We send out a newsletter once a week about our activities and events.
Congressman Jeffries position vs. the reality on the ground
On November 24, 2025 our Congressman Hakeem Jeffries stated in an interview on the Brian Lehrer Show “I'm thankful that we have a ceasefire. It needs to be permanent. We want it to hold. I'm thankful that the hostages have been returned back to their families….I'm thankful that all of that has come to a conclusion. Now we actually need to find a path toward a just and lasting peace, reconstruct Gaza, make sure that Israel remains safe and secure moving forward, and that we can have a two state solution where you have a safe and secure Israel living side by side in peace and prosperity with a demilitarized Palestinian state, free of Hamas, but a Palestinian state that allows for the legitimate aspirations of self-determination and dignity of the Palestinian people to be realized.
The articles excerpted below demonstrate that there is, in fact, no real ceasefire in Gaza at this time and the prospects for Israel either ending the violence, ceding Gaza back to the Palestinian people or ending the occupation are grim.
To read any of the articles in their entirety, click on the title.
A ceasefire in name only: Gaza’s prolonged purgatory
Middle East Monitor December 2, 2025
“…On October 28, at least 104 Palestinians were slaughtered in a single day. This might have suggested a breach so serious as to suggest a repudiation. Not so, claimed Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani. “Fortunately,” he told a US audience, “I think the main parties – both of them [Israel and Hamas] – are acknowledging that the ceasefire should hold and they should stick to the agreement.”
“What is becoming apparent is that the ceasefire has led to a state of affairs where Israeli forces have been permitted enormous latitude in the way it inflicts violence on local Gazans. The UN Women’s Chief of Humanitarian Action, Sofia Calltorp, reveals how Gazan women told her “again and again: there may be a ceasefire, but the war is not over.
“The UN Women’s Chief of Humanitarian Action, Sofia Calltorp, reveals how Gazan women told her “again and again: there may be a ceasefire, but the war is not over. The attacks are fewer, but the killings continue.” Agnès Callmard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, goes so far as to declare that the ceasefire has created “a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal.” What has in fact happened is a mere reduction of “the scale of [Israel’s] attacks” and the meagre allowance of humanitarian aid into the Strip.
“…The Israeli Defense Forces remain in control of over 58% of Gaza. According to a clutch of special rapporteurs and experts in the employ of the United Nations, including Francesca Albanese, Ben Saul and Irene Khan, 40 active Israeli sites continue to operate “beyond the agreed withdrawal line, in clear breach of the ceasefire terms.”
“…Humanitarian assistance remains at a painful trickle, an obscene state of affairs given the levelling devastation wrought by the war (85% of water and sanitation facilities were damaged or destroyed; likewise 92% of homes).“
Israel shredding Gaza ceasefire
Responsible Statecraft Dec 05, 2025
“There is no ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, even though an agreement reached on October 9 supposedly established one.
“The Israeli assault on the Strip continues, albeit at a reduced pace from what it was for most of the past two years. By one count, Israel has violated the ceasefire agreement 591 times between October 10 and December 2 with a combination of air and artillery attacks and direct shootings. The Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that during this period, 347 Palestinians have been killed and 889 injured. The pattern of casualties including women and children as well as journalists continues.
“Meanwhile, it is hard to find any documented Israeli casualties in the Gaza Strip during the same period, beyond an early shooting incident at Rafah in which Israel says a soldier was killed and Hamas says it had nothing to do with it.
“The rules of engagement that Israel has given itself during this “ceasefire” are illustrated by the killing of two Palestinians last weekend along the “yellow line” ceasefire boundary near Khan Younis. The Israeli military said its forces had “identified two suspects" who “conducted suspicious activities,” after which “the air force, directed by forces on the ground, eliminated the suspects in order to remove the threat.” The “threat” consisted of two boys, ages 9 and 10, who had left their home to gather wood….”
“…But one of the chief ways in which it favors Israel is to permit Israel to continue to occupy parts of the Gaza Strip indefinitely if certain other conditions are not meant, and to leave it to Israel to decide if those conditions are met. The plan lays the groundwork for Israel to declare that it must continue not only occupation but also its lethal military operations.
As the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft noted:
“Since its announcement on October 9, President Donald Trump’s ceasefire and stabilization plan for the Gaza Strip has garnered widespread international support for having ended more than two years of horrific war that resulted in deaths of nearly 70,000 Palestinians, including more than 18,000 children, displaced more than 90% of Gaza’s population and wiped out most of its infrastructure. Although Palestinians were not consulted in its development, the plan calls for the creation of an International Stabilization Force to be deployed to the Gaza Strip and an international Board of Peace to manage its internal affairs, including future governance, security and reconstruction, while providing only a limited role for Palestinians themselves.
