I’m writing as a J Street advocacy leader to share important updates from the region as well as J Street’s statements and resources from the past week.

This week, Israel approved plans in the E-1 corridor of the West Bank, a move widely seen as a threat to prospects for a Palestinian state and one that drew swift international condemnation. In Gaza, the Israeli military launched the opening stages of a major offensive in Gaza City, ordering mass evacuations and preparing to mobilize 60,000 additional reservists for the expanded campaign. Under mounting pressure from Arab states, Hamas signaled a new willingness to compromise in ceasefire negotiations, though obstacles remain, including staunch opposition from Israel’s far-right. Meanwhile, protests swelled inside Israel, with hundreds of thousands flooding Tel Aviv to demand a deal to free hostages held in Gaza.

You can find more on each of these developments and others below, along with our most recent statements here.

I invite you to reach out to your J Street Public Affairs staff with any questions.

All the best,
Lily

—
Lily Adelstein
She/Her
Deputy Director of Government Affairs, J Street
Cell: 202-699-2701
J Street’s Congressional Resource Page

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Israel has approved a settlement project that could divide the West Bank

Israel gave final approval Wednesday for a controversial settlement project in the occupied West Bank that would effectively cut the territory in two, and that Palestinians and rights groups say could destroy hopes for a future Palestinian state. Settlement development in E1, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, has been under consideration for more than two decades, but was frozen due to U.S. pressure during previous administrations. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.

Under growing Arab pressure, Hamas signals new willingness to compromise

The decision this week by Hamas to accept a proposed ceasefire deal with Israel comes amid heightened pressure on the group from Arab governments and other Palestinian factions, which are eager to avert a planned Israeli invasion of Gaza City. Hamas announced Monday that it had signed off on a new ceasefire agreement, following a flurry of diplomacy in Egypt, where Qatari and Egyptian mediators huddled with Hamas representatives in recent days.

Israel to mobilize 60,000 reservists ahead of an expanded Gaza City operation

Israel’s military said Wednesday it will call up 60,000 reservists ahead of an expanded military operation in Gaza City. Many residents have chosen to stay despite the danger, fearing nowhere is safe in a territory facing shortages of food, water and other necessities. Calling up extra military reservists is part of a plan Defense Minister Israel Katz approved to begin a new phase of operations in some of Gaza’s most densely populated areas, the military said. The plan, which is expected to receive the chief of staff’s final approval in the coming days, also includes extending the service of 20,000 additional reservists who are already on active duty.

Famine confirmed in Gaza City region, global hunger monitor says

Famine has been officially confirmed in the Gaza City region and is projected to spread within weeks to two more population centers in the wider Gaza Strip, the global authority on hunger said Friday, describing the recent collapse of food security there as the territory’s “most severe deterioration” since it began monitoring in 2023. After 22 months of war, displacement and harsh Israeli restrictions on food and other aid, more than half a million people in Gaza City and its environs are facing catastrophic conditions “characterized by starvation, destitution and death” that meet the famine threshold, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said in a report. “As this Famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed,” the report said. “The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed.” Without swift action, including a ceasefire, “avoidable deaths will increase exponentially,” it warned.

Hundreds of thousands demonstrate in Tel Aviv at end of nationwide day of hostage protests

Hundreds of thousands of people crowded in central Tel Aviv on Sunday night, capping a nationwide day of protests and strikes calling on the government to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of the hostages held there by Palestinian terrorists. The rally in Tel Aviv appeared to be one of the biggest since the war began nearly two years ago, and according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum was attended by over half a million people, though there were no official police estimates for the crowd’s size. The forum also estimated that some 1 million people had taken part in protests across the country throughout the day, as protest groups and organizations joined forces to stage a major day of civil disobedience after the cabinet voted earlier this month to conquer Gaza City despite warnings by top security officials that this would endanger the hostages.

U.S. halts visitor visas for Gazans, including humanitarian medical visas

The Trump administration announced Saturday that it was halting visitor visas for people from Gaza, including those used for children to receive urgent medical treatment in the United States. The State Department said in a statement posted on X that it was stopping all visitor visas while it conducts “a full and thorough review of the process and procedures” used to approve “a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days.”…Palestinian rights groups denounced the department’s decision to remove a pathway for people from Gaza seeking medical care in the U.S. “Medical evacuations are a lifeline for the children of Gaza who would otherwise face unimaginable suffering or death due to the collapse of medical infrastructure in Gaza,” the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund said in a statement urging the U.S. government to “reverse this dangerous and inhumane decision.”

Most Americans believe countries should recognize Palestinian state, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

A 58% majority of Americans believe that every country in the United Nations should recognize Palestine as a nation, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, as Israel and Hamas considered a possible truce in the nearly two-year-long Gaza war. Some 33% of respondents did not agree that U.N. members should recognize a Palestinian state and 9% did not answer. The six-day poll, which closed on Monday, found a pronounced partisan divide on the issue, with 78% of Democrats supporting the idea, far more than the 41% of President Donald Trump’s Republicans who agreed.

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Opinion | The West Bank Is Sliding Toward a Crisis

“A shooting in broad daylight last month on a dry, rocky hillside in the West Bank barely registered in the Israeli press and has not led to legal consequences. But it might signal the opening of yet another front in the cascading wars unleashed by the October 7, 2023, attacks…I spent the past week traveling across Israel and the West Bank, meeting with officials from the Israeli government, military, and opposition, as well as Palestinian political leaders and activists. I left believing that Israel is closer to triggering a second war with West Bank Palestinians than it is to ending the disastrous conflict in Gaza.”

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | August 22, 2025