No. 43

October 14, 2025

World Stands with Palestine as Ceasefire Takes Effect

• Joint Statement from Palestinian Resistance Organizations

• Release of Palestinian Prisoners Vital Part of Resistance

• Implementation of First Phase of Ceasefire Agreement Begins

• U.S. Positions itself to Command "Stabilization Force"

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• World Stands Steadfast with Palestine

World Stands with Palestine as Ceasefire Takes Effect

Palestinian Rejoicing Knows No Bounds

Celebrations in Gaza of ceasefire, October 10, 2025

Governing authorities in Gaza have begun implementing coordinated plans to assist everyone and begin rebuilding following the announcement of a ceasefire agreement that stopped Israel's two-year genocide against the Palestinian people. The Ministry of Interior and National Security said on October 10 that its forces will start deploying wherever the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) are withdrawing. The ministry said the ceasefire was a "victory for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people" who endured unprecedented suffering and destruction during the U.S./Zionist genocide.

Streams of people headed north, inspired by the ceasefire and organizing to rebuild their city. Spokesperson for the Gaza Civil Defence Mahmud Bassal said, "More than half a million people have returned to Gaza [City]" in just one day. A person representing hundreds of thousands more was quoted saying, "I will return and rebuild. Even our presence as Palestinian people and people of the Gaza Strip breathes inhabited life into our homes and neighbourhoods, even if none of the buildings are still standing."

The Palestinians themselves are organizing to establish stability and overcome the chaos caused by Israel attempting to flatten Gaza City and remove or eliminate the Palestinians. They failed in this effort, as the Palestinians are joyful to return to Gaza City and everywhere are celebrating.

Emergency and civil defence workers celebrate announcement of ceasefire
October 9, 2025

The Government Media Office (GMO) called on professionals and everyone to coordinate with government and humanitarian bodies to restore essential services in Gaza. They also urged Palestinians to maintain discipline to ensure the success of Gaza's recovery and reconstruction phase.

The Resistance Movements and government officials are ensuring there is national unity and organization to accelerate humanitarian and reconstruction efforts so that life in Gaza resumes anew in a safe and organized manner. The authorities praised the "legendary resilience" of the Palestinian people and reaffirmed the government's commitment to stand beside them, provide aid, and defend their rights.

Craig Mokhiber, renowned human rights and Palestinian defender and former Director in the New York Office of the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomed the ceasefire and encouraged everyone to keep their voices loud in support of Palestine. In a post on social media on Facebook and X on October 13, he wrote:

"Even as we welcome the pause in the massacres, and the release of some captives, remember that the genocide has not ended.

"At this moment, thousands are dying from untreated wounds, the effects of torture, intentionally imposed disease, hunger, and thirst. Thousands more are languishing in cruel Israeli dungeons. Israeli proxy forces are murdering Palestinians in Gaza, and Genocidal IOF troops remain there. The hospitals and food capacities are destroyed. Toxic substances and ordinance are everywhere. The regime is using its soldiers and settlers to ethnically cleanse the West Bank. Regime proxies in the West are persecuting anti-genocide voices. No Palestinians have been provided redress. No Israelis have been held accountable.

"And the Trump plan offers no hope of relief beyond a temporary 'ceasefire.'

"Do not be distracted. Do not lower your voice. Fight this evil until it is vanquished."

(Palestinian Information Centre. Photos: Palestine Information Centre, Shehab, Palestine Online)

Joint Statement from Palestinian
Resistance Organizations

Celebration of the ceasefire in Rafah, October 9, 2025

Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued a joint statement on October 10, posted by Resistance News Network. These three organizations, or three powers as they are known, represent the Palestinian side in the ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel.

O our noble Palestinian people:

In light of the announcement of the first phase of the agreement to stop and end the war of genocide and the marathon negotiations that the factions undertook to reach this national achievement, the three powers extend a salute of honor and reverence to the masses of our great people, especially our people in the Gaza Strip, who faced the most heinous Zionist crimes with legendary steadfastness and resolve.

We also salute all the martyrs and prisoners, their families, the families of the missing and every child, girl, mother, young man, elder and displaced person who stood firm on their land despite the tragedies, genocide, starvation, massacres, the suffering of displacement and the agonies of living amidst the destruction of the basics of daily life. We affirm that their steadfastness is a living symbol of our people's will and unbreakable determination and proof that their will is stronger than any Zionist machine of destruction.

