NEW FROM FMEP
Institutionalizing sexual violence and torture: the findings of the UN Committee on Torture (New Occupied Thoughts episode)
FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with Nick Rodelo, a researcher employed by the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR) and the primary author of the report, Report to the UN Committee Against Torture: Systemic Israeli Practices of Torture Against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, submitted to the UN in late 2025. The report describes and provides extensive evidence of torture and abuse against Palestinian detainees and prisoners, demonstrating that “[t]his abuse – including, but not limited to, beatings to the point of broken bones and permanent injury; gang rape and rape by foreign objects; nonconsensual amputations; and extreme deprivation of food, water, sunlight, hygiene, and sleep – are systematic policies and practices of the State of Israel and its actors.” Ahmed and Nick discuss the research process and the findings of the UNHR report, the experience of presenting this evidence to the UN Committee Against Torture, and the UN Committee’s recommendations.
FMEP Legislative Round-Up January 30, 2026 (Lara Friedman)
- Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters; 3. Hearings & Markups; 4. Selected Members on the Record; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements
Settlement & Annexation Report: January 30, 2026 (Kristin McCarthy)
West Bank Settlements & Outposts: More Funding for Settler-Only Roads; Expanded Settler Access to Joseph’s Tomb, Soil Smuggling, and More; 2. Settler Terrorism: Pogrom in Masafer Yatta, Displacement in Sinjil, and More; 3. Bonus Reads
GAZA
Israel accepts health authorities’ Gaza death toll is broadly accurate, saying 70,000 have died (The Guardian 1/30/26)
“Israel’s military has accepted the death toll compiled by health authorities in Gaza is broadly accurate, marking a U-turn after years of official attacks on the data. A senior security official briefed Israeli journalists, saying about 70,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks on the territory since October 2023, excluding those missing. It is the first time Israel has publicly estimated the toll from the war in Gaza…Gaza health authorities said the direct toll from Israeli attacks had exceeded 71,660 people, with at least 10,000 presumed buried in the rubble of bombed buildings. For more than two years, Israeli officials and media had attacked the Palestinian figures as “Hamas propaganda” and dismissed them as “not accurate”.’ See also The IDF Admits It Killed 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza. What Other Accusations Could Turn Out to Be True? (Nir Hasson//Haaretz 1/29/26); Israel returns 15 bodies to Gaza as the Israeli military accepts Gaza death toll of 71,667 (DropSite 1/29/26);
Israel to Reopen Gaza Strip’s Rafah Crossing on Sunday, in Largely Symbolic Move (Haaretz 1/30/26)
“The Rafah crossing, connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt, will open Sunday to transit in both directions, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced on Friday…Only residents of the Gaza Strip who had left the enclave during the war will be permitted to enter Gaza through the crossing, COGAT said, adding that those who enter the Strip will have to have prior security authorization from Israel…Under the current conditions, the reopening of the Rafah crossing is not expected to ease movement for most Gazans, who will be unable to use the crossing, leaving the move largely symbolic.” See also Israeli attacks kill at least five in Gaza as Rafah crossing to reopen Sunday (New Arab 1/30/26); For Thousands Waiting for the Rafah Crossing to Open in Gaza, Uncertainty Is a Matter of Life and Death (Jack Khoury//Haaretz 1/28/26); Doctors Without Borders Will Not Share Staff Details With Israel Following NGO Suspensions (Haaretz 1/30/26);
Remains of last Israeli held in Gaza after 7 October 2023 returned (The Guardian 1/26/26)
“The remains of the Israeli police sergeant Ran Gvili, who was killed fighting Hamas-led militants on 7 October 2023, have been returned to Israel. Militants took Gvili’s body to Gaza to use as a bargaining chip. He was the last of 251 people captured that day still held in the territory. “With this, all hostages have been returned from the Gaza Strip to the state of Israel,” the Israeli military said in a statement…The handover of the body marks the completion of a key initial demand of Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza. It should open the way for progress in its second stage, which the US announced was under way earlier this month.” See also Exclusive: Trump says Hamas helped find last hostage, now must disarm (Axios 1/26/26); Israel confirms remains of last hostage, Rani Gvili, returned from Gaza (WaPo 1/26/26); The stories of the final hostages whose bodies were returned from Gaza (WaPo 1/27/26)
