel imperial strategy. It’s a recycled blueprint for domination. Even Netanyahu is uneasy — not because the plan is unjust, but because it’s too blatant, too theatrical, too exposed.
This is the same architecture of control, repackaged in diplomatic jargon. I won’t waste space outlining its provisions or dignifying the hollow endorsements from Egypt, Jordan, and the UAE. Their statements aren’t positions — they’re noise.
What matters is the ideological clarity of the rejection. Resistance movements like Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, issued a categorical denunciation:
“This is not a peace plan. It is a colonial imposition dressed in diplomatic theater. Trump’s proposal is designed to liquidate Palestinian resistance, legitimize Israeli aggression, and install a foreign-controlled regime in Gaza. We reject it entirely — not as a negotiation, but as an extension of war.”
That’s the starting point. Not the plan’s details, but its refusal. From there, we turn to Netanyahu’s calculated ambivalence — and then to how this will unfold on the ground, beginning with Hamas and the broader resistance landscape.
Netanyahu’s Unease: Strategic Ambivalence and Calculated Distance
Netanyahu’s public stance is a mix of endorsement and staged discomfort. He’s expressed “concerns” about transitional governance and the risks of empowering non-aligned Palestinian actors. But this unease is tactical, not ideological. It’s a maneuver — feigned reluctance to deepen control while shielding himself from domestic backlash and maintaining alignment with U.S. strategic interests.
He’s not troubled by the plan’s colonial logic. He welcomes it. The consolidation of foreign control over Gaza, the sidelining of resistance, the rebranding of occupation as peace — these are outcomes he’s pursued for decades.
What unsettles him is the plan’s transparency. Its terms are so visibly skewed — so brazen in bypassing Palestinian agency and centralizing power under U.S.-Israeli command — that they risk exposing the machinery of domination usually cloaked in diplomatic language.
Netanyahu wants the same outcome: pacified resistance, controlled governance, strategic dominance. But he prefers it delivered through subtler means — negotiations that appear balanced, language that feigns neutrality, processes that allow him to deny authorship. That’s the function of plausible deniability: to secure maximalist goals while claiming moderation.
On the Ground: Resistance Will Not Be Technocratized
For resistance factions — especially Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad — this plan is not a diplomatic overture. It’s a provocation. Hamas may “study” the proposal in good faith, but that faith is tactical. It’s a delay mechanism, a way to assess leverage and prepare for escalation. Palestinian Islamic Jihad has already called the plan “a recipe to blow up the region.” They’re right.
What’s coming is a dual-track response:
Public calibration: Hamas will issue statements of conditional openness, emphasizing reconstruction and prisoner exchanges. This is not compromise — it’s strategic ambiguity.
Operational resistance: Behind the scenes, networks will consolidate. Surveillance will intensify. Attempts to fragment and neutralize ideological leadership will be met with countermeasures.
The plan’s emphasis on “technocratic governance” is not administrative — it’s a tool of erasure. But resistance is not a bureaucratic glitch. It’s a political reality. And it will not be absorbed into a foreign-controlled regime, no matter how many reconstruction dollars are dangled.
Resistance in Palestine has never been a malfunction to be corrected. It is the architecture of survival under siege, the infrastructure of refusal built across generations. From the fedayeen of the 1950s and 60s, to the grassroots networks of the First Intifada, to the armed and political formations of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, resistance has adapted, reconfigured, and reasserted itself in response to every attempt at containment. It is not reactive. It is generative.
This plan will not absorb resistance. It will provoke it.
How Resistance Will Manifest
Shadow Governance: As technocrats are installed under international supervision, resistance factions will build parallel structures — informal courts, underground education networks, and social services that bypass the imposed regime. This echoes the First Intifada, when local committees replaced Israeli municipal control.
Ideological Consolidation: Messaging will sharpen. Resistance movements will reject the language of “stabilization” and “de-radicalization” as colonial euphemisms. Political education will intensify, especially among youth, to inoculate against technocratic co-optation.
Armed Retrenchment: Public statements may gesture toward negotiation, but armed factions will prepare for escalation. The demilitarization clause will be treated not as a condition but as a provocation. Tunnel networks, rocket development, and asymmetric tactics will continue — quietly, strategically.