The resilience of the resistance fighters and all our people -- including medical, ambulance and civil defense crews, journalists, the displaced and others -- has thwarted the plans for displacement and uprooting and has recorded an immortal lesson in steadfastness and defiance that will remain engraved on the brightest pages of Palestinian history. The awe-inspiring scenes of our displaced people returning to Gaza City and the massive gatherings in its streets, camps and destroyed alleys are but an embodiment of the will of a people who reject forced migration and insist on returning and living on their land despite the immense destruction.

We also praise the heroism of the resistance, which stood tall and proud amidst the rubble, withstood the destructive machine of the occupation, broke the enemy's morale and inflicted heavy losses upon it through its specific operations. This confirms that the will of our people and the heroes of the resistance are stronger than all attempts at oppression and destruction and that the enemy, for over two years, could not break the steadfastness and will of this resistance, despite all the weapons and the massive, lethal war machine it possesses.

The three powers also extend a salute of pride and honor to the support fronts in Yemen, Lebanon, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq, who stood by our people and their resistance and offered martyrs on the path to Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa.

The three powers also express their deep appreciation for the tremendous efforts made by the brotherly mediators (Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye) and all who supported this path, calling on the American side and all mediators to continue applying pressure to ensure the occupation's commitment to all clauses of the agreement and to prevent any deviation from them in the slightest.

We highly value the unprecedented global solidarity movement that stood by our people, raising its voice to reject the genocide and to prosecute the occupation's crimes. We affirm that the solidarity of free peoples with Palestine and Gaza is a powerful message that our people's cause is a global political and humanitarian issue. This global support represents a significant moral boost for our resisting people and confirms that the occupation is a rogue entity that has become isolated and besieged, a status which must be increased and escalated.

The powers clarify that, despite the occupation's persistent attempts to derail the negotiation process and obstruct the agreement and Netanyahu's efforts to prolong the war and quash any chance to stop the aggression, the Palestinian negotiating delegation kept the demands of our people to stop the war of genocide at the forefront of its concerns. It has so far reached an agreement to implement the first phase of this path, which is a fundamental step toward our people's urgent demand: the final cessation of the criminal war, an end to the aggression on Gaza, the withdrawal of the occupation and the lifting of the siege.

What we have achieved represents a political and security failure for the occupation's plans and a shattering of its goals to impose displacement and uprooting. It is a partial achievement in ending the suffering of our people and freeing hundreds of our heroic female and male prisoners from the occupation's jails, in a step that expresses the strength of the resistance, the unity of the national position, and our people's insistence on achieving their freedom and dignity.

When we engaged in this negotiation process amidst a war of genocide, our eyes were fixed on the suffering of our people, who are facing unprecedented horrors of killing, destruction, genocide and starvation. We acted with the highest sense of national responsibility, despite the level of bias in favor of the occupier, in order to open a new horizon for life in Gaza and for our steadfast people rooted there. The negotiation path and the mechanism for implementing the agreement still require high national vigilance and precise, around-the-clock follow-up to ensure the success of this phase. We will continue to work with high responsibility with the mediators to ensure the occupation is bound to what protects our people's rights and ends their suffering.

We have made great and strenuous efforts to release all female and male prisoners and the leaders of the national prisoners' movement. However, the occupation, as is its habit, thwarted the release of a significant number of them.

Despite this, we chose to proceed with implementing the agreement to ensure the halt of the war of genocide against our people and to prevent the enemy from continuing its collective extermination. We pledge to our people and the families of the prisoners that the issue of freeing all of them will remain at the top of our national priorities, and we will never abandon them. We also congratulate our people on the freedom of this blessed group of our prisoners and heroes.

Our steadfast people, this stage represents an opportunity to enhance social solidarity within the Gaza Strip by supporting affected families, securing the necessities of daily life and activating frameworks of cooperation between factions, society and relevant local and international institutions, creating a resilient and unified environment capable of facing all challenges and preserving our people's steadfastness.

We renew the call for unity and national responsibility, to embark on a unified national political path with all powers and factions. We are working in cooperation with gracious Egyptian efforts to hold an urgent and comprehensive national meeting for the next step after the ceasefire to unify the Palestinian position, formulate a comprehensive national strategy and rebuild our national institutions on the foundations of partnership, credibility and transparency.