Board of Peace Set to Hand Trump Sweeping Powers Over Gaza (NYT 1/27/26)
“President Trump would have sweeping powers over the future governance of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and the well-being of its people, under a plan drafted by the new international group he leads, laying out how it would operate…Much about the Board of Peace has so far been unclear, but a draft resolution, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, would allow the chairman, Mr. Trump, to nominate senior officials who will help administer Gaza, and assign responsibilities. Those officials include a “high representative” for Gaza, tasked with overseeing a Palestinian body administering the enclave, and the commander of an international stabilization force, which is intended to help provide security. Mr. Trump would also have the power to approve resolutions and suspend them in urgent cases.” See also As phase 2 looms, Netanyahu insists no Turkish or Qatari troops in Gaza (Al Monitor 1/27/26);
Doctors Without Borders Will Not Share Staff Details With Israel Following NGO Suspensions (Haaretz 1/30/26)
“Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) said on Friday it will not submit lists of staff demanded by Israel to maintain access to Gaza and the West Bank, saying it had not been able to obtain assurances over the safety of its teams. MSF, which supports and helps staff hospitals in Gaza, is one of 37 international organisations that Israel ordered this month to stop work in the Palestinian territories unless they meet new rules including providing employee details. The aid groups say sharing such staff information could pose a safety risk, pointing to the hundreds of aid workers who were killed or injured during the two-year Gaza war….MSF had said last week it would be prepared to share a partial list of Palestinian and international staff who had agreed to release that information, provided the list be used only for administrative purposes and not put its team at risk. It also said it wanted to retain control over the management of medical humanitarian supplies. “However, despite repeated efforts, it became evident in recent days that we were unable to build engagement with Israeli authorities on the concrete assurances required,” MSF said in a statement. It said there could be a devastating impact on humanitarian services if it is banned from operating in Gaza and the West Bank, amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” See also ‘Wet tent syndrome’ is killing Gaza’s infants (Michal Feldon//+972 Magazine 1/26/26)
REGION//GLOBAL
U.S. Military Tells Key Middle East Ally to Prepare for Attack on Iran (Drop Site 1/30/26)
“Senior U.S. military officials have informed the leadership of a key U.S. ally in the Middle East that President Donald Trump could authorize a U.S. attack on Iran this weekend, multiple sources have confirmed to Drop Site News. Strikes could commence as early as Sunday, the ally was informed, if the U.S. decides to move forward.” See also Trump says he’s given Iran deadline to accept deal before potential strike (TOI 1/30/26); Saudi, Israeli officials visit D.C. to talk possible U.S. strikes on Iran (Axios 1/29/26); Exclusive: Trump says Iran wants a deal as U.S. “armada” arrives (Axios 1/26/26); Iran says defense capabilities ‘never’ up for negotiation; US missile destroyer in Eilat (TOI 1/30/26); Israel ups Iran intel sharing with US, expects Trump to strike within ‘weeks’ (Al Monitor 1/30/26);
Palestinian developer gains massive user support for app challenging censorship claims criticising US and Israel after losing over 60 relatives in Gaza (MEMO 1/28/26)
“The UpScrolled app, launched by Palestinian–Jordanian–Australian developer Issam Hijazi, who lost more than 60 of his relatives in the Gaza genocide, has seen remarkable success. It is ranked ninth among free apps on Apple’s App Store, one place ahead of TikTok, and second in the social networking category as of Monday afternoon.” See also TikTok deal with pro-Israel Larry Ellison spurs exodus to Palestinian-founded app UpScrolled (TOI 1/30/26); South Africa expels top Israeli diplomat over ‘insulting attacks’ on president (The Guardian 1/30/26);
RIVER TO THE SEA
Inside a coordinated, multi-village settler-soldier pogrom in Masafer Yatta (Basel Adra//+972 Magazine 1/30/26)
“On the evening of Jan. 27, Israeli settlers launched one of the most devastating pogroms on the Palestinian communities of Masafer Yatta in recent memory, attacking three villages simultaneously with what appeared to be an unprecedented level of coordination with the Israeli army.” See also CCTV shows IDF troops escorting settlers said to be stealing Palestinians’ livestock (TOI 1/30/26);
