Although President Mahmoud Abbas recently reiterated that freedom of the press is absolute in Palestine, the executive branch has carried on with its abuses against journalists, in a flagrant contradiction between what’s being said and what’s actually happening.

The Qatari ambassador to Palestine stayed in the Gaza Strip for three weeks, holding banquets, visiting various institutions and making donations, with mixed reactions from Palestinian factions.

“The Israeli authorities recently indicted two employees of international aid organizations active in the Gaza Strip. On the basis of these indictments, Israeli authorities have made sweeping, far-reaching, and irresponsible allegations claiming that humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip as a whole are connected to Hamas and serve the organization,” Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem said in a press release on Monday.

“Israel’s deterrence against Hamas has remained strong, but deterrence alone is not enough: Offering Gaza’s rulers some positive incentives could serve the interests of both sides,” writes Giora Eiland.

Al Jazeera aired on Monday a photo that purports to show two Palestinians allegedly kidnapped by Egypt in the Sinai a year ago, in what could further deteriorate the relations between Hamas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s regime.

The organization that controls Gaza is not currently interested in an escalation of violence with Israel for several reasons.

Israeli army carries out dozens of air and tank strikes in response to rocket launched into Israeli city of Sderot.

Maj. Gen. Uzi Dayan was trying to support a soldier charged with killing an unarmed Palestinian. Instead, he ended up confessing to a crime that could have severe repercussions at The Hague.

Palestinians say the benefits and punishments plan introduced by Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman is doomed to fail because it seeks to replace President Mahmoud Abbas with other leading Palestinians.