Martyrdom and Memory: The archive of resistance will expand. Every arrest, every demolition, every refusal will be documented and mythologized. Testimony will become a weapon. Visual and textual artifacts will circulate — graffiti, encrypted videos, underground publications — reasserting the legitimacy of resistance against imposed governance.
Regional Recalibration: Resistance will not remain confined to Gaza. The West Bank, refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan, and diaspora communities will respond. Expect coordinated days of rage, symbolic actions at embassies, and renewed calls for boycott, divestment, and sanctions.
West Bank Mobilization: Expect intensified confrontations in Jenin, Nablus, and Hebron. Armed cells will reorganize, youth networks will re-emerge, and settler incursions will be met with direct retaliation. The West Bank will not be a passive observer — it will be a second front.
The Arc That Informs This
This is not new. The British Mandate tried to install compliant intermediaries. The Oslo Accords tried to bureaucratize resistance into the Palestinian Authority. The Abraham Accords tried to normalize regional complicity. Each time, resistance re-emerged — fragmented, yes, but more adaptive.
What’s unfolding now is not the end of resistance. It’s another chapter in its evolution. And it will not be resolved by technocrats, nor pacified by reconstruction funds. Because resistance is not a glitch in the system — it is the system’s reckoning.
Trump’s Gaza blueprint will not end resistance. It will escalate it. And history will record this chapter not as peace, but as provocation.
Factual information about Israel and Palestine may soon be outlawed in the California K-12 school system. Assembly Bill 715 is currently on Governor Newsom’s desk. The legislation was recently rushed through the California legislature, amended just days before passage, and voted on at 1 a.m. with almost no time for public comment.
The hurry is intentional because opposition grows whenever people learn about it. AB715 is opposed by educators across the spectrum, including the California Teachers Association, California Faculty Association, Association of School Board Administrators, California School Boards Association, and Council of UC Faculty Associations. Civil rights organizations, such as ACLU Action, also oppose the legislation.
What It Purports to Do
Assembly Bill 715 aims to “prevent antisemitism.” It asserts, “Jewish and Israeli pupils are facing a widespread surge in antisemitic discrimination, harassment, and bullying. In many cases, such discrimination, harassment, and bullying has been so severe and pervasive that it has placed Jewish pupils at risk, or completely impeded their ability to learn or engage in school programs or activities.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is the main source for the claim that there is a “widespread surge” in antisemitism. Their accuracy is widely disputed. As the Jewish Currents publication reports, “A line-by-line reassessment of the organization’s data illuminates the flaws in its methodology.”
There is already protection in the California Education Code for genuine cases of discrimination or bullying. Section 220 of the code specifies that “No person shall be subjected to discrimination on the basis of disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic that is contained in the definition of hate crimes.” Through their ethnicity and religion, Jewish students are clearly a protected group. So are Israeli students.They can file claims of discrimination under existing legislation.
What It Will Actually Do
AB715 aims to expand the definition of“discrimination” and outlaw any textbook, instructional material, or course content that “would subject a pupil to unlawful discrimination.”
But what is “unlawful discrimination”? AB715 specifies that the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism is the basis for identifying antisemitism. That report asserts, “Jewish students and educators are targeted for derision and exclusion on college campuses, often because of their real or perceived views about the State of Israel. When Jews are targeted because of their beliefs or their identity, when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is antisemitism.” The document claims, “an unshakeable commitment to the State of Israel’s right to exist, its legitimacy, and its security. In addition, we recognize and celebrate the deep historical, religious, cultural, and other ties many American Jews and other Americans have to Israel.”
The U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism embraces the controversial “working definition” of antisemitism advanced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). This definition has been widely criticized for its conflation of antisemitism with anti-zionism and criticism of the State of Israel. Over 100 human rights and civil society organizations reject the IHRA definition. Yet this is the definition which AB715 is based on.
If passed, AB715 will result in strict regulation ofeducation and educational material that might subject Jewish students to “unlawful discrimination”.Facts and informed opinions about the reality in Israel and Palestine may be considered “antisemitic” or likely to cause discomfort. For example, students will not learn:
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli PM Netanyahu charging him with crimes against humanity.
The International Association of Genocide Scholars determined that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
The greatest scientist of the 20th century, Albert Einstein, was against the creation a Jewish state and sought a binational Arab Jewish state in Palestine.