We also stress our categorical rejection of any foreign guardianship and affirm that determining the form of governance for the Gaza Strip and the foundations of its institutions' work is an internal Palestinian matter to be jointly decided by the national components of our people. We are prepared to benefit from Arab and international participation in the areas of reconstruction, recovery and development support, in a way that promotes a dignified life for our people and preserves their rights to their land.

In conclusion, at this decisive historical moment, we renew our loyalty to the martyrs, prisoners, wounded and resistance fighters. We affirm our unwavering adherence to our people's rights to their land, homeland, holy sites and dignity and our insistence on continuing the resistance in all its forms until all our rights are achieved, foremost among them the removal of the occupation, self-determination and the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent state with Al-Quds as its capital.

Release of Palestinian Prisoners
Vital Part of Resistance

Celebrations take place in Khan Younis, Gaza, October 13, 2025, as thousands gather near Nasser hospital to welcome back people released from Israeli prisons.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, on October 13, nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli prisons and detention camps. Buses carrying freed prisoners from Ofer Prison, west of Ramallah, arrived in the town of Beitunia in the occupied West Bank. News agency Wafa confirmed that 96 prisoners arrived in the town aboard two buses of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Meanwhile, buses carrying more than 1,700 people released from the Negev Prison in southern Israel also arrived in the Gaza Strip. "Under the current deal, 250 prisoners serving life sentences and long prison terms, as well as 1,718 prisoners arrested from Gaza after Oct. 7, 2023, were released," the office said in a statement. The Prisoners' Media Office also reported that 154 freed prisoners were deported to Egypt, as agreed under the ceasefire.

The Palestinian Resistance had submitted the names of several important Palestinian leaders on the list of prisoners agreed to for the ceasefire, which have so far been denied by Israel. Negotiations for their release continue. They include Marwan Barghouti (Fatah), Hassan Salama (Hamas), and Abdullah Barghouti (Hamas; not related to Marwan), and Ahmed Saadat (Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine).

The Resistance is also organizing to ensure that the next phases of the ceasefire agreement, which call for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, are implemented.

Palestinian prisoners have been subjected to gang rape, all kinds of sexual violence, torture, the amputation of limbs, humiliation rituals, starvation, the deprivation of water, and at least 78 Palestinians have been killed while under Israeli detention since October 7, 2023. Defending the rights of all the prisoners and efforts to release them continues. This includes more than 11,100 Palestinians currently being held in Israeli prisons and those in detention camps, whose numbers are unknown.

Supporting Palestinian prisoners and working for their release has long been a vital part of Palestinian resistance, as evident in previous ceasefires.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, Israel has arrested around 20,000 Palestinians from the West Bank since October 7, 2023, including students, scholars, journalists, and medical workers. An estimated 15,000 people from Gaza were seized in the last two years. These Palestinians from Gaza are not held in official Israeli prisons, but in torture detention facilities where they are subjected to round-the-clock torture and sexual violence at the hands of soldiers. Most, in prisons and detention camps, have not committed any crime and are being held without charges.

Palestinians freed from Israeli prisons greeted as they arrive in Khan Younis
October 13, 2025.

Palestinians released from Ofer military prison greeted in Ramallah
October 13, 2025

(Photos: Shehab, Quds, Wafa, M. Nassel)

Implementation of First Phase of Ceasefire Agreement Begins

Aid trucks entering Gaza, October 12, 2025, as ceasefire goes into effect

The ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian Resistance and Israel involves several stages for complete withdrawal of the Israeli forces, prisoner exchanges, and full humanitarian aid for Gaza. The first stage is now being implemented, which also involves several steps. Vigilance by the resistance and all those standing with Palestine, in the region and worldwide is sharp, standing ready against any Israeli violations of the ceasefire, as has occurred in the past. The resistance has repeatedly gotten guarantees from the U.S. and mediators that they will ensure Israel implements the agreement from start to finish.

The text for the first phase details six steps:

1) U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement, which has occurred, that the war in Gaza has ended and that "the parties have agreed to implement the necessary steps to that end;"

2) The second step states that "the war will immediately end upon the approval of the Israeli government." The Israeli government approved the first phase of the agreement on October 9.

