Top News & Analysis on Israel/Palestine: December 4-12, 2025

Resource

  1. New from FMEP

  2. Gaza

  3. Region//Global

  4. River to the Sea

  5. U.S. Scene

  6. Perspectives//Long Reads

NEW FROM FMEP

FMEP Legislative Round-Up December 12, 2025 (Lara Friedman)

  1. Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters; 3. Hearings & Markups; 4. Selected Members on the Record; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements

Christians in Gaza, Ecclesiocide, and Kairos Palestine II (New Occupied Thoughts episode)

FMEP Fellow Hilary Rantisi speaks with Dr. Yousef Kamal AlKhouri, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies and Academic Dean at Bethlehem Bible College and a Christian Arab Palestinian theologian from Gaza. They discuss the Christian community in Gaza, the importance of Gaza in Christianity and Christian history, and the destruction of Christians in Gaza, which Dr. AlKhouri has termed ‘ecclesiocide.’ They also discuss the new Kairos document, called Kairos II, launched in Bethlehem in November 2025. According to the Kairos Palestine Initiative, Kairos II “declares the reality in Palestine as genocide and ethnic cleansing, challenges Western silence, and introduces a theology of resistance linking faith with justice. It exposes internal crises and reshapes the role of Christians in the struggle for liberation.”

Additional Occupied Thoughts podcast episodes in November & December 2025 (Full Index)

GAZA

‘Yellow line’ that divides Gaza under Trump plan is ‘new border’ for Israel, says military chief (Guardian 12/8/25)

“The “yellow line” that divides Gaza under Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan is a “new border” for Israel, the country’s military chief told soldiers deployed in the territory. The chief of the general staff, Eyal Zamir, said Israel would hold on to its current military positions. These give Israel control of more than half o Gaza, including most agricultural land and the border crossing with Egypt. “The ‘yellow line’ is a new border line, serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity,” Zamir said during a visit to meet Israeli reservists in northern Gaza…Palestinians were forced out of this eastern portion of Gaza by Israeli attacks and evacuation orders. Almost all the surviving population, over 2 million people, are now crowded into a narrow zone of coastal sand dunes that is smaller than Washington DC. Zamir’s commitment to keep troops in Gaza appears to contradict the ceasefire agreement signed in October, which specifies that “Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza”.” See also How Trump’s Gaza Plan Is Enabling Another Israeli Land Grab (Jewish Currents 12/8/25); 12 dead and 27,000 tents destroyed in Gaza storms (Drop Site 12/12/25); Thirteen Gazans, Including Three Children, Killed by Hypothermia or Building Collapses Amid Storm Byron (Haaretz 12/12/25);

Along Israel’s expanding Yellow Line, the war in Gaza never ended (Ruwaida Amer//+972 Magazine 12/5/25)

“Since the illusory ceasefire took hold in Gaza, the lives of Palestinians in the Strip have been dictated by an imaginary line drawn up by the Israeli army. Crossing this “Yellow Line,” which indicates the boundary of Israel’s occupation of ethnically cleansed areas spanning more than half of Gaza, constitutes a death sentence — even for children collecting firewood for their wheelchair-bound father. Yet not only is it poorly demarcated; it is also continuously expanding. Residents describe a reality in which supposedly safe neighborhoods are transformed overnight into active frontlines, with no warning.” See also ‘Bloodshed was supposed to stop’: no sign of normal life as Gaza’s killing and misery grind on (The Guardian 12/6/25);

More than 9,000 children in Gaza treated for acute malnutrition in October, UN says (The Guardian 12/9/25)

“While the immediate threat of famine has receded for most of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza after the ceasefire announcement on 10 October, the UN and other aid agencies report continuing Israeli restrictions on their humanitarian aid shipments, which they say fall well below the needs of a population weakened and traumatised by two years of war, homelessness and living in flimsy shelters.” See also A winter storm chills Gaza and floods tent camps, exposing aid failures (AP 12/11/25); Families washed out of tents as flood waters course through Gaza (The Guardian 12/12/25)

Watched, Tracked, and Targeted Life in Gaza under Israel’s all-encompassing surveillance regime. (Mohammed R. Mhawish//NY Magazine 12/3/2025)

“Life in Gaza for the past two years has been a process of losing everything visible — our families, homes, streets. It also means losing what cannot be seen: the private space of the mind, the intimacy between people, and the ability to speak without fear of being monitored by a machine. A poll conducted just weeks before the October cease-fire by the Palestine-based research organization Institute for Social and Economic Progress found that nearly two-thirds of Gazans believed they were constantly watched by the Israeli government. This is the dystopian consequence of technology, supplied in part by American companies, being placed into the hands of authorities who have virtually unlimited control over a captive population they have openly villainized. It is the culmination of decades of monitored occupation, a totalitarian nightmare spliced with genocidal terror, a system that is already evolving and growing for whatever comes next. The old admonition of authoritarian regimes everywhere — If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to be afraid of — has no meaning in Gaza.”

