Post-October 7 death toll in Gaza

Since October 7, 2023, Israel's military offensive has killed many Palestinian children:

Nearly 14,000 children killed in Gaza since war began, UNICEF says, Hande Atay Alam, CNN, April 18, 2024

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed at least 33,970 Palestinians, health officials say, Ibrahim Dahman and Eyad Kourdi, CNN, April 18, 2024

The Palestinian death toll crossed 50,000 in March 2025.

"In leaked audio, the former head of Israeli military intelligence can be heard saying the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are “necessary and required for future generations.”

“For everything that happened on October 7, for every one person on October 7, 50 Palestinians must die,” said Israel Defense Force’s (IDF) Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva in the recordings released by Israel’s Channel 12 news on Friday. “It doesn’t matter now if they are children.”

“The fact that there are already 50,000 dead in Gaza is necessary and required for future generations,” Haliva said in the recordings.

It’s unclear when he was speaking, but the number killed in Gaza surpassed 50,000 in March.

“There is no choice — every now and then, they need a Nakba in order to feel the price,” Haliva said. The Nakba, or “catastrophe” in Arabic, is a seminal event in Palestinian history when roughly 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes by armed Jewish groups in 1948 during the establishment of the State of Israel.

— Oren Liebermann and Abeer Salman, Leaked recording reveals ex-Israeli military intelligence chief calling 50,000 deaths in Gaza ‘necessary’, CNN, August 18, 2025

Update: Over 65,000 Palestinians Have Been Killed In Israel-Hamas War, Gaza Health Ministry Says: Israel’s offensive has destroyed vast areas of the Palestinian enclave, displaced around 90% of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Julia Frankel and Samy Magdy, Associated Press, HuffPost, Sep 17, 2025

As of January 2026, Israel admits it has killed 71,000 Palestinians.

I cannot tell you how much doubt was consistently directed at the Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty numbers and how much pressure was put on news organizations to couch those numbers as unreliable. Biden himself said they were fabricated! www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

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— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes.bsky.social) January 29, 2026 at 10:29 AM

That count may be low.

New Research Shows True Death Toll From Israeli Genocide in Gaza Could Be 126,000 or Even Higher “All those responsible for this mass slaughter must face accountability,” said one campaigner in response to the new figures, “starting with Netanyahu and other members of his openly racist, genocidal, and warmongering regime.” Brad Reed, Common Dreams, Nov 26, 2025

Advocates Demand Repeal of Israeli Death Penalty Law Explicitly Targeting Palestinians "There is nothing legal about an occupying power using the death penalty exclusively for the people it occupies," said one historian. By Julia Conley, Common Dreams, March 30, 2026

BREAKING: Israel's Knesset has passed a law to execute Palestinian detainees. Death by hanging. Mandatory sentencing. No pardon. 90 days to carry out. It applies through military courts with a 96% conviction rate. It does not apply to Israelis.

— Mondoweiss (@mondoweiss.net) March 30, 2026 at 12:38 PM

The bill was devised by Itamar Ben Gvir, who wore noose-shaped lapel pins in the run-up to the vote. Ben Gvir was convicted in 2007 of racist incitement against Arabs and support for the Kach group, a designated a terrorist organization by both Israel and the United States. He wrote the law.

— Mondoweiss (@mondoweiss.net) March 30, 2026 at 12:38 PM

More than 100 Palestinian detainees have already died in Israeli custody since October 2023. Dozens are still disappeared. Over 9,300 Palestinians sit in Israeli detention right now, including 350 children. Hundreds could face execution under this law.

— Mondoweiss (@mondoweiss.net) March 30, 2026 at 12:38 PM

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Israeli Troops Kill 7-Month-Old Baby In West Bank, Palestinian Officials Say: Palestinian officials say Israeli troops have killed a 7-month-old Palestinian baby in the occupied West Bank as violence surges there. Mahmoud Illean, Samy Magdy and Sam Mednick, Associated Press, Jun 6, 2026

At UN Security Council, Officials Say Israeli Settler Violence Has Brought West Bank to ‘Breaking Point’ “Settler violence has reached unprecedented levels,” said a coordinator for the Middle East peace process. “Many incidents occurred in the presence of Israeli forces.” Julia Conley, Common Dreams, Aug 12, 2026

What American Doctors Saw in Gaza: A new documentary follows three physicians facing the odds: limited medical supplies, Israeli bombing, and upon returning home, media bias and indifference. The Intercept Briefing, August 21 2026

The response in Israel to Naza is beyond unhinged. Mobs have shown up at the house of co-director Rachel Szor's family. All over social media the directors are being branded traitors and "not Jews". There is a frenzy of incitement to violence against them online www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

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— Alona Ferber (@aloner.bsky.social) September 17, 2026 at 4:19 AM

UK, Australia and Canada recognize State of Palestine

Last year

The Biden administration — though of course selling arms to Israel — said that Israel should be less violent and plan to recognize a Palestinian state. Netanyahu said no.

Benjamin Netanyahu Says He Opposes Palestinian State In Any Postwar Scenario: The U.S. has called on Israel to scale back its offensive and said that the establishment of a Palestinian state should be part of the “day after.” Najib Jobain, Jack Jeffery, Melanie Lidman. AP, HuffPost, January 18, 2024.

Biden's successor is blunter in his support for Israel's violence against the Palestinian people and takes no such position in favor of a Palestinian state. However...

Today, the UK, Australia and Canada recognized the State of Palestine

U.K., Australia And Canada Recognize A Palestinian State, Prompting Angry Response From Israel: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the U.K. is formally recognizing a Palestinian state despite opposition from the U.S. and Israel. Pan Pylas, Associated Press, in HuffPost, Sep 21, 2025

Netanyahu says Western countries ‘buckled’ in recognizing Palestinian state, as fiery UN speech prompts walkout, by Tal Shalev, Jennifer Hansler, Oren Liebermann. CNN, September 26, 2025. See the moment of the walkout (0:20)

Turkey

December 15, 2025: Turkey says Israel's goal is to remove all Palestinians from Gaza (MiddleEastMonitor.com)

Jimmy Carter (Talking Peace, 1995) explains the situation in Palestine/Israel

Today, Jimmy Carter turns 100. His book Talking Peace (1995) is free to read on Archive.org.

See how he explains this in the first few pages:

For 400 years, the Ottoman Turks ruled Palestine. After World War I, the League of Nations allowed Britain to take over. After World War II, the United Nations wanted to split the land into separate Jewish and Arab states. War broke out. Israel declared victory, though no surrounding Arab states would recognize it. Jordan took the West Bank. Egypt took the Gaza strip. In 1967, Israel seized territory from Egypt, Syria, and the Palestinians.

Jimmy Carter's background

A Rural Georgia Town Formed a U.S. President: Jimmy Carter’s memoir ‘An Hour Before Daylight’. Tucker Lieberman, May 19, 2024, 9-min read.

How Jimmy Carter's so-called betrayal of evangelicals led to MAGA: Evangelicals loved Jimmy Carter — until his anti-racism turned them against him. Amanda Marcotte. Salon.com, January 9, 2025

The administration that cares so deeply about fighting antisemitism: www.jns.org/pentagon-pro...

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— Joel S. (@joelhs.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 12:14 PM

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has unveiled a new settlement in the illegally occupied Golan Heights, named after US President Donald Trump. www.bbc.com/news/world-m...

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— Orange Dotard Slayer (@dotard-slayer.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 4:47 PM

Huge shift in American views of Israel 2022: 55% view Israel favorably, 42% unfavorably 2026: 37% view Israel favorably, 60% unfavorable Generational divide hits both parties: 57% of *Republicans under 50* are negative on Israel via Pew Research Center poll: www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/u...