3) The third step calls for the "immediate commencement of full entry of humanitarian aid and relief" into the Gaza Strip. The entry of aid has begun but remains restricted by Israel. UN officials involved are demanding more, faster. Currently the amounts are not enough to meet the needs of the people of Gaza, still contending with the U.S./Israeli imposed starvation. A spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on October 9, that around 170,000 tons of humanitarian aid are waiting to enter the Gaza Strip, following the announcement of the first phase of the ceasefire. The spokesperson said that once the Israeli occupation authorities, which maintain full control over all border crossings, approve who may enter Gaza, aid deliveries can proceed to assist two million Palestinians facing extreme shortages of food, medicine, and essential supplies.

4) The fourth step says that the Israeli army [IDF] "will withdraw to lines agreed upon" and this will be completed after President Trump's announcement and within 24 hours of Israeli government approval. The IDF cannot return to these areas. The withdrawal has occurred, though this first step still leaves many of the Israeli military outposts in Gaza outside of this line, which will extended further in the second phase of the agreement;

5) The fifth step, involves the prisoner exchange, which has now been completed. An information-sharing mechanism between the two sides is being established through the mediators and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It will serve to exchange information and intelligence on any remaining deceased prisoners and remains in Gaza and in Israel.

6) A task force will be formed of representatives from the United States, Qatar, Egypt, Türkiye, and other countries agreed upon by the parties, to follow-up on the implementation with the two sides and coordinate with them. The U.S. has now sent 200 troops to Israel for this purpose, though the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander in charge, Admiral Brad Cooper, said there will be no U.S. troops in Gaza. He visited Gaza October 11, writing on X "Just returned from a visit inside Gaza to inform how we are moving forward to establish a CENTCOM-led Civil-Military Coordination Centre (CMCC) that will synchronise activities to support post-conflict stabilisation."

For the full text, click here.

Trucks lined up at Rafah border crossing, October 12, 2025, ready to enter Gaza

(Photo: Quds, Palestine Information Centre)

U.S. Positions itself to Command
"Stabilization Force"

U.S. President Donald Trump made a trip to Israel and Egypt on October 13. While in Israel, he made a self-congratulatory speech to the Knesset, in which he also praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called on parliamentarians to pardon him for the corruption charges he faces. He was booed by two members of the Knesset, supporting Palestine, representing more than a million Israelis who have opposed the Gaza genocide. They were removed. Trump then went to Egypt to preside over a summit with leaders from more than 20 countries to discuss peace in Gaza and the broader Middle East, where he formally signed the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

At the same time, 200 U.S. troops are now in Israel and head of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Admiral Brad Cooper is to head up the "Civil-Military Coordination Center" for implementing Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza. This includes U.S. command of a "stabilization" force and governance by a "Board of Peace," headed by Trump, both rejected by the Palestinians as interfering in their right to self-determination. It remains unclear what will be implemented, which countries will contribute to such a force, and whether there will be acceptance of U.S. command rather than UN authority. CENTCOM is responsible for protecting U.S. interests in the Middle East, Central Asia, and parts of South Asia, so its involvement is also related to efforts by the U.S. to secure regional control.

In the lead-up to Trump's visit, Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a "high-level" meeting in Paris on October 9. Representatives from France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia, Türkiye, and Canada participated according to Reuters. They discussed transition plans for Gaza, including the "stabilization" force.

According to senior U.S. officials, a multi-national "task force" will be established under CENTCOM and its "Civil-Military Coordination Center" and be responsible for facilitating the flow of "humanitarian and security assistance" into Gaza. A U.S. defence official said the troops being deployed possess expertise in planning, logistics, engineering, and security, and claimed they will focus on ensuring smooth coordination and delivery of aid rather than engaging in combat or policing activities.

Reuters also reports that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said October 9 that Türkiye will closely monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and will continue to contribute to the process. He called for detailed discussions about the "stabilization" force and that Türkiye was ready to contribute to it. He also said Türkiye remains in contact with Hamas and the ongoing negotiations.

According to news reports, Trump is looking to also draft Pakistan into his plans to dictate governance in Gaza. The people of Pakistan, like those in all the countries named, continue to stand in support of the Palestinians deciding for themselves what governance and statehood for Palestine looks like.

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