Since 1948, the brutality Palestinians have succumbed to at the hands of the Israeli government has been deliberately diluted and misconstrued to discourage activism and support for the Palestinian cause and allow for their eradication.
The greatest weapon employed by Israel has not been their military, stun grenades, sniper rifles, shotguns, white phosphorus bombs, M109 howitzer, Apache AH-64 attack helicopters or even their Elbit Hermes 900 drones. Israel’s greatest weapon has, time and time again, proven to be language.
On 10 October 2025, following more than two years of continuous bombardment, slaughter, and genocidal routines, the world was fed the delusion of a “ceasefire” in Gaza, credited to U.S. President Donald Trump. The news infiltrated screens globally, eliciting varied responses, with the damaging language often going unnoticed by the average reader. For instance, the first phase of the agreement saw the release of “Israeli captives and hostages” and “Palestinian prisoners.” This phrasing immediately creates an image that is completely juxtaposed with the true reality.
The exchange of hostages saw 20 Israelis being returned from Gaza and over 2000 Palestinians being freed from Israeli prisons. Most are held in either Ofer Prison, Megiddo Prison or Ketziot Prison, all of which face extremely serious and horrific claims of torture, abuse and mistreatment at the hands of Israeli guards. These claims include and are not limited to:
Fouad Hassan, who was unlawfully detained and taken to Megiddo Prison, where he was told by a guard “welcome to hell” as he stepped off the bus.
Hadil a-Dahduh Zaza, who was held in Damun Prison, where she was put in a pit in the ground and ordered to take off her hijab, as Israeli prison guards told her they killed her husband, would bury her alive and “let the dogs eat you”.
Abd al-Qader Tafesh, who was held in an unknown facility, was kept in metal handcuffs and hung by one of his hands for hours until he would faint, while his other shoulder was dislocated from the beatings he was subjected to by Israeli guards.
There are thousands of stories mirroring these.
Approximately 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners are held in Israeli jails within the occupied territories. Of these people, around 3,500 are held without charge or trial, and 400 are children. Israel remains the only country in the world that tries children in military courts and has a long history of assigning sentences that misalign with the charge. For example, in Israel, the crime of throwing stones holds a minimum sentence of 3 years and a maximum of 20 years.
Throwing stones was a tactic adopted by Palestinians as their only form of armed resistance against Israeli forces and often involved young children throwing rocks from the streets towards military tanks and soldiers armed with rifles. To demonstrate the absurdity of this sentence, in May of this year, a man in New South Wales was charged with sharing child abuse material online and received a sentence of 18 months imprisonment.
The return of 90 Palestinian bodies as part of the ceasefire agreement further demonstrated this tortuous treatment. Reports and images indicate that most, if not all, of the returned bodies show extensive signs of torture and execution with them being blindfolded, handcuffed, burned, mutilated, missing organs, and with gunshot wounds in the head. Their bodies showed signs of abuse following their death, and areas of discoloured skin resulting from intense beatings. These people haven't been able to be identified due to Israel’s continuous destruction of hospitals and medical infrastructure in Gaza, leaving no functioning specialist equipment required for identification to occur.
Following the ‘ceasefire’ agreement, Israel continued its bombardment of Gaza with no consequence. On 14 October 2025 at least nine Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military. Israel also violated the agreement by failing to open the Rafah crossing and limiting the aid entering Gaza to 300 trucks daily instead of the agreed upon 600. This comes as thousands of Palestinians face severe malnutrition due to the forced famine imposed upon the population by Israel, through their weaponisation of food and water.
In various media publications following the announcement of the ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump have alluded to a ‘violent and quick’ disarmament of Palestinian militant group Hamas. Both parties have repeatedly continued the façade that the two-year genocidal regime was operating to target only Hamas, with media outlets continually labelling it the ‘Israel-Hamas’ war, yet the primary targets have been innocent men, women, children, and animals who have no association to the group. Over 70,000 Palestinian civilians have been murdered by Israeli forces since October 2023. These statements of a ‘violent and quick disarmament’ are incredibly concerning for Palestinians in Gaza and serve as a threat toward their future that true peace will never be an achievable objective so long as Israel remains the occupying power in the region.
Israel has a repeated history of violating ceasefire agreements. Following the ceasefire enacted from January 19 to March 17 2025, Israel killed 400 Palestinians in one night as they slept unaware, claiming Hamas was planning an attack, although this claim has never been verified. Whilst that ceasefire was still enacted, Israel killed 170 Palestinians. Israel has also violated the ceasefire between them and Hezbollah which was signed in November 2024 as they launched a series of air strikes in civilian areas of the south of Lebanon on 16 October 2025, which resulted in devastating injury to 7 innocent civilians and one death.
The repeated notion that a ceasefire will restore peace in occupied Palestine and the greater region is nothing short of a deceptive statement that reinforces the deluded saviour complex Israel aligns itself with for the Palestinian people. Without sanctions and a proper upholding of international law and human rights, Palestinian people will never achieve the peace and justice they rightfully deserve after 77 years under illegal occupation.
Reference List
ABC News. (2025, October 14). Palestinian prisoners reunite with loved ones in Gaza and West Bank, many alleging mistreatment. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-14/freed-prisoners-detainees-reunited-in-gaza-and-west-bank/105885078
Al Jazeera. (2025, October 14). Updates: Israel kills at least 9 Palestinians in Gaza despite ceasefire [Live blog]. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/10/14/live-trump-signs-gaza-ceasefire-deal-with-leaders-of-qatar-egypt-turkiye
Al Jazeera. (2025, October 16). Updates: Israel kills 3 in Gaza, Trump threatens ‘to go in and kill’ Hamas [Live blog] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/10/16/live-gaza-ceasefire-fears-as-israel-demands-return-of-all-captives-bodies
American Friends Service Committee. (n.d.). Companies profiting from the Gaza genocide. https://afsc.org/gaza-genocide-companies
Australian Federal Police. (n.d.). NSW man jailed for online child abuse offences [Media release]. https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-release/nsw-man-jailed-online-child-abuse-offences-1?utm
B’Tselem. (2024, August). Welcome to hell [Report]. https://www.btselem.org/publications/202408_welcome_to_hell
Melimopoulos, E. (2025, October 9). Trump announces Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal: What we know and what’s next. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/9/trump-announces-gaza-ceasefire-deal-what-we-know-and-whats-next
The Intercept. (2025, October 15). Israel cease-fire violations & Gaza aid. https://theintercept.com/2025/10/15/israel-ceasefire-violations-gaza-aid/
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