“Meanwhile, Trump’s controversial plan, which was adopted by the United Nations Security Council on November 17, is off to a shaky start as Israel continues to bomb Gaza almost daily, killing more than 340 Palestinians since the ceasefire began. Nearly all of Gaza’s two million inhabitants remain concentrated in less than half of its territory under dire conditions and lacking basic services…”
Listen to the podcast Trump’s Gaza Plan and What It Means for Palestinians posted on December 11.
Ceasefire is “holding”: So long as only non-Israeli-Jews are murdered
Middle East Monitor December 1, 2025
“Israel has violated the Gaza ceasefire almost 600 times, killed and injured over 1350, including murdering 136 Palestinian children, under various pretexts. Yet, the supposed guarantors of the truce remain hushed. Whatever they may claim to whisper or pressure behind closed doors, Israel’s actions make one thing clear: their opinions do not matter.
The so-called ceasefire served one purpose only: the release Israeli captives. Recent Israeli onslaught across Gaza, West Bank, Syria and Lebanon exposes Israel’s true intention. On 19 November, Israel killed 28 Palestinians bombing neighborhoods previously labeled as “safe zones.” A day earlier, its drones struck Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon, murdering 13, including 11 teenagers playing soccer.
“Three weeks earlier, on 28 October to be exact, and following the massacre of 109 Palestinians throughout Gaza, the Qatari mediator claimed that “both sides remain committed” to the ceasefire. The reply came from Israel on 18 and 19 November, in expanded attacks killing 41 more Palestinians across Gaza and Lebanon. Notwithstanding this, Washington continues to repeat that the truce is “holding.” A ceasefire, it seems, only collapses when Israeli Jews die, not when Palestinian blood is spilled.
“Since 10 October, Israel has murdered 352 Palestinians. Adjusted for population size, this is equivalent to more than 1,500 Israeli deaths. What if Israel was at the receiving end of this murder spree, and 1,500 Israeli Jews lost their lives? Would Washington and Europe still call the ceasefire as “holding,” or would we hear the rehearsed cry: “the largest number of Jews killed since the Holocaust,” as if the Holocaust took place in Palestine?...
“The fiction of ceasefire is amplified when examining Israel’s covert war in the occupied West Bank. According to reports, the Israeli army and Jewish-mobs have carried out 2,350 attacks in the month of October alone. Human rights organizations have documented a wave of war crimes: Israeli extrajudicial execution of young men at point-blank range, farmers harvesting olives attacked by armed Jewish-mobs, refugee camps are besieged, demolished, emptied and bombed from land and air.
IDF Chief Says Ceasefire Line Is a ‘New Border,’ Suggesting Goal to Annex More Than Half of Gaza
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a physician and Palestinian leader, said the statement “indicates dangerous Israeli intentions of annexing 53% of the little Gaza Strip, and to prevent reconstruction of what Israel destroyed in Gaza.”
Common Dreams December 8, 2025
“The top-ranking officer in the Israel Defense Forces suggested that Israel may plan to permanently take over more than half of Gaza, which it currently occupies as part of a temporary arrangement under the latest “ceasefire” agreement.
“That agreement, signed in early October, required Israel to withdraw its forces behind a so-called “yellow line” as part of the first phase, which left it occupying over half of the territory on its side. Gaza’s nearly 2 million inhabitants, meanwhile, are crammed into a territory of about 60 square miles—the vast majority of them displaced and living in makeshift structures.
“The deal Israel agreed to in principle says this is only a temporary arrangement. Later phases would require Israel to eventually pull back entirely, returning control to an “International Stabilization Force” and eventually to Palestinians, with only a security buffer zone between the territories under Israel’s direct control.
“But on Sunday, as he spoke to troops in Gaza, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir described the yellow line not as a temporary fixture of the ceasefire agreement, but as “a new border line” between Israel and Gaza.”…”
Help plan and build this important campaign to hold Congressman Jeffries accountable for his failure to truly advocate for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza and the Palestinian people.
NY8 Neighbors for a Gaza Ceasefire meets every Monday at 7PM on Zoom.
If you would like to participate email us at jeffreis.gaza@gmail.com
Ask your friends to share our letter to Congressman Jeffries