Hamas to hand over two captives’ bodies at 19:00 GMT

Hamas’s armed wing, Qassam Brigades, has announced that it will hand over two captives’ bodies tonight at 10pm local time (19:00 GMT). The group has increased efforts to recover all the bodies of the captives despite little excavating machinery to fulfil the terms of the ceasefire.

Search for missing Palestinians in Gaza ‘slow, dangerous, emotionally crushing’

Two more bodies of deceased [Israeli] captives are being handed over … This is part of an ongoing effort to locate and return the captives who were killed by the relentless Israeli bombardment across the Gaza Strip.

At this point, every handover marks an end of a search – and the beginning of another one – in a landscape [of] destruction.

It’s not just the bodies of deceased [Israeli] captives lying beneath these mountains of concrete – it’s the bodies of missing Palestinians, thousands and thousands of them.

When it comes to the search itself, it’s very difficult with recovery teams on the ground facing extraordinary challenges. [They have] no bulldozers, no trucks, no cranes and no heavy equipment … to speed up the process and help with the recovery and return of bodies.

Either [the equipment is] being deliberately prevented by the Israeli military or it’s been destroyed or damaged.

Despite efforts, Israel says Hamas not doing enough to retrieve bodies

The Israelis have known for some time that this [recovery of Israeli captives’ bodies from Gaza ruins] was going to be an incredibly difficult and daunting task.

Israeli officials who spoke anonymously to the media while the ceasefire negotiations were ongoing said that Benjamin Netanyahu knew for months that it would be difficult to locate the remains of hostages because Gaza lies in ruins.

Hamas says they need assistance in the form of heavy machinery on the ground and perhaps specialised teams to assist in the search. Nevertheless, they say they are trying to uphold their commitment to the deal.

But Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government say that what Hamas is doing is not enough, and that all of the bodies need to be returned immediately.

Until that happens, that’s when Israel is going to honour more of the commitments of the ceasefire, like letting in more humanitarian assistance, talking about opening the Rafah border crossing.

Turkish rescuers waiting on Egypt’s side of Rafah crossing to help recovery efforts

There’s a Turkish rescue team on the other side of the Rafah border crossing that specialises in disasters and recovery efforts.

It’s around an 80-person team that’s waiting on the other side of the border for Israeli authorisation to go in and assist with exhuming the bodies of deceased hostages.

But Benjamin Netanyahu says the Rafah border crossing is not going to open even though it’s part of the deal until each body of a captive is returned.

Just like Netanyahu didn't care about the live hostages, except for a reason to continue, now it's the dead bodies as 'excuse'.

And it's working domestically at least

Israelis rally in Tel Aviv to demand release of all captives’ bodies


_{A drone view shows a large banner during the rally in Tel Aviv, October 18}



Netanyahu knows this game all too well. He'll do everything to make it impossible to find the last dead prisoners. Note how Katz says the IDF will strictly enforce the kill-zone yellow line. So Hamas can't even search for captives that might have died in the other 58% of Gaza.

Hamas says Netanyahu fabricating ‘flimsy pretexts’ to evade ceasefire commitments

The Palestinian group says the Israeli prime minister’s decision to refuse to open the Rafah crossing “constitutes a blatant violation” of the ceasefire agreement and a “denial” of the commitments he made with the mediators.

In a statement, Hamas said the continued closure of the crossing, including preventing those who are wounded from leaving, the entry of machinery and specialised teams to find captive bodies would lead to “delays in the retrieval and return of bodies”.

“The war criminal Netanyahu continues to fabricate flimsy pretexts to disrupt the agreement and evade his obligations,” Hamas said.

“We call on the mediators and guarantors of the agreement to take urgent action to pressure the occupation to open the Rafah crossing immediately, oblige it to abide by all the terms of the agreement, and stop its ongoing crimes against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” the Palestinian group added.

‘Stop using American taxpayer dollars to sabotage ceasefire’: CAIR

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on US President Trump to exert pressure on Israel to abide by the Gaza ceasefire agreement as it condemned yesterday’s deadly Israeli attack on a Palestinian family in Gaza City.

