DID YOU KNOW... Israel has killed 23 Palestinians during “ceasefire”
S. E. Anderson
Israel has killed 23 Palestinians during “ceasefire”; Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya to remain in Israeli prison
Drop Site Daily
dropsitenews.com
October 16, 2025
The Genocide in Gaza
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At least three Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks today despite the ceasefire, according to Al Jazeera.
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The bodies of 29 Palestinians—including 22 recovered from under the rubble and three who died of previous wounds and four killed in new Israeli attacks over the past day—arrived at hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours, according to the ministry of health. At least 10 Palestinians were wounded. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 is now 67,967 killed, with 170,179 injured.
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The health ministry reported that since Saturday—the first full day of the ceasefire being in effect—Israel has killed 23 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 122. At least 381 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble.
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The health ministry also announced it received the bodies of 30 dead Palestinians handed over by Israel via the Red Cross, bringing the total number of bodies received to 120. Under the ceasefire deal, Israel is to hand over 15 bodies of Palestinians for each deceased Israeli captive.
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Many of the bodies of dead Palestinians handed over by Israel show signs of abuse, beatings, handcuffing, blindfolding, and field executions. The health ministry on Thursday published a link for Palestinians in Gaza to access and called on anyone who could identify a body through their belongings or any identifying marks to visit the Martyrs’ Management Committee at the field hospital in Nasser Medical Complex. Many of the bodies in the photos are charred and mangled and some have their hands bound.
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Earlier today, Hamas handed over two more bodies of Israeli captives via the Red Cross, bringing the number of bodies handed over to Israel to eight. Hamas released a statement saying it had now handed over all the bodies it could access. “As for the remaining corpses, it requires extensive efforts and special equipment for their retrieval and extraction. We are exerting great effort in order to close this file,” Hamas said.
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The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza remains closed to the delivery of humanitarian aid. An official with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the branch of the Israeli military that oversees the West Bank and Gaza, told Reuters that with Rafah closed, only 300 aid trucks had entered Gaza—not the full 600 trucks agreed to in the ceasefire deal. The official added that humanitarian aid will not pass through Rafah for the time being, but will continue to enter through Karam Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) and other crossings.
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The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said it has enough food outside the enclave to supply people for three months, and teams are ready to deliver it. “But despite the ceasefire, the Israeli authorities’ block on UNRWA bringing any supplies into Gaza still continues after over 7 months,” UNRWA wrote on X.
Ceasefire Updates
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An Israeli court has rubber-stamped the extension of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s detention without charge or trial for another six months, according to Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. There were widespread calls for Abu Safiya to be among the hundreds of Palestinian captives freed on Monday as part of the ceasefire deal. “This decision strips away any pretense: Dr. Abu Safiya is a hostage, a bargaining chip in ongoing negotiations,” Al Mezan said in a statement. Abu Safiya was the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia when Israeli troops raided the hospital in December 2024. He has been imprisoned along with dozens of other doctors and medical staff for nearly 10 months.
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In a CNN interview on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said he personally stopped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from resuming large-scale attacks in Gaza, claiming Israeli forces could “go back in as soon as I say the word” if Hamas fails to comply with the ceasefire. Trump defended reports of Hamas executing alleged collaborators, describing them as “violent gangs,” and said his plan envisions a “demilitarized Gaza” under independent monitoring and without Hamas in governance. He acknowledged a dispute with Netanyahu—“I had it out with Bibi”—over Israel’s push to restart the war, and said humanitarian aid restrictions imposed by Israel would be “resolved quickly.” Trump added that 59 countries now back his “Trump Peace Agreement” and asserted that “Iran isn’t a problem anymore.”
