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 been three weeks since the US-brokered ceasefire agreement went into effect. This week brought the most serious challenge yet to the fragile agreement, when a Hamas attack in Rafah killed one IDF soldier and prompted major Israeli retaliatory strikes across the Strip. On Thursday, Hamas returned the bodies of two additional hostