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A Message to Israel: Stop Raising Flags in Gaza
A rocket is fired from a Hamas position towards Israeli troops near Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters handout
Israel should not be marking its territory in Gaza. First, the IDF released images of the Israeli flag planted along the beach in Gaza. Then they conquered the Hamas parliament building, and released a photo of soldiers waving the Israeli flag there. Then Bibi Netanyahu made a trip to visit troops in Gaza, demonstrating that it is firmly within Israeli control.
This is a mistake.
How can Israel claim that it is not trying to recapture Gaza and displace the Palestinians there when these images suggest otherwise? Every time Israel releases an image of the Israeli flag in Gaza, it undermines the position that Israel’s military campaign is righteous and not just a land grab.
There are other ways to flaunt military might and demoralize the enemy.
Gaza is not the only front in this war. While Israel clearly has the military advantage, it is arguably losing the war of public opinion. And the two fronts impact each other.
What happens on the battlefield influences public opinion, and public opinion affects what happens on the battlefield. Hamas’ strategy of maximizing harm to its civilian population is effective because public pressure for a ceasefire grows with every civilian casualty.
Israel cannot afford to provide propaganda for its adversaries. These images of the IDF planting flags in Gaza are a gift to the Hamas apologists in the media and on college campuses.
Qatari state-owned Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera was very quick to post the images, because the pictures support the narrative that Israel is using the October 7 massacre as an excuse to annex Gaza. Hamas is extremely adept at manipulating world opinion — because much of the world seems inclined to believe that Israel is evil and Hamas is a legitimate resistance movement.
Israel does not need to assist them further.
It doesn’t help that Netanyahu said he plans to “retain security control of Gaza indefinitely.” That statement is as reckless as it is tone deaf, even if he has since walked it back a little.
Netanyahu’s support for the expansion of settlements in the West Bank has undermined Israel’s standing in the world. At the very moment when the IDF instructed Gazans to evacuate the north, Netanyahu was telling the world that Israel intends to occupy Gaza indefinitely.
You can’t blame Gazans for fearing that by complying with orders to evacuate, they are forfeiting their homes. For Netanyahu to be so cavalier about occupation shows a complete disregard for how his comments will be interpreted by anyone who is not a member of his right-wing coalition.
While Israel must demilitarize Gaza and defang Hamas, it cannot and should not occupy Gaza indefinitely. Doing so would cost untold IDF casualties and put peace even farther out of reach.
So what should Israel do once the threat that Hamas poses has been neutralized? An international peacekeeping force should relieve the IDF in Gaza, and allay concerns over annexation. Such a force would not provide a target for terrorists, and it would lower the tension in the region. Turning down the temperature will be necessary in the months that follow, in order to create the conditions in which a long-term solution can be negotiated.
At the moment, the military campaign in Gaza has been paused. While calls to extend the ceasefire grow, the idea that it will become permanent is a fantasy. Eventually, Hamas will run out of hostages to trade for time, or Israel will refuse to release more prisoners, or the truce will founder for some other reason.
Despite pressure from the international community, this respite will end and the fighting will resume. When it does, Israel should resist the temptation to plant its flags all over Gaza.
The post A Message to Israel: Stop Raising Flags in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.