What you need to know about the Gaza ceasefire agreement: A ceasefire is a critical step. But we must keep working to ensure the path toward justice and accountability.... The U.S. must end all arms sales and take action to end its complicity in occupation, apartheid, and genocide.

The agreement is a critical step, but it’s just the beginning of the long path toward justice and accountability. 

https://afsc.org/news/what-you-need-know-about-gaza-ceasefire-agreement?ms=EMA26WR1011&emci=f643558d-46a5-f011-8e61-6045bded8ba4&emdi=2df14704-9ea6-f011-8e61-6045bded8ba4&ceid=704076 

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD QUOTES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]    

 

By Nusaiba Mubarak

Oct 9, 2025

After two years of genocide, a ceasefire agreement has been reached in Gaza. AFSC welcomes this critical first step while recognizing we must keep pushing for justice and accountability. 

For two years, we have called for an end to Israeli attacks, the release of all people held captive, and full humanitarian access to Gaza. We are grateful to everyone around the world who has organized, protested, and demanded an end to the genocide—despite repression. And we stand with our staff and all Palestinians in Gaza who have survived the unimaginable.

One can't help but feel a sense of relief at the sight of Palestinian children playing and singing in front of their tents, celebrating this moment and hope for peace.  While we embrace this agreement, we also know that a ceasefire is just the beginning, not the end. 

Here’s what you need to know about what happens next:

Life-saving food and medical aid must enter Gaza immediately: The famine in Gaza remains, and it is urgent that aid enters immediately without restriction. The medical system has been destroyed, and without urgent action, people will continue to die even if bombs are not falling. More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, and over 90% of homes and schools in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. Action is needed to meet the needs of everyone who has been displaced, injured, and denied education.

Israel must completely withdraw from Gaza: Over 86% of Gaza remains occupied by Israeli forces within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap. There cannot be an end to the war without Israel withdrawing from Gaza completely.

The blockade on Gaza must end: Israel’s blockade on Gaza began in 2007. It has prevented the movement of Palestinians, restricted the import of commercial goods, and denied fishermen access to Gaza’s waters. The impacts have been devastating. Even before the start of the genocide, 62% of Gaza’s population required food assistance, and 78% of drinking water was unfit for human consumption.

The mechanism of aid delivery matters: The U.N. Relief Works Agency is the organization most suited to deliver aid in Gaza. Despite facing massive cuts in funding from Israel and the U.S., UNRWA’s vital work continues. It is still administering the majority of medical services in Gaza and operating around 70% of shelters, which host an estimated 80,000 people.

Israel must adhere to the ceasefire agreement: Israel has violated every past ceasefire agreement, including in March of this year. In September, it also directly targeted and attempted to kill the Palestinian negotiating team in Doha, Qatar. Until there is a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to occupation and apartheid, the risk of violence resuming will remain.

President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza is dangerous: While the ceasefire is a step in the right direction, the president’s post-ceasefire plan is dangerous, allowing Israeli and U.S. developers to take over and control Gaza. Under the plan, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair—one of the leads of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq—would be responsible for new leadership in Gaza. The rebuilding and authority of Gaza should not be in the hands of the U.S. or UK leadership. We must continue to push for Palestinian self-determination.

The U.S. must end all arms sales and military assistance to Israel: Those responsible for this genocide must be held to account. The U.S. must end all arms sales and take action to end its complicity in occupation, apartheid, and genocide. 

Journalists must be protected and allowed entry into Gaza: Israel has prevented international journalists from entering Gaza for the last two years, while Israel has killed over 250 Palestinian journalists. Along with humanitarian aid workers, more journalists must enter Gaza, and the world must listen. 

Israel must stop its illegal annexation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem: As the Israeli government continued its genocide in Gaza, it has continued its project of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. Since January 2025, it has forcefully displaced 40,000 Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank through military violence and settler attacks. Israel is moving forward with its settlement plan, which would divide the West Bank in two, cut off East Jerusalem, and expand illegal settlement expansion.

Israel must release Palestinians who remain in its prisons: Over 11,000 Palestinians remain in Israeli prisons, over 3,500 of them in administrative detention. The majority are held without charge—without trial or due process—and are subject to documented torture and abuse. Since October 2023, there have been at least 77 Palestinians killed in Israel’s prisons.