“The Trump administration must demand that Netanyahu stop using American taxpayer dollars and American weapons to sabotage the ceasefire agreement that America brokered so that he can restart the genocide in Gaza,” CAIR said in a statement.

The group also urged the US State Department and the UN to investigate “horrific signs of torture and extrajudicial killing” on the bodies of slain Palestinian prisoners that were returned to Gaza over the past days.

“Torturing people to death after kidnapping them and holding them without charge is another example of not only international law, but also US law related to foreign aid recipients,” CAIR said.

The US has provided Israel with billions of dollars in military aid throughout the country’s war on Gaza. While US law prohibits military assistance to foreign militaries engaged in gross violations of human rights, Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, have refused to apply those rules to Israel.

_{Progressive Jewish activists call for an arms embargo on Israel during a protest on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on July 23, 2024}

Palestinian official calls for international force to protect people in Gaza

Rawhi Fattouh, the president of the Palestinian National Council, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s legislative body, has urged the international community to deploy international forces in Gaza to protect Palestinians.

Fattouh denounced the recent deadly Israeli attack in Gaza City that killed 11 members of a single family as “part of Israel’s ongoing policy of killing and destruction”.

“This crime is not an isolated act but part of a continuous pattern of killing and destruction amid clear international inaction to hold the perpetrators accountable,” Fattouh said.

He said the Israeli government is “fully responsible for this war crime against humanity” and called on the international community to “take immediate measures to deploy international forces to provide protection to the Palestinian people”.

‘Israel’s erasure of Palestinian humanity, identity made genocide possible’

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem says that erasure continues today, as does Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies against Palestinians.

“The same foundation that enabled Israel’s crimes in Gaza and the West Bank over the past two years remains intact: the total disregard for Palestinian life and dignity in the name of Jewish supremacy,” BTselem wrote in a social media post.

“The occupation and apartheid continue at full force, and although Israel has stopped most of its bombings in Gaza, people are still being killed.”

The group also warned that key details of Trump’s Gaza plan remain unclear, while the agreement “includes no element of accountability for the crimes committed”.

“It’s a moral duty to resist dehumanization and stand with the victims. We must demand accountability and reject the complicit silence that enables Israel’s ongoing violence and systematic violations of international law,” B’Tselem said.

Restoring Palestinian agency critical to healing in Gaza: Expert

Gwyn Daniel, a UK-based psychotherapist, explains that Palestinians in Gaza have been subjected to “unbearable” conditions for more than two years amidst Israel’s war on the enclave.

While the ceasefire should have presented a moment of hope, Daniel said the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been able to return to their homes – particularly in Gaza City – have instead met total destruction.

“The idea of how to recover any kind of life, how to have hope for your life, is so fragile,” she told Al Jazeera. “And it’s made much more fragile by … the sheer punitiveness and sadism visited on the people of Gaza – continually visited on them – by the Israeli army.”

Daniel noted that mental health workers have been providing services to people in Gaza throughout the war. “But overall, interventions to individual families are not enough,” she said. “The only thing that is really going to help Gaza heal, if it’s possible … is the restoration of some sense that people can have agency.

“One of the worst parts of trauma is feeling powerless,” Daniel added. “Powerlessness is eroding and soul-destroying. And of course, the aim of this genocide is to enter into the soul and destroy the soul of Palestinians, and destroy their collective identity and their ability to act as a community, which has always been very strong in Gaza.”

In the occupied West Bank, the war continues

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/10/18/in-the-occupied-west-bank-the-war-continues

After the ceasefire deal was announced, a friend’s little daughter cheered; she then asked to go with her grandparents to pick olives. He told her that it would be difficult to do, to which she responded, “Why? Isn’t the war over?”

How do you explain to a child that the war ending in Gaza does not mean Palestinian families in the West Bank still can access their land to harvest olives? People still cannot reach their groves because of barriers set up by the Israeli military or they fear attacks by Israeli soldiers and settlers, or both.

