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.

It’s hard to believe that it was only this past Monday that the remaining living hostages were finally returned from Gaza. We share in the profound relief felt across Israel and around the world, even as we stay focused on ensuring the agreement is fully implemented and that the urgent next steps begin; from surging aid, deploying a credible security force, and standing up a transitional governing authority to decommissioning Hamas’s weapons and starting the long process of rebuilding Gaza. This week’s developments, from threats to restrict aid to renewed violence and the closure of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, underscore how fragile this moment is, even as world leaders convene to plan for the “day after”. While many steps remain, we are hopeful this marks the end of two years of war and the beginning of sustained progress toward peace and security for Israelis, Palestinians and the region.

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

This week on j street

Statement

J Street Relieved and Overjoyed By Release of Israeli Hostages

Word on the Street

The End of “Managing the Conflict”

Word on the Street LIVE

Rep. Adam Smith on What Must Come After the Ceasefire

Watch now →

Word on the Street

The Day After Has Arrived

Remaining Living Hostages Return to Israel Alongside Palestinian Prisoner Release

The coordinated operation, dubbed Operation Returning Home, began early Monday when the first group of seven hostages was transferred to IDF and Shin Bet custody around 9:20 a.m. local time (2:20 a.m. ET), followed by the remaining 13 several hours later. Hostages were reunited with their families, including 48-year-old Omri Miran, who was pictured embracing his wife and father. Other photos and video shared by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum show released hostages video-calling loved ones while they continue medical checks… As well as the release of the hostages, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has also facilitated the release of almost 2,000 Palestinians on Monday to both Gaza and the West Bank. Per the first phase of the peace deal agreed by both Hamas and Israel, 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences are set to be released, alongside around 1,700 detained from Gaza since the start of the war over two years ago.

Aid group suspends Gaza operations after ceasefire

The controversial US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has confirmed it suspended operations in Gaza after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 10 October. Despite being funded until November, the organisation said its final delivery was on Friday. The GHF has been heavily criticised after hundreds of Palestinians were killed while collecting food near its distribution sites. Witnesses say most were killed by Israeli forces… Satellite imagery revealed it was dismantled shortly after the 10 October ceasefire came into effect. Images show tyre tracks, disturbed earth and detritus strewn across the former compound.

Israel says preparations to open Rafah crossing underway with Egypt, date to be announced later

Israel’s military aid agency COGAT said on Thursday preparations are ongoing with Egypt to open the major Rafah border crossing with Gaza for the movement of people, with the date to be announced at a later stage. Israel had earlier warned it could keep Rafah shut and reduce aid into the Palestinian enclave as Hamas, it said, was returning the bodies of dead hostages too slowly, underlining the risks to a ceasefire that halted two years of devastating war and saw all living hostages held by Hamas released.

Slowed establishment of postwar Gaza government fuels Hamas revival, diplomats warn

The US and Middle Eastern mediating countries are working to put together a committee of Palestinian technocrats responsible for the postwar management of Gaza, while the pullback of Israeli forces from deep inside the enclave has allowed Hamas to reassert its control in the Strip. US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and former UK prime minister Tony Blair are leading the effort on behalf of the Trump administration, with the ex-British leader crisscrossing the region to hold meetings with various stakeholders.

Scoop: Direct meeting between Trump envoys and Hamas leaders sealed Gaza deal

An unusual and dramatic meeting last Wednesday between President Trump’s envoys and Hamas leaders helped get the Gaza peace deal across the line, three sources with direct knowledge tell Axios. Why it matters: One barrier to a deal was that Hamas leaders feared Israel would resume the war once its hostages were freed. In order to deliver a deal, one of the sources contended, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had to meet the Hamas leaders in person and directly assure them Trump wouldn’t let that happen, as long as the group held up its side of the deal.

‘My heart is broken’: Palestinians begin searching the Gaza rubble for their dead

[T]housands of Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza since Friday’s ceasefire with a grim task ahead of them: searching for loved ones killed weeks or months earlier in Israeli airstrikes and whose bodies are buried under the rubble. Gaza’s civil defence agency estimates that the bodies of about 10,000 people are trapped under the debris and collapsed buildings. The halt in the fighting has given the ambulance service the chance to finally start the search for the dead and give their families a chance at closure. The task ahead of the rescuers is immense given an estimated 60m tonnes of rubble across the territory.

Opinion | The hostages are home. The fight for their future is far from over

“With the release of the last surviving hostages from Gaza, the Jewish community has breathed a collective sigh of relief. In the days ahead, we’ll remove yellow ribbon pins from our clothing and tuck away hostage dog tags in our drawers. But while this is a moment for celebration, it is also critical that we maintain the focus and sense of urgency of these last two years to ensure such a nightmare never happens again. If we are sincere about preventing another Oct. 7, and that massacre’s two years of brutal aftermath, we cannot become complacent. We must ensure that the murders of Oct. 7, the suffering of the hostages and the killing of thousands of Gazan civilians are the last great tragedies of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Opinion | The Uncomfortable Truth About Netanyahu’s ‘Victory’

“Questions linger about whether the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas will hold, and how — or if — the parties will move on to the far thornier issues in the U.S.-sponsored plan that led to it. Still, it’s clear that this breakthrough signals the beginning of the end. That is, it is clear to most except the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which is minimizing the deal’s scope while selling it as a diplomatic, moral and security triumph: Israel keeps troops in most of Gaza even after freeing the hostages, with no firm timeline for further withdrawal… Journalists close to Mr. Netanyahu were blunt: “There’s no phase two. That’s clear to everyone, right?” Amit Segal wrote on social media. “What we have now is a hostage deal, and a cease-fire while talks continue in good faith.” The working assumption in Jerusalem, it seems, is that while full-scale combat won’t resume, the Israeli military may keep striking wherever it detects threats.”

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | October 17, 2025