Israel’s Gaza proxy strategy is collapsing (Muhammad Shehadeh//+972 Magazine 12/12/25)

“The assassination last week of Yasser Abu Shabab — the 32-year-old leader of the Israeli-backed “Popular Forces,” a militia operating in the Rafah area of the southern Gaza Strip — is more than a lurid gangland hit. His killing at the hands of his own disgruntled militiamen is a clear representation of a policy coming undone. For months, Israel stitched together a sordid alliance of convicted felons, former ISIS affiliates, and opportunistic collaborators, presenting them as the embryo of a local governance alternative to Hamas in Gaza, while using them to orchestrate starvation and carry out attacks on Israel’s behalf. Now, this attempt to cultivate a network of criminal proxy gangs as subcontractors of its occupation is collapsing into paranoid infighting and bloody chaos.”

Amnesty says Hamas attacks and Gaza hostage treatment amount to crimes against humanity (Reuters 12/11/25)

“A new report by Amnesty International has found that Palestinian militant group Hamas committed crimes against humanity during its attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 and against hostages it took to Gaza. The London-based human rights group said that its report, published on Wednesday, analysed patterns of the attack, communications between fighters during the assault and statements by Hamas and the leaders of other armed groups…Its investigation found that the crimes against humanity included murder, extermination, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual abuse and inhumane acts…Hamas denied in a statement that it had carried out the crimes mentioned in the report and urged Amnesty International to retract it.”

REGION//GLOBAL

Scoop: Trump plans to appoint U.S. general to lead Gaza security force (Axios 12/11/25)

“The appointment will further increase the U.S. responsibility for securing and rebuilding Gaza, which is turning into the biggest U.S. political-civilian-military project in the Middle East in more than two decades…The U.S. established a civil-military headquarters in Israel to monitor the ceasefire and coordinate humanitarian aid. The U.S. is leading the planning for the reconstruction of Gaza. Trump is expected to head the Gaza Board of Peace, and his top advisers will be members of an international executive board. Now, the U.S. will be in command of the enclave’s security force. Nevertheless, White House officials stress there will be no U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza.” See also Israel, US send mixed signals on Gaza phase 2 before Trump-Netanyahu meeting (Al Monitor 12/8/25); Differences over Hamas, Turkey and Iran overshadow Netanyahu-Trump summit (Al Monitor 12/9/25);

Hamas official says group needs guarantees on war’s end and statehood to disarm (Al Monitor 12/8/25)

“Hamas will begin to lay down its weapons if a political process for Palestinian statehood is initiated and the international community guarantees that Israel will not resume its military operations in the Gaza Strip, a senior member of Hamas’ political wing told Al-Monitor. Hamas official Basem Naim said that his group is prepared to “immediately” transfer political authority in Gaza to a committee of Palestinian technocrats, as envisioned by President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan. He also said Hamas would accept the deployment of an international stabilization force, provided it remains “near the border as a peacekeeping force” and doesn’t enter Gaza’s cities…Since its founding in 1987, Hamas has made armed struggle against Israel central to its identity. Some experts believe the Palestinian militant group could be persuaded to hand over its rockets and other heavy weaponry under an arrangement that allows the fighters to keep their smaller arms…Since the ceasefire came into effect on Oct. 10, Hamas has released the remaining living hostages and all but one of the deceased. In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and its troops have withdrawn to the so-called “yellow line” bisecting Gaza. The implementation of phase two of the US-brokered ceasefire has stalled over the sequencing of the Israeli military’s complete withdrawal from Gaza, the deployment of an international stabilization force and the disarmament of Hamas. The truce remains fragile, with Hamas and mediators Qatar, Egypt and Turkey accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire with continued attacks and failing to ensure enough humanitarian aid reaches Gaza. Israeli strikes and gunfire have killed more than 350 Palestinians since the deal took effect two months ago, according to Gaza’s health authorities…Israel blames Hamas for attacks that have killed three Israeli soldiers in that same period. Israel has also accused the group of violating the ceasefire and criticized its slow pace on hostage returns.”

Lebanon-Israel direct talks pause operation against Hezbollah — but for how long? (Al Monitor 12/5/25)

“The United States this week blocked Israel from expanding attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon, but another round in the combatants’ long-standing conflict only appears to be a matter of time. The direct talks held Wednesday in Naqoura between Israeli and Lebanese representatives, under American patronage, the first in over three decades, failed to resolve Israel’s core concern — Hezbollah’s increasing rearmament.”