There are daily violent assaults on Palestinian farmers and their land. Since October 7, 2023, there have been 7,154 attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestian people and property – some of them deadly.

Almost 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army and settler mobs, including 212 children; more than 10,000 Palestinians have been displaced. Settlers and soldiers have destroyed 37,237 olive trees since October 7, 2023.

Palestinian man wounded by Israeli fire in occupied West Bank’s ar-Ram town

Israeli forces have shot and wounded a 30-year-old Palestinian man in the town of ar-Ram, north of occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Wafa news agency.

The report cited the Palestine Red Crescent Society as saying its teams treated the man after he was shot in the leg near the separation wall, which separates the town from Jerusalem.

Israeli army says explosive thrown at troops in West Bank, injuring two

The Israeli military says troops were carrying out an “offensive operation” near Tubas, in the northeast of the occupied West Bank, when an explosive device was thrown at them.

“As a result of the explosion, two troops were moderately injured and were evacuated to receive medical treatment at the hospital,” the army said.

In a separate statement, Hamas said the incident confirms that Palestinian resistance in the West Bank “will not be broken or subdued despite all the [Israeli] occupation’s attempts to neutralize it through repression, arrests, security measures, and the deployment of checkpoints”.

The group added Palestinians “have the legitimate right to respond to the escalating crimes” of Israel, including killings, genocide, forced displacement and illegal settlement expansion.

Hamas wants no role in governing Gaza: Spokesperson

Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, Hazem Qassem, says the Palestinian group does not wish to join any administrative role within the governance of the enclave.

In a statement, Qassem said that Hamas agreed to form a “community support committee” to take over governing Gaza.

“We call for the rapid formation of the Community Support Committee until the formation of the Gaza Management Committee. Government agencies in Gaza continue to perform their duties, as the vacuum is very dangerous,” Qassem said.

“Government agencies will continue to perform their duties until an administrative committee is formed and agreed upon by all Palestinian factions. Discussions are under way with mediators to arrange for the second phase of negotiations,” he added.

Moreover, Qassem said the second stage of the ceasefire deal was “complex” and steps had begun to form a national consensus over essential points.

US vice president to visit Israel to push discussions on next stage of Gaza deal

The US vice president, JD Vance, along with the envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, are reportedly travelling to Israel on Monday to discuss the implementation of the second part of the deal.

However, the Israelis say they’re not going to discuss anything related to Trump’s 20-point plan until all of the bodies of Israeli captives are brought back from Gaza.

It’s worth mentioning that Hamas has said they’re trying to do what they can, but this needs assistance on the ground in the form of heavy machinery, much of which has been destroyed during Israel’s war on Gaza, and search teams to help excavate these remains of the captives.

Much of Gaza, of course, lies in rubble and ruins.

The status quo is only in Netanyahu's favor. The genocide will go on at a lower, less news-worthy, scale. Winter is coming, no shelter is being let in, 300 trucks a day is still not enough to maintain the population much less recover. Diseases, malnutrition, starvation, no health-care, no medications, Palestinians will keep dying. 

Jewish festival in Sweden postponed after cinemas refuse to screen films

The organisers of the Jewish International Film Festival say they have been forced to postpone the event because cinemas in Malmo would not show the participating films, citing safety and security concerns.

The festival was supposed to celebrate 250 years of Jewish life in Sweden and was scheduled to run from November 29 through December 2, according to its website.

The organisers, in a statement posted on Thursday to the festival’s website, said they were “stonewalled by all commercial and art-house cinemas in the city.”

Ola Tedin, one of the organisers, told Swedish broadcaster SVT that some of the cinemas cited safety and security concerns for their refusal because they were worried something might happen to endanger their staff or audiences.

In a statement on Saturday, cinema chain Filmstaden said its decision against screening the films was made in the first half of the year. “In this particular case, after thorough assessment, we concluded that we could not host the festival due to safety concerns,” the statement said.