In 1948, Einstein, Hanna Arendt, and other Jewish leaders denounced Menachim Begin as a Nazi and fascist.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz documents a Jewish scholar who was zionist but now supports Hamas and considers their armed resistance legitimate and legal.
All of the above are facts and assessments by credible organizations and individuals. AB715 is so vague yet sweeping that such education about Israel and Palestine may be considered “unlawful discrimination” against a pro-Israel student and therefore prohibited.
The Costs of AB715
If passed, AB715 will cost Californians dearly. It mandates the creation of a new Office of Civil Rights with an Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator and staff producing regular reports, investigations, etc. Incredibly, AB715 allows any member of the public to file a complaint, even anonymously. These complaints must be investigated and responded to within time requirements. School boards and superintendents, already busy, will have to spend precious time and resources investigating each and every complaint in a timely manner. The predictable result will be fear or prohibition on saying anything about Israel or Palestine. The Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator is also mandated to provide antisemitism education to teachers, administrators, and school boards.
Under California’s “Golden State Plan to Counter Antisemitism,” millions of dollars are appropriated for education about the genocide which ended 80 years ago.Meanwhile, there is no funding and it appears the California legislature seeks to prevent education about the genocide happening today in Gaza.
Making it even worse, AB715 invites lawsuits which will further burden the education system. The legislation says, “Civil law remedies, including but not limited to injunctions, restraining orders, or other remedies, may also be available to complainants.”Under AB715, as a gift for zionist activists, any member of the public can be a complainant.
AB715 Should Not Be Signed into Law
The organizations representing California teachers, adminstrators, school superintendents and school boards are ALL against this legislation. AB715 will be costly, wasteful, and damaging to K-12 education in California. Where there are genuine cases of discrimination or bullying, existing legislation is adequate. All students are protected against discrimination or bullying under section 220 of the California Education Code. Where Jewish or Israeli students have been victimized, they have the same recourse as all students. They do not need preferential treatment.
Teaching facts and expert opinions about Israel and Palestine is not antisemitic. It is history and current events.
Feeling uncomfortable when learning some facts or opinions is not being a victim; it is being educated. People can disagree and have different perceptions; they should not be prevented from hearing facts and different perspectives.
The intent of AB715 is clear: to restrict factual information about an important region of the world and to punish educators who present the Palestinian and anti-zionist Jewish perspective. Governor Newsom should not sign the legislation. To encourage him to make the right decision, contact him via this link.
This legislation does not prevent antisemitism; it actually promotes it by demonstrating that major Jewish organizations and the Jewish Legislative Caucus have the power to push this legislation which will deny the history and current reality of the Palestinian people.Meanwhile, Jewish Voice for Peace and organizations across the education profession are working hard to stop this assault on the California education system.
Israeli tanks cut northward travel on the Rashid Road, tightening the siege on Gaza City and intensifying pressure for Palestinians to leave their homes
At least 600,000 Palestinians are currently under siege in Gaza City amid the Israeli army’s ongoing bombardment, encirclement, and expulsion campaign, the New Arabreported on 2 October.
On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that all Palestinians remaining in the city must abandon their homes, pass Israeli checkpoints, and move to tent encampments in the south, stressing that anyone who stays will be considered a “terrorist” or “terrorist supporter” and targeted by invading Israeli forces.
Now is the “last opportunity for Gaza residents” to move south, Katz said.
Israeli forces have currently blocked all travel northward on the Rashid coastal road, cutting off the city’s last surviving lifeline for humanitarian aid and preventing Palestinians who had moved south temporarily in search of food and shelter from returning.
“The only safe road for bringing in food and medicine has been cut. Announcements and speeches mean nothing if aid cannot reach civilians,” stated Mahmoud Basal, the spokesperson of the Gaza civil defense, in a press statement.
While the Israeli military expected a mass exodus to the south, between 600,000 and 700,000 Palestinians remain in Gaza City, the UN estimated.
Those remaining are either unwilling or unable to leave their homes.
“We are not leaving. Yesterday, a drone dropped grenades on the rooftop of our building, but we are not leaving,” said 24-year-old Hani while speaking to Reuters.
“We are afraid that if we leave, we will never see Gaza City again.”
