I write this article during the Thanksgiving weekend in the first phase of an unstable ceasefire. This initial step of this ceasefire included the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinians who have been detained in Israeli prisons, some held before October 7, 2023. That is a staggering number that may have caught some by surprise because detained Palestinians are rarely reported. The Israeli military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people. During our visit we met with people at Defence for Children International and Addemeer, organizations that collect data and track details of Palestinian detentions. The number of people taken captive by Israel increased from 5,200 to 11,100 since October 7, 2023. Most of these prisoners are from the occupied West Bank—400 of them children. Israel has disappeared Palestinians, and the lawyers who are able to meet with detainees relayed stories of torture, beatings, rape, medical neglect, malnutrition and infections due to unsanitary conditions.

Confining two and half million people to a tiny area (while cynically and cruelly advising them to “leave”), cutting off all food, water, and electricity, declaring that all Gazans are Hamas, thus making even children legitimate targets, carpet bombing for days to “soften” the terrain, and then, tonight as I sleep, invading with an army of 300,000 soldiers — that is THE definition of genocide.

Israel’s advertising bureau, which reports to the prime minister’s office has embarked on a mass advertising and public messaging effort to conceal the hunger crisis in Gaza. It includes a high-dollar spending spree on paid advertising, yielding tens of millions for Google, YouTube, X, Meta, and other tech platforms.

Community accounts circulating with the image name two of the men that were killed as: Haj Nadi Marouf and Haj Ali Marouf — “Haj” is a respectful honorific used for elder men and for those who have performed the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The family says the two were taken from their home in Beit Lahiya, used as cover, and later found executed. After using them as human shields and leaving them without food or water for three days, the Israeli soldiers killed them in cold blood.”