“Our priority is always to ensure a safe and positive experience for both our guests and employees.”

This sucks, although understandable. However this has nothing to do with Israel. Thanks to US/Israel always conflating Zionism and Israel with Judaism now anything Jewish is at risk as well.

https://www.jiff.com.au/

Looks like it's still on in Australia

Maine events on October 18th

• Hamas has returned two more Israeli captives’ bodies to Israel as protesters rallied in Tel Aviv to demand the government secure the return of all the remains from Gaza.
• Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will remain closed “until further notice” as the Israeli prime minister accuses Hamas of not doing enough to retrieve the captives’ bodies.
• Hamas says Netanyahu is using “flimsy pretexts to disrupt” the ceasefire deal.
• Gaza’s Government Media Office says the Israeli army has committed 47 violations of the truce agreement since it came into force in early October, killing 38 Palestinians and wounding 143 others.
• An Israeli attack that killed 11 members of a single family east of Gaza City, including seven children, has drawn widespread condemnation, with a Palestinian official calling it “part of Israel’s ongoing policy of killing and destruction”.

Trump’s envoy, son-in-law reveal Netanyahu’s ‘betrayal’ on Gaza, Qatar attack

n an extraordinary confession, Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy and Jared Kushner, the US president’s son-in-law, have revealed that Benjamin Netanyahu was out of control when he attacked the sovereign nation of Qatar and tried to derail the Gaza peace process. Witkoff called it a betrayal by the Netanyahu government. Rifat Jawaid says that this is a huge development as he raises questions on a series of statements and actions by the current US administration to protect Netanyahu.

Why Israel Agreed to a Ceasefire It Didn’t Want w/ Dr. Ramzy Baroud

Dr. Ramzy Baroud, journalist, author, and editor of The Palestine Chronicle, joins the show to discuss the Gaza ceasefire and the collapse of Israel’s two-year genocide. Why has Tel Aviv accepted terms that undercut its own military goals? Baroud argues that while Gaza has suffered immense destruction and loss of life, the ceasefire represents a significant achievement. He says it wouldn’t have been possible without the determination of Palestinian resistance groups and the Palestinian civilians who refused to submit to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to completely drive Palestinians out of Gaza.

Can we not act like its only Israel doing all this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ycZI_W9JN4




Anti tank missiles fired at IDF, and a IED went off targeting them.
There has also been shooting from Hama's side.

This is not as one sided as SvennoJ makes it seem.

I'm following the news from trusted sources. Where is the proof from the Hamas attacks on the IDF, why is this not filmed by the IDF and all over the news?

CNN is not even reporting on this while they had plenty coverage on skirmishes between ISIS affiliated groups and Hamas which led to open execution by Hamas of 8 mebers of the Doghmush clan in Gaza city.
Full editorials on CNN even, defending Popular forces and other ISIS affiliated groups.

https://www.france24.com/en/video/20251015-france-accuses-hamas-of-summary-executions-after-ceasefire
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg5e551j593o



No what you have there is propaganda using the clashes between Hamas and clans, some funded by Israel to cause chaos, to prove Hamas is breaking the ceasefire. Some are operating from behind the yellow line...

https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/who-are-the-gaza-clans-opposing-hamas-for-control-of-the-strip-xibryfo7

In Gaza City's Shejaiya neighbourhood bordering the Yellow Line, where the IDF currently holds a perimeter, Hamas gunmen engaged members of the Hellis clan. In Beit Lahia, fighting erupted between gunmen affiliated with Ashraf al-Mansi and Hamas forces. In the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City, local clans also resisted as Hamas men came to try to arrest prominent familial leaders and enforcers.

On Sunday, fighting between members of the Abu Werda clan and Hamas near the Gaza port left three Hamas fighters and two clan members dead and dozens wounded.

The heaviest fighting took place in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City, where Hamas squared off against the powerful Doghmush clan. The fighting mostly centered around the al-Dhamsha compound in the heart of the neighbourhood.