The closure of Rashid Street to northward travel is part of an effort to cleanse the northern strip, according to Ramallah-based political analyst Hani al-Masri.
“Turning the road into a one-way corridor south is a tool of collective pressure, a strategy to forcibly reshape Gaza’s population,” Masri told the New Arab.
Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud reported Thursday that the Israeli military was creating “mayhem and panic” by ordering people to leave their homes, but then pursuing them on the Rashid Road south with helicopters, drones, and tanks.
“A big part of the reason that people are not now leaving Gaza City is because of the fear and the intimidation created by the Israeli military,” he said.
Al-Akhbar reported on Thursday that Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of strikes on Gaza City, including in the neighborhoods of Al-Nasr, Sheikh Radwan, and Al-Shati in the city’s northwest, as well as Al-Daraj, Al-Tuffah, and Al-Nafaq in the northeast, and Al-Sabra in the south.
Gaza’s Health Ministry continues to record an average of 100 Palestinians killed per day, Al-Akhbar added, not including the dozens missing whose bodies rescuers are not able to retrieve due to Israeli fire.
One strike on Wednesday killed the son of Gaza’s civil defense commander and injured several other rescue officers.
Meanwhile, the Quds Brigades of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) reported a major operation against an Israeli infantry unit in the Al-Nasr neighborhood. Resistance fighters detonated a booby-trapped house packed with improvised explosive devices as soldiers entered to destroy it.
According to health sources in Gaza, Israel has killed at least 66,225 Palestinians and injured 168,938 more since launching the genocide nearly two years ago, in October 2023. However, reputable studies have estimated the death toll in Gaza to be at least 100,000.
In one shocking case earlier this week, an Israeli drone opened fire through a window to shoot a Palestinian nurse in the head as he worked inside the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis.
Donald Trump has declared war on drug cartels and notified Congress that the United States is now engaged in a ‘non-international armed conflict’.
The extraordinary escalation by the president follows a series of recent strikes on drug-smuggling vessels operated by ‘terrorist organizations’ in the Caribbean.
Trump’s declaration is intended to place an iron-clad legal framework around the military action. According to international law, a country may kill enemy fighters even when they pose no threat and detain them indefinitely without trial.
In a confidential memo sent to lawmakers on Thursday, the president calls the cartel gangsters ‘unlawful combatants’ whose actions ‘constitute an armed attack against the United States’.
It follows a closed-door Senate Armed Services Committee briefing on Wednesday during which Pentagon officials addressed lawmakers’ concerns over the legality of the strikes.
The president’s notice uses language from international law – ‘non-international armed conflict’ – which refers to war with a non-state actor.
‘The cartels involved have grown more armed, well-organized, and violent,’ the memo added. ‘They have the financial means, sophistication, and paramilitary capabilities needed to operate with impunity.’
It follows complaints from Democratic lawmakers that the strikes – including three deadly attacks on drug traffickers last month – are unlawful under the War Powers Act which requires the consent of the chamber for military action.
The War Powers Act, passed in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, has been challenged or sidestepped by almost every president since its enactment, including by Barrack Obama in Libya in 2011 and Bill Clinton in Kosovo in 1999.
What the Trump administration laid out at the closed-door briefing was perceived by several senators as pursuing a new legal framework that raised questions particularly regarding the role of Congress in authorizing any such action, a source said.
Pentagon officials could not provide a list of the designated terrorist organizations at the center of the conflict, which was a major source of frustration for some of the lawmakers who were briefed, a source revealed.
The administration has called the strikes ‘self defense’ and claimed that the laws of war allow the US to kill, rather than arrest, the smugglers who are working for cartels that the administration has deemed terrorists.
The concept of ‘non-international armed conflict’ was developed during the 20th century to define civil wars, as opposed to those between distinct nation states.
The precedent was broadened following the 9/11 attacks when George Bush declared war on Al-Qaeda. Some legal scholars objected to the use of wartime powers, claiming that the terrorist organization was a band of criminals, not soldiers.
This was rejected by the Supreme Court which found the conflict against Al-Qaeda was indeed a war, permitting the government to hold captured terrorists indefinitely without trial.
Its decision rested on the fact that Congress had authorized the use of armed force against Al-Qaeda.