The U.S. and Israel must be held accountable: The U.S. has sent over $30 billion of arms to Israel since October 2023, and just weeks ago, Trump announced another $6.5 billion package to Israel. Congress must use its responsibility of congressional oversight to enforce U.S. law, including the Leahy law, which prohibits the use of U.S. funding for any foreign security forces committing gross human rights violations.  

A ceasefire is just the start. To bring true justice, Israel's occupation and apartheid must end. The U.S. must end all arms sales to Israel and hold the Israeli government accountable. Palestinian self-determination is not negotiable—it is a fundamental right that must be upheld.

https://afsc.org/news/what-you-need-know-about-gaza-ceasefire-agreement?ms=EMA26WR1011&emci=f643558d-46a5-f011-8e61-6045bded8ba4&emdi=2df14704-9ea6-f011-8e61-6045bded8ba4&ceid=704076 

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD QUOTES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]   

Blair: Obama win opens way for new Mideast push

"It is very fashionable at the moment to say the two-state solution is not going to work. Just examine the alternative for a moment. What does a one-state solution mean? It means you institutionalize conflict right at the heart of whatever that state might look like"  Tony Blair, Middle East envoy

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=534974

Blair: Obama win opens way for new Mideast push Israel forces uproot trees near Bethlehem

Envoy Tony Blair says the quartet, frustrated with the peace process, will seek border and security proposals first from Israelis and Palestinians...

Question: You are taking a more active role in the peace process? Is that because the U.S. is stepping back?

[Tony Blair's answer] The U.S. is still very much there, but it's also saying to the international community, "You've got to step up with us here." If this situation deteriorates, you are going to have a major problem in the region. However difficult or frustrating it gets for me — and this is my 72nd visit here in four years — I do it because I think it's of profound importance to the region and to our security.

So you are not going away?

Correct.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mideast-blair-qa-20111026,0,3046894,full.story

Mideast 'quartet' tries new approach with Israel, Palestinians

Tony Blair Urges Support for Palestinian State-Building at ATFP Event

http://www.americantaskforce.org/in_media/pr/2010/12/15/1292389200

Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Information: Ghaith al-Omari
December 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Washington, DC, Dec. 15 -- TRH Tony Blair, the Representative of the Middle East Quartet, called today for more international "support for [Palestinian] Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and the state-building effort." He stressed that these efforts should continue and intensify in the context of seeking a negotiated two-state solution. Mr. Blair's remarks were made at a Washington event hosted by the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP), attended by around 200 Administration officials, foreign ambassadors and members of the Arab-American community. He called for Palestinians to be supported in their efforts to develop and build institutions in not only Areas A and B but in Area C as well.

Mr. Blair is the former UK Prime Minister who as a representative of the Middle East Quartet works with the Palestinians to prepare for statehood as part of the international community's effort to secure peace. He said, "I am and always have been an advocate of Palestinian statehood," and pointedly asked, "what's the alternative?"

Mr. Blair stressed the need to treat the Palestinian Authority's institution-building program as a political project aimed at extending PA jurisdiction over more areas of the West Bank, improving accessibility to the Gaza Strip, and creating palpable benefits in East Jerusalem. He said, "This requires not only a top down effort but also a state-building effort that shows the process is not disconnected from people's lives." He added, "We do actually have a consensus of desire in the Middle East to reach this goal. The Arab Peace Initiative gives us the context in which we can reach peace. President Obama said this is a strategic interest for the United States and the whole of the world. We can never afford to give up. It is worth continuing, never yielding the ground to extremists who do not want peace, and continuing on until we get the deal done."

ATFP President Ziad Asali said, "We are honored by Mr. Blair's presence today and by his choice of ATFP as a forum to address the Arab-American and pro-Palestine community. We agree with his focus on the need to support the state-building program of the Palestinian Authority, in parallel with efforts to resume negotiations. The state-building program creates positive changes that improves the lives of Palestinians, and also generates momentum towards the creation of a Palestinian state. A convergence of the indispensible diplomatic track and the institution- and state-building track is the best path towards the realization of our American national interest in having two-states, Palestine and Israel, living side-by-side in peace and security."