Settler-only IDF units functioning as ‘vigilante militias’ in West Bank (The Guardian 1/30/26)
“Israel’s army has become a vehicle for violent settlers to escalate their campaign against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, with reserve units drawn from settlements functioning as vigilante militias, according to Israeli soldiers and activists, and the United Nations…The system handed weapons and authority to thousands of settlers, who formed military units in their own communities, with few checks on how these powers would be used…There is a long history of close collaboration between settlers and the Israeli military. Units in the West Bank regularly killed and injured civilians, including children, and failed to enforce laws protecting Palestinians from settler violence. But the widespread deployment of settler units marked a profound structural change. “Post 7 October [2023] the military and settler are unified,” said Yehuda Shaul, co-director of the Ofek thinktank, which campaigns against Israel’s occupation, and a co-founder of Breaking the Silence. “The settlers are the IDF, the IDF are settlers, there’s no pretence of a buffer,” he said. “It is not any more about a situation where the IDF are standing idly by while settlers attack, it’s not even just one or two soldiers joining settler attacks. “It’s a level of complicity that goes beyond anything we have seen before. You can see the impact if you look at how many Palestinian communities were forcibly transferred by settler violence before 7 October, and how many after.”’ See also Palestinians face fresh slew of evictions in Silwan, after court dimisses appeal (TOI 1/29/26); The Israeli Ethnic Cleansing Militias in the West Bank Have Succeeded Once Again (Haaretz Editorial 1/27/26); A School Principal Mentioned Israeli Settler Violence; His Students Demanded He Be Fired (Haaretz 1/29/26);
‘I cannot help my clients’: The impossible task of representing Palestinian detainees (Lee Mordechai and Liat Kozma//+972 Magazine 1/27/26)
“In Israel today, few issues are met with as much indifference — and at times open hostility — as the human rights of Palestinians held in the Israeli prison system. The marginal circle of lawyers and activists who continue to work on these cases operate in courts and speak out in public, but the abuses they document hardly register beyond their narrow professional and political communities. Over the past two years, Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations have published several reports on the dire condition of Palestinians incarcerated in Israel. The reports describe extreme overcrowding, deprivation of basic necessities, widespread illness, routine violence and torture, and severe restrictions on medical access and care. Between October 2023 and November 2025, nearly 100 Palestinians are known to have died in Israeli custody, which human rights groups describe as likely a significant undercount…Interviews we conducted with seven attorneys who represent Palestinian detainees point to an aggressive dismantling of monitoring mechanisms, alongside growing obstruction and harassment of legal counsel — developments that, taken together, have allowed the prison system to largely operate with impunity.”
What the Joint List’s revival signifies for Palestinian politics in Israel (Abed Abou Shhadeh//+972 Magazine 1/28/26)
“For Palestinians inside Israel, last week proved to be a collective breaking point. It began when Ali Zbeedat, the owner of a grocery store chain in the northern city of Sakhnin, shut down his businesses last Monday to protest an extortion attempt by criminal gangs. Over the following days, Zbeedat’s defiant act sparked coordinated strikes across dozens of Arab localities, where residents are similarly fed up with their abandonment by the state in the face of an epidemic of organized crime. The escalation culminated in a mass demonstration in Sakhnin last Thursday, with an estimated 50,000 people taking to the streets in what was the largest mobilization of Palestinian citizens in years. This sequence of events generated exceptional political momentum. Just hours after the demonstration, amid sustained public pressure, the leaders of Israel’s four major Arab-led parties — Hadash, Balad, Ta’al, and Ra’am — met with the heads of local authorities and signed a brief, symbolic document bearing the logo of the Sakhnin Municipality. In it, they expressed their intention to revive the Joint List ahead of this year’s election, the historic electoral alliance formed 10 years ago that aimed to overcome the ideological divides and interpersonal rivalries among the community’s fragmented leadership, but broke down in 2022. This is a historic event in a volatile political moment.”