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— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) April 9, 2026 at 8:59 AM

People bring up Jimmy Carter

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— Ben Collins (@bencollins.bsky.social) July 8, 2026 at 1:07 PM

Reading the quest for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement in 'The Great Gatsby'

In May 2013, American cinemas headlined a new film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel "The Great Gatsby". It is a deeply American tale about the hope in love against all odds. It is not a story about peace talks. But, then, myths tend to enlarge their scope. The world runs on politics as well as on love stories, and some common threads run through them.

Originally posted to Helium Network on Aug. 6, 2013.

A love story

The story is about a man called Gatsby who, in his youth, fell in love with Daisy. “He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath,” Fitzgerald wrote, “his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning-fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.” Unfortunately, because of Daisy’s social class and her expectations, she was unattainable. Gatsby left her and sought his fortune. Eventually, he became fabulously wealthy, but by then, Daisy had already married someone else and settled in a mansion in a place called East Egg. 

To attempt to reunite with her, undissuaded, Gatsby deliberately purchased his own mansion in West Egg. Their houses were separated by a bay. Gatsby would often gaze across the water at the green light that marked Daisy’s home. What would it be like to return to that moment in time when he had kissed Daisy? Could things have been different? To attract Daisy’s attention – for she did not yet know that her old flame was so near – Gatsby threw parties for the entire town, but Daisy never came. Finally, he enlisted his neighbor, Nick, to host a private meeting between the two of them.

It is a breath-catching moment in the film when Gatsby and Daisy are brought together in Nick’s house while a rainstorm surges outside. They are surrounded by an impossibly rich profusion of cut flowers. But then what? What will they do? Where can they go, with a third party watching, and the whole world waiting outside the door, with the rest of their lives hanging in the balance? Where do they want to go? Can they stretch out time and stay in the moment forever? They cannot. They have limited time to make their decision together.

The audience knows that Gatsby and Daisy must declare their true interests. They must begin to hammer out a solution to their predicament. They must decide whether past wounds can be healed, missed opportunities can be regained, past wrongs can be righted, and disappointing roads can be rerouted. In these respects, they are beginning a sort of peace talk. They will have to aim to reach a swift decision.

Peace talks

Later in the summer of 2013, a rather different kind of story began to play out in real life. On July 29, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hosted a dinner for Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams at the State Department building in Washington. It signaled the beginning of a new round of peace talks, a process that had been sidelined for three years. After the scintillating moment of the initial banquet is over – whether the participants find it uplifting or nerve-wracking – the emphasis can no longer be about the arrival in Washington. The emphasis must quickly shift to the inhabitants of east and west looking at each other and deciding whether their gulf can be bridged.

In one sense, this, too, is an American story. Of course, it is also a Middle Eastern story: the Israelis and Palestinians are the ones who already live with each other and will have to live with any new policies they agree upon. Yet, if the story were narrated by the mediator, John Kerry, it would be told from an American point of view, at once spectator and stakeholder. The future is inherently mysterious for everyone, but the mystery might look different for the direct participants and for the mediator. Different parties see different possibilities at different times. Prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace have long been a concern of American politicians. There is an American story within this saga.

“He did not know that it was already behind him,” Fitzgerald wrote. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning –“

So, love did not work out for Gatsby; he waited too long, and his life burned out too quickly. But a political solution might still be found in the Middle East. Past, present and future will all be discussed in the context of this new round of negotiations. People care in part because of their long memories, their "boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." Millennia are behind us, yet there is still tomorrow. There is still tomorrow especially because there are peace talks today. There is East Egg, and there is West Egg; there is everything between and beyond; and there are worldviews that are willing to accept that today’s social divisions may change. What is decided today will sail the boats into the future.

Painting by Jan Preisler (1872-1918). Preisler painted "Lovers" in 1905. © Public domain, due to the age of the artist. Wikimedia Commons.

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