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A senior adviser to Donald Trump said the United States is recruiting Palestinians to form a transitional technocratic government to administer post-war Gaza, prioritizing demilitarization, humanitarian relief, and recovery of Israeli captives’ remains. The adviser said Palestinians, including members of the diaspora, have expressed interest, claiming Hamas is “weaker than ever,” while also condemning both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority as corrupt. The envisioned administration, distinct from both factions, would operate under a Trump-chaired “Board of Peace”; Egyptian officials said earlier this week that 15 Palestinian technocrats have already been approved to manage Gaza in coordination with Israel.
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Two advisers to President Donald Trump told reporters they do not believe Hamas has violated the ceasefire agreement regarding the recovery of Israeli hostages’ bodies, noting that the group lacks the heavy equipment needed to locate remains in Gaza. “It’s almost impossible for Hamas to reach all the dead hostages,” one adviser said. Israeli officials, however, informed Washington on Wednesday that Hamas “isn’t doing enough” to retrieve the bodies, warning that the Gaza deal cannot proceed to its next phase until progress is made.
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CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper publicly urged Hamas to “disarm without delay” and comply with President Trump’s 20-point plan, calling it a “historic opportunity for peace.” He also condemned attacks on civilians, echoing Israeli claims, even as Trump defended recent Hamas operations as targeting “dangerous gangs” causing chaos.
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A video of Gaza journalist Shadi Abu Sido reuniting with his wife, journalist Hanaa Bahloul, and their children after nearly two years in Israeli detention went viral this week. In an interview with Al Jazeera Mubasher, Abu Sido—arrested while reporting at Al-Shifa Hospital—described routine abuse in Ofer and Naqab prisons, where guards woke prisoners at dawn, forced them to kneel, and denied them sunlight or any sense of time. He said he lost 30 kilos and partial sight and hearing after being beaten by a guard who “smashed my eye like my camera lens.” Bahloul, who spent months seeking news of him while their Gaza home was damaged by bombing, said with a weary smile: “I’ll give him a week to rest — then I’ll hold him accountable for all the days I raised the kids alone.”
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A recently released Palestinian hostage opened up about the horrific abuse he and others encountered in Israeli occupation prisons, recounting that “They had a dog rape the hostages and they raped me with a stick”
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Alaa al-Din al-Aklouk, vice president of the Supreme Council of the Reform and Clans Forum in Gaza, told Ultra Palestine that recent security operations in Gaza “aim to preserve order and deter those who break the law or collaborate with the occupation.” He said those targeted “were well known for past crimes” and accused some of “acting as tools for Israel to destabilize the home front.” Al-Aklouk added that Gaza’s families had “withdrawn tribal protection from anyone who broke national ranks,” saying such actions reflect “a national responsibility to protect society from chaos and lawlessness.”
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The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office reported that senior Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti lost consciousness and sustained four broken ribs after being beaten by Israeli guards during his mid-September transfer from Rimon to Megiddo Prison. The office accused a special Israeli suppression unit of carrying out the assault. Barghouti, imprisoned since 2002 and serving multiple life sentences, was excluded from the October 2025 Gaza prisoner exchange despite repeated calls for his release.
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Palestinian novelist Bassem Khandaqji, imprisoned for 21 years in Israeli facilities, was released and deported to Egypt under the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement. During his incarceration, he transformed his cell into a “cultural operations room,” producing novels and poetry that redefined Palestinian prison literature, including the 2022 Arabic Booker Prize-winning A Mask Dyed the Color of the Sky. Khandaqji emphasized that his work transcends autobiographical accounts of captivity, aiming to preserve Palestinian narratives and culture beyond politics.
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Turkey has sent 81 search-and-rescue technicians to Gaza, marking the country’s first official deployment there in over a century. Authorized by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and coordinated through Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, the team traveled via Egypt to assist in locating bodies of Israeli captives, aid recovery in rubble, and support humanitarian relief following the ceasefire and Egypt peace summit, according to Israel Hayom and i24NEWS. ///
s. e. anderson
author of The Black Holocaust for Beginners
www.blackeducator.org
"If WORK was good for you, the rich would leave none for the poor." (Haiti)
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