Five tribal bases of power have emerged as the central opposition to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

1) The central challenge to Hamas’s power in Gaza City is the Doghmush family. Widely considered the most powerful clan in Gaza City, the Doghmush have long had a tense relationship with Hamas. Its members have historically been associated with both Hamas and Fatah.

The clan is led by Mumtaz Doghmush, also known as Abu Muhammad, who once led the Popular Resistance Committees' armed wing in Gaza City. The clan rose to notoriety in 2006, when Abu Muhammad formed the Army of Islam faction as an independent militia under his control.

The Army of Islam played a key role in the June 2006 abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Mumtaz Doghmush later pledged the allegiance of his militia to the Islamic State.

Since Hamas seized power in the Strip in June 2007, the Doghmush have largely sustained an independent power base from Hamas. In early 2024, Hamas began accusing the Doghmush of collaborating with Israel, leading to the execution of Saleh Doghmush, the mukhtar of the clan, in March of that year.

2) Another base of power revolves around the Hellis clan. Based in Shejaiya in Gaza City and politically affiliated with Fatah, the Hellis family has long been an adversary of Hamas. In past decades, it has suffered raids and armed retaliation by Hamas, including a 2008 incursion that left dozens dead and prompted many clan members to flee toward Israeli crossings.

In the wake of the current ceasefire, senior figure Rami Hellis allied with Ahmed Jundeya of another Shejaiya clan to launch an armed faction resisting Hamas control in sectors of the neighbourhood still under Israeli military influence. Some media estimate the Hellis-related force at around 400 men, though precise chain-of-command and full clan backing remain unverified.

3) In the far north of the Strip, in Beit Lahia, Ashraf al-Mansi has also organised an anti-Hamas militia. Al-Mansi released a video on Tuesday denying reports that Hamas had attacked or arrested his fighters. He said claims of recent casualties were “false” and asserted that his group had seized control of several areas in the north, working to secure them so civilians could return home.

Addressing Hamas directly, al-Mansi warned that any of its members entering militia-held territory “will be treated the same way Hamas treats militia members.”

4) In Khan Yunis, the al-Majayda clan has emerged as a major challenger to Hamas.

The Fatah-aligned clan has historically been a major broker in parts of central Gaza; however, in early October, armed clashes broke out between the clan and Hamas’s Arrow Unit enforcers, after Hamas shot several family members in the leg. The fighting resulted in the deaths of five clan members and 11 Hamas terrorists.

The clan's militia is led by Hossam al-Astaland, who has consistently challenged Hama’s rule in the Kizan al-Najjar neighbourhood of Khan Yunis. Al-Astal’s militia gained attention when the IDF struck a Hamas fighter who tried to attack his forces in Khan Yunis. According to Gazan reports, more than 22 Hamas terrorists were killed.

5) The final major force opposing Hamas in the Gaza Strip is the Bedouin-aligned Popular Forces, under the control of Yasser Abu Shabab, operating in eastern Rafah city. Israel has acknowledged directly supplying support and weapons to Abu Shabab's militia throughout the war.

Due to access to weapons and financial support, Abu Shabab has managed to recruit hundreds of fighters in the enclave's south. His personal force is estimated at anywhere between 400 and 1,000 fighters. A spokesman for the militia recently said it was undeterred by Hamas’s purges.

This is all according to plan to destabilize Gaza further and turn it into another Syria, trying to trigger a civil war to finish the job. Trump has even given Hamas the OK to keep their weapons for now to restore order in Gaza. He rather deals with one 'government' instead of lots of little factions all controlling their own piece of territory in Gaza. In this he is directly opposing Netanyahu, as Trump's interests are in the reconstruction money. And stability is needed first before reconstruction can begin.


While 'firing' is not one-sided, what is one sided is Israel still killing innocent civilians while encouraging militant factions to engage with Hamas. Hamas is not encouraging factions to target the IDF, recent rockets launched in Gaza were aimed at targets in Gaza, not Israel.