China to provide $100 million humanitarian aid for Gaza, Xi says (Al Monitor 12/4/25)

“China will provide $100 million in aid to the Palestinians to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and support reconstruction efforts, President Xi Jinping said on Thursday.”

Iceland becomes 5th country to boycott Eurovision over Israel’s participation (Axios 12/10/25)

“Iceland is refusing to take part in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest — joining Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain in protesting Israel’s participation in the European singing competition by boycotting the event.”

RIVER TO THE SEA

As Palestinians yearn for a leader, top candidate remains behind bars (WaPo 12/7/28)

“An advocate of a two-state solution who has also backed armed resistance to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands, [Marwan] Barghouti consistently outperforms all other Palestinian candidates in polls assessing the popularity of potential leaders, even as he serves five life sentences for his alleged role in attacks on civilians between 2001 and 2002. He has been seen in just a handful of photographs and videos over the past decade. His last major interview was 12 years ago. More recently, accounts from his family and lawyer suggested that he had been singled out by Israeli prison guards for abuse “to break the will of the prisoners by breaking his will,” his son Arab said in a recent interview with The Washington Post. Then in mid-October, President Donald Trump raised the possibility that, after nearly 24 years in prison, Barghouti might finally be released as part of a prisoner exchange to end the war in Gaza. Israel, however, vetoed the decision to release Barghouti in the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for hostages held by Hamas under the terms of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, his family said. “The Israelis don’t want to release him,” said Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “They consider him to have blood on his hands. But they’re also aware that he’s a potentially unifying figure. And the very last thing that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his coalition want is to reenergize Palestinians and to give them hope or to give them a sense that they could have a unifying leader.”’

‘This Is Illegal,’ He Said, Spreading His Arms. ‘This Is Illegal.’ (M. Gessen//NYT 12/4/25)

“For the second installment in my series on the state of international justice, I traveled to Israel and the occupied West Bank to talk to the activists who are documenting human rights violations committed in Gaza and the West Bank. (I could not visit the few researchers who continue to work in Gaza, which has been effectively closed to international journalists for more than two years.) I wanted to see how, having been designated as terrorists, placed under sanctions, harassed and threatened with prosecution, they are continuing their work. What I found is that they have expanded their idea of what that work is.”

How Israel Organizes and Arms Settler Militias to Terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank (David Schutz//Drop Site 12/10/25)

“In parallel with Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza that began in October 2023, Israeli violence from settlers and soldiers in the West Bank escalated to record levels. About 3,000 settler-related attacks causing Palestinian casualties or property damage were recorded between October 2023 and mid-2025, with more than 1,000 of them in the first 8 months of 2025, and 264 incidents in October 2025 alone—the highest monthly total since the UN began monitoring in 2006. Over the past two years, settlers have increasingly been “going into houses, holding people at gunpoint, and giving them 24 hours to leave, and many have…It happened in Khirbet al-Maktal, Umm Salam, Razeem, and elsewhere,” said a field researcher with Israeli human rights group B’Tselem…Settler violence against Palestinians often appears sporadic, but it is an official government system with an organized structure operating as intended.” See also Report: IDF actively supports construction of settler outposts and farms in West Bank (Haaretz 12/10/25);

Anatomy of a settler abduction (Faiz Abu Rmeleh//+972 Magazine 12/10/25)

“Ambushed, dragged to a hilltop outpost, beaten unconscious: Palestinian teen Owais Hammam recounts his brutal torture by Israeli settlers and soldiers.”

Legislating apartheid: How Israel entrenched unequal rule during Gaza war (Orly Noy//+972 Magazine 12/2/25)

“As a disturbing new report by the Haifa-based legal center Adalah shows, [the Israeli Knesset has] used the chaos of the past two years to advance more than 30 new laws entrenching apartheid and Jewish supremacy — joining  Adalah’s existing list of now more than 100 Israeli laws that discriminate against Palestinian citizens. One of the report’s central findings is a sweeping assault on freedom of expression, thought, and protest across a wide array of arenas. It includes laws prohibiting the publication of content that includes “denial of the events of October 7,” as determined by the Knesset, and restricting broadcasts of critical media outlets that “harm state security.”’

An Educational Crusade in East Jerusalem (Jonathan Shamir//Jewish Currents 12/8/25)

“Under the pretext of “national security,” Israel is ramping up its longstanding attacks on Palestinian education in the city.” See also [Israeli] Authorities raid UNRWA offices in East Jerusalem, raise Israeli flag over compound (TOI 12/8/25);

Israel preparing largest ever act of ‘archeological cleansing’ in West Bank (Alon Arad//+972 Magazine 12/11/25)

“Subordinating scientific value to colonial expansion, Israeli archeologists are putting up no resistance as the state moves to expropriate swaths of Sebastia.”