It is not clear in the memo how trafficking in drugs constitutes use of force but it states that the cartels ‘illegally and directly cause the deaths of tens of thousands of American citizens each year.’
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in an email: ‘As we have said many times, the President acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans.’
As the Republican administration takes aim at vessels in the Caribbean, Democratic senators and lawmakers have raised stark objections.
Some had previously called on Congress to exert its authority under the War Powers Act that would prohibit any action unless it was authorized by Congress.
The first military strike, carried out on September 2 on a drug-carrying speedboat, killed 11 people.
The Trump administration has justified the military action as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.
But Democratic senators and human rights groups questioned the legality of the president’s action.
They called it potential overreach of executive authority in part because the military was used for law enforcement purposes.
By stating that his campaign against drug cartels is an active armed conflict, Trump appears to be claiming extraordinary wartime powers to justify his action.
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committees, said the drug cartels are ‘despicable and must be dealt with by law enforcement.’
‘The Trump administration has offered no credible legal justification, evidence, or intelligence for these strikes,’ said Reed, a former Army officer who served in the 82nd Airborne Division.
The White House has yet to explain how the military assessed the boats’ cargo and the passengers’ alleged gang affiliation before the strikes.
GAZA – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Thursday abducted nurse Tasneem al-Hems from a medical point in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, in yet another attack on Palestinian health workers. She is the daughter of Dr. Marwan al-Hems, the director of Gaza’s field hospitals, who was kidnapped by an IOF undercover unit in July this year.
Family sources confirmed that Tasneem was seized by a special IOF unit near her workplace. Her father, Dr. al-Hems, was shot in the leg and abducted on July 21 near the International Committee of the Red Cross hospital in western Khan Yunis. He has since been held in Ashkelon prison, denied access to his lawyer, and remains in detention under extended orders.
The Gaza-based al-Dameer Association for Human Rights condemned the kidnapping and confirmed that Israel is using enforced disappearance against medical professionals. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, at least 361 Palestinian medical staff are currently imprisoned by Israel.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Ministry of Health warned that the few hospitals still partially operating in Gaza City are facing extreme risks. In a statement Thursday, the ministry said that reaching Al-Shifa Medical Complex, Al-Quds Hospital, and Al-Helou Hospital has become “highly dangerous” due to ongoing Israeli bombings.
The ministry urged international bodies to intervene immediately to protect medical institutions and staff and to ensure safe access to health facilities.
Health authorities recently reported that 20 hospitals in Gaza have been forced out of service, with only eight functioning at limited capacity under constant threat of IOF strikes.
The pro-Palestinian movement blocks the main access to the Port of Barcelona after Israel’s attack on the flotilla
On the occasion of the Israeli army’s attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla, the movement in defense of Palestine has decided to gather at the entrances of the Port of Barcelona.
The port of the Catalan capital has become a transit point for military components coming from or traveling to Israel. Goods from companies such as Carrefour, Decathlon, Coca-Cola, or Starbucks also circulate there, which according to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement are collaborators in the genocide perpetrated by the Netanyahu government.
Dockworkers and citizens at the garrison outside the Tuscan dock pose for a photo and rejoice at the news that Israeli ship Zim is preparing to leave the port of Livorno without unloading or loading after Italian dockworkers on strike, block the Darsena Toscana terminal during a protest in support of Gaza, Palestine and Global Sumud Flotilla on September 29, 2025 in Livorno, Italy. [Photo by Laura Lezza/Getty Images]
Middle East Monitor
Dockworkers in several Italian ports are stepping up actions to block shipments to Israel as tensions mount over the approach of the “Sumud Flotilla” to Gaza.
Labour unions across Europe have pledged coordinated efforts to disrupt maritime trade with Israel if the flotilla comes under attack. In a meeting held in Genoa, union representatives said they had set up an alert system to monitor shipments and respond rapidly by halting the loading or unloading of vessels.
Italy has become the epicenter of the movement. Genoa was the first port to act, followed by Livorno, where union-led strikes have already disrupted operations. The container ship Zim Virginia was kept waiting for five days off the Tuscan coast after dockworkers refused to allow it to dock.
Another vessel, the Zim Iberia, is expected to arrive in Livorno on 3 October and is likely to encounter similar resistance, according to union organizers.