‘A New Holocaust Is in the Making’ Global Far Right Flocks to Jerusalem to Bash Muslims and Migration at Israel’s Antisemitism Confab (Haaretz 1/27/26)
“The conference, held on International Holocaust Memorial Day, was hosted by Israel’s Diaspora Ministry. Throughout the event, speakers stressed that Islamism and Islamic radicalization are the driving forces of antisemitism worldwide, and particularly in Europe. Talk of the “red-green alliance,” a partnership between Islamic forces and communist and leftist groups, proliferated…Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli said the force that seeks to harm Jews today is “Islamist fanaticism, deeply influenced by Nazi ideology, and in some ways, a continuation of it.” He continued: “This conference seeks to banish political correctness” in naming radical Islam as the inheritor of Hitler’s ideology. “This is not merely the fight of the Jewish people,” the Likud minister added. “It is the fight of the free world against the imperialism and tyranny of fanatic Islamism – against mass slaughter and rape, against horrifying barbarism, and its attempt to buy off influence and decision-makers worldwide.”…As at the previous evening’s gala event ahead of the conference, and the Knesset session that preceded it, curbing immigration was presented – mainly by the European politicians onstage – as a panacea for rising antisemitism.”
The theft at the heart of Israel’s booming wine industry (Marta Vidal & Meriem Laribi//+972 Magazine 1/30/26)
“After seizing Palestinian land, settlers are replanting it with vineyards — then exporting their wine as “Made in Israel” to obscure its origins.”
U.S. SCENE
‘Ungrateful to the President Who Saved Israel’ Ex-Biden Officials Slam Netanyahu’s Insinuation That IDF Troops Were Killed Due to U.S. Arms Embargo (Haaretz 1/28/26)
“Amos Hochstein, who served as special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs under former President Joe Biden and helped broker last year’s cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, criticized Netanyahu’s veiled attack on the Biden administration…”Netanyahu is both not telling the truth and ungrateful to a president that literally saved Israel at its most vulnerable moment,” he told Axios. “After more than $20 Billion military support, largest in Israel history, two aircraft carriers rushed to the region…after SAVING countless lives of Israelis – only acceptable response to POTUS #Biden and [the] American people is THANK YOU,” the former adviser wrote on X.” See also Netanyahu: Israeli soldiers lost their lives in Gaza due to Biden-era arms embargo (Times of Israel 1/28/26)
Zohran Mamdani Wants NYC to Divest From Israel — But New Comptroller Pledges to Buy War Bonds (The Intercept 1/30/26)
“In a letter to state and local officials, the human rights organization DAWN warned on Friday that any investment in Israeli sovereign debt by New York City would violate local and international law. The 26-page letter — directed to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and the state and city comptrollers — took aim at Israeli bonds, a financial instrument that invests in the Israeli government for a set period and then is paid back with interest. Israeli bonds have emerged as a crucial source of funding for the Israeli government, with money from bond sales flowing into the country’s coffers and allowing it to continue its genocidal campaign in Gaza and displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank…New York State’s Common Retirement Fund held $352 million worth of Israel bonds as of March 2024, making it one of the largest holdings in the U.S., according to DAWN. And while former City Comptroller Brad Lander allowed the bonds held in city-controlled portfolios to lapse in 2024 — earning DAWN’s praise — the city’s new comptroller, Levine, has pledged to reinvest…Levine’s announcement of his intent to purchase Israeli government bonds put him at odds with Mamdani, a longtime critic of Israel whose campaign did not shy away from a continued support for Palestinians despite continuous attacks smearing him as an antisemite…So far, Mamdani has held fast and signaled his opposition to Levine’s plan.”