U.S. SCENE

Exclusive: US weighs hitting UN Palestinian refugee agency with terrorism-related sanctions (Reuters 12/10/25)

“rump administration officials have held advanced discussions on hitting U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA with terrorism-related sanctions, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, prompting serious legal and humanitarian concerns inside the State Department. The United Nations agency operates in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, providing aid, schooling, healthcare, social services and shelter to millions of Palestinians…Top U.N. officials and the U.N. Security Council have described UNRWA as the backbone of the aid response in Gaza, where the two-year war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe.” See also Florida designates CAIR, Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist groups (Axios 12/8/25)

The billionaire family poised to rewire U.S. media in Israel’s favor (Will Alden//+972 Magazine 12/4/25)

“Having acquired Paramount and CBS and eyeing TikTok and CNN, the Ellisons are constructing a pro-Israel information empire with unprecedented reach.”

The GOP fed the antisemitism monster. Now it’s turning on its masters (Natasha Soffer-Roth//+972 Magazine 12/9/25)

“Republicans and their allies have mainstreamed far-right antisemitism while systematically downplaying it; at the same time, they have portrayed anti-Jewish prejudice as a uniquely left-wing problem to fuel a persecutory, authoritarian agenda…It is no secret that throughout most of the past Trump-MAGA decade, the Republican Party has mainstreamed a fairly transparent brand of antisemitism. There isn’t enough space to do a full accounting of this process here, but a partial list includes advancing conspiracy theories about George Soros and “global elites”; campaigning on antisemitic imagery; bringing committed white nationalists into the federal government; and a public flirtation with the straight-armed salute. At the center of all this is, of course, Trump himself, who has a long history of making antisemitic statements and has consistently encouraged the fascist elements of his base and administration…The fiasco surrounding the Carlson-Fuentes interview and its fallout is, ultimately, about much more than antisemitism and American Jews. It fundamentally reveals what kind of entity the Republican Party is and spotlights the dark forces it has marshalled and encouraged over the past decade. That, as much as anything else, tells us all we need to know about the contemporary GOP: Any commitment from its members and supporters to confront antisemitism in their own tent, at the same time as they advance a Christian-nationalist attack on other minority group rights, should not be taken seriously.”

Portrait of a Campus in Crisis (Will Alden//Jewish Currents)

“UCLA capitulated to its own hardline pro-Israel activists long before President Trump came calling. As a result, its students have repeatedly become targets of vigilante and police violence.”

The ADL Tried to Appease MAGA. The FBI Cut Ties with Them Anyway. (Mari Cohen & Alex Kane//Jewish Currents 12/10/25)

“The Jewish defense group—whose partnership with federal law enforcement goes back decades—has never been more isolated.”

PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS

Christian Zionism in the Global South: The Case of South Africa (Fathi Nimer//Al Shabaka 12/7/25)

“Christian Zionism has become a key vehicle of Israeli influence across the Global South, and South Africa has emerged as a central battleground. Once rooted in nineteenth-century imperial theology, Christian Zionism today functions as a political project that seeks to legitimize Israeli colonialism through religious narratives. In South Africa—long a stronghold of Black-Palestinian solidarity—its rapid spread threatens to erode public support for Palestinian liberation and strengthen pro-Israel lobbying efforts. Israel’s alliances with Christian Zionist networks have expanded alongside the growth of South Africa’s Pentecostal and prosperity-gospel movements over the past several decades. These theological currents frame support for Israel as a divine obligation and have helped cultivate both an active pro-Israel lobby and a broader devotional base that discourages engagement with Palestinian rights. Together, these forces risk reshaping South Africa’s political landscape at a moment of increasing coalition politics, where even small pro-Israel parties can exert disproportionate influence.”

What I Learned Discussing Israel with Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon and Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ian Ward//Politico 12/8/25)

“On Capitol Hill, the overwhelming majority of Republicans continue to back U.S. aid to Israel, and in the White House, Trump regularly expresses his support for the alliance. The recent backlash directed at the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, whose president, Kevin Roberts, was forced to apologize for his defense of Carlson’s interview with Fuentes after facing fury from staff and donors, underscores the political dangers facing conservatives who openly ally with anti-Israel figures. Yet as Republicans look to a post-Trump future, and polls find that over half of young conservatives now have an unfavorable view of Israel — a 15-point rise from three years ago — the anti-Israel right could find itself with an opening. My survey through the key figures of this movement shed light on how MAGA arrived at this fraught juncture — and where it might go next.”