In Genoa, tensions escalated last week when about 2,000 protesters gathered at the port. The demonstration forced the Zim New Zealand to leave without loading any cargo after reports that several containers were suspected of being linked to Israeli shipments.
Union leaders said their campaign is aimed at putting pressure on Israel and demonstrating solidarity with Gaza. They warned that actions would intensify if the flotilla is obstructed.
A screengrab from a live stream video shows Israeli navy forces aboard the Gaza-bound vessel Florida, part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which flotilla organizers report has been intercepted, October 1, 2025. (Via Reuters)
Press TV
Israel’s seizure of a civilian flotilla bound for the besieged Gaza Strip has unleashed global backlash, sparking protests and strike calls across Europe and Latin America as well as diplomatic expulsions, with governments denouncing the move against unarmed activists.
The Israeli navy intercepted 13 boats from the 50-vessel flotilla – Global Sumud Flotilla – as they neared Gaza’s coast, arresting activists and jamming communications to block live-stream coverage of the incident.
According to flotilla spokesperson Saif Abukeshek, Israeli forces detained more than 200 participants, including groups from Spain, Italy, Turkey, and Malaysia.
Despite the arrests, he added, around 30 vessels remain at sea, determined to break the Gaza blockade.
Turkey condemned the interception as a dangerous assault on peaceful civilians in international waters, denouncing Israel’s policies it described as genocidal and responsible for Gaza’s famine.
The seizure sparked worldwide protests, diplomatic condemnations and threats of strikes against the occupying entity, which has barred some two million Palestinians in the war-torn coastal territory from receiving basic humanitarian aid during the past several months.
In Italy, where a general strike had already been organized in solidarity with the flotilla, thousands rallied in cities to support the Global Sumud Flotilla, which is carrying roughly 500 people from 37 countries, including parliamentarians, lawyers and activists such as Greta Thunberg.
Demonstrations also broke out in Brussels, Athens, Buenos Aires, and Berlin, while Spain’s government urged Israel to safeguard the rights and safety of those aboard.
In Rome, hundreds chanting “let’s block everything” showed up near the main train station, leading authorities to restrict access and close some metro stations. Pro-Palestinian marches also took place in Milan, Turin, and Genoa. In Naples and Pisa, protesters briefly occupied platforms and blocked trains.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators block the Gran Via street in Madrid, Spain, on October 1, 2025. (Photo by Reuters)
In Bologna, thousands marched carrying flags and banners. Italian media estimated around 10,000 people demonstrated in Rome, with local television networks speculating about the fate of several Italian MPs aboard the flotilla.
Two of Italy’s largest unions called for a general strike the following Friday. The CGIL union described the Israeli action against civilian ships with Italian citizens as “extremely serious,” while the USB union vowed to blockade the port of Genoa. In recent weeks, dockworkers have prevented ships associated with Israel from docking or loading, targeting what they described as Israeli-linked trade vessels.
Turkey’s foreign ministry strongly condemned the action as an “attack” and “act of terror” that jeopardized civilians’ lives. Ireland’s foreign minister characterized the flotilla as a “peaceful mission” to highlight a severe humanitarian crisis; an Irish senator had been aboard, and Sinn Féin accused Israel of “kidnapping” those detained.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro expelled all remaining Israeli diplomats over what he called a new international crime by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also demanded the release of two Colombian women detained by Israeli forces who had been working on the flotilla’s solidarity mission.
Mexico, for its part, urged Israel to respect the rights of its citizens abroad. Brazil called for Israel to immediately and unconditionally lift all restrictions on humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
Malaysia’s prime minister condemned the interception, noting the vessels carried unarmed civilians and vital aid, and vowed to pursue accountability through lawful means. Malaysian volunteers had joined the flotilla, including singer Zizi Kirana, who posted a video reporting her detention.
![Dockworkers and citizens at the garrison outside the Tuscan dock pose for a photo and rejoice at the news that Israeli ship Zim is preparing to leave the port of Livorno without unloading or loading after Italian dockworkers on strike, block the Darsena Toscana terminal during a protest in support of Gaza, Palestine and Global Sumud Flotilla on September 29, 2025 in Livorno, Italy. [Photo by Laura Lezza/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2238364693-1.jpg?fit=920%2C613&ssl=1)
The Most Revolutionary Act 