CPC Update July 16th, 2025: Stalled Ceasefire Talks; ‘Humanitarian City’ Proposal; Palestinian-American Killed in Sinjil, West Bank

Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas in Qatar appear to have stalled, leading many to believe that they are on the verge of collapse. While the initial reception to Trump’s proposed framework from both parties was promising, little has recently been heard about the ongoing negotiations.

The obstacles to an agreement between Israel and Hamas have proven nearly impossible to overcome. Israel is adamant on Hamas’ total destruction in all forms — military, political, and symbolic. Earlier in February, a Hamas political official claimed that Hamas was ready to cede political control over Gaza, yet he conditioned disarmament on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state — something that the Israeli government has categorically rejected. Hamas clearly wants to play some role in a post-war Gaza, even if not in its government.

Meanwhile, it has become clear that Netanyahu has been prolonging the war to remain in power. This week, the New York Times published an exposé revealing that Netanyahu rejected past ceasefire deals at the behest of extremist Israeli politicians Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, who threatened to leave the government and thereby end Netanyahu’s prime ministership. These factors all contribute to the elusiveness of a ceasefire deal.

This week, the Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced his proposal to build a “humanitarian city” for Gazans on the ruins of Rafah. Katz claims that the city’s purpose is to create a secure zone for 600,000 Gazan civilians, where they would be apart from Hamas and receive aid. Under his proposal, Gazans would not be allowed to leave the city, except to other countries as part of a “voluntary emigration” process that Katz envisions.

The city has been likened to a concentration camp by critics both inside and outside of Israel, who argue that there is no other term for a structure that forcibly imprisons an entire population. Recently, Israel has been concentrating Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip through evacuations and its placement of aid distribution sites in the south. The city proposal appears to be the next stage of this effort. Israeli politicians’ repeated calls to expel Gazans and resettle Gaza support the view taken by many human rights experts — that the “humanitarian” nature of the city is a pretext to accelerate the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from northern areas of Gaza. Israel has been systemically clearing out infrastructure within these northern areas, an ominous indicator of future Jewish settlement.

Defenders of Israel claim that calls for expulsion and settlement have not been translated into Israeli policy, while its critics argue that we are currently witnessing their implementation.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank town of Sinjil, Israeli settlers beat to death a 20-year-old American citizen, Sayfollah “Saif” Musallet, from Florida. Musallet was trying to defend his family’s land from the settlers, who circled him for over three hours to block the ambulance from reaching him. The IDF expressed awareness of the killing, saying that it is being “looked into” by the Israeli police. This attack is part of a larger trend of increasing settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.