10 months later, I’m the last Columbia protester still in ICE custody (Leqaa Kordia//USA Today 1/21/26)
“For more than 10 months, I have been locked in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Alvarado, Texas. My arrest came after my participation in protests for a ceasefire and an end to Israel’s siege on Gaza at the gates of Columbia University in April 2024. The Department of Homeland Security publicly stated that it had targeted me because of my advocacy for Palestinian rights.”
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
Gaza Is a Crime Scene, Not a Real Estate Opportunity (Hani Almadhoun//The Nation 1/27/26)
“For those of us who have mourned the loss of countless loved ones killed by the Israeli military over the past 27 months and watched our family homes reduced to rubble, the “New Gaza” vision unveiled by President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner in Davos is an outrageous moral affront. To see AI-generated renderings of luxury high-rises and “coastal tourism zones” atop the literal ruins of our lives is not a vision of peace. It is a blueprint for erasure…by prioritizing “industrial zones” and “tech-driven governance” while ignoring Palestinian human rights and Israel’s ongoing campaign to make Gaza unlivable—such that Palestinians have no choice but to leave—this vision amounts to soft ethnic cleansing. Indeed, just a day before revealing this plan, news reports revealed that the Israeli government had been discussing a proposal to reopen the Rafah crossing only on the condition that outbound traffic is prioritized over entry, setting a ratio to ensure more Palestinians leave the Strip than are allowed to return. This plan is designed to replace our indigenous people and society with a capitalist dystopia where we are merely a cheap labor force behind militarized walls. Trump and Kushner speak of a “New Gaza” without ever reckoning with Israel’s destruction of the old one. Under this administration’s direction, Gaza is being treated as a distressed asset or a failed startup awaiting new management, rather than a homeland and the site of a crime scene, with thousands of bodies still missing underneath the rubble.”
The NCAG: Gaza’s Technocratic Turn to Genocide Management (Yara Hawari//Al Shabaka 1/26/26)
“The announcement of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a 15-member technocratic body chaired by Ali Shaath, signals a shift toward depoliticized governance in Gaza amid ongoing genocide. Shaath, a Palestinian civil engineer and former deputy minister of planning and international cooperation, is positioned to lead an interim governing structure tasked with managing reconstruction and service provision under external oversight. While presented as a neutral technocratic governing structure, the NCAG is more likely to function as a managerial apparatus that stabilizes conditions that enable genocide rather than challenging them. This policy memo argues that technocratic governance in Gaza—particularly under US oversight, given its role as a co-perpetrator in the genocide—should be understood not as a pathway to recovery or sovereignty, but as part of a broader strategy of genocide management.”
Remembering ‘Never Again for Everyone’ at Bergen-Belsen (Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man//New Lines Magazine 1/27/26)
“At the height of the war in Gaza, a Jewish activist for Palestine accompanied his mother, a Holocaust survivor, to Germany for a ceremony to mark 80 years since liberation”
How Netanyahu is sabotaging phase two of the Gaza ceasefire (Muhammad Shehada//+972 Magazine 1/29/26)
“By undermining a new Palestinian technocratic body, Israel is trying to make Gaza appear ungovernable — and prove the need for its sustained military rule.”
‘Life and Art Kind of Merged’: Actor–Director Cherien Dabis on Her Scramble to Make the Epic All That’s Left of You (Vogue 1/28/26)
“With All That’s Left of You now in select US theaters, Vogue spoke to Dabis—who is known for her work on The L Word, Ramy, and Only Murders in the Building—about navigating production at the start of the war in Gaza, drawing inspiration from Palestinian novels and Hollywood epics, and seeing her film drum up Oscar buzz alongside Ben Hania’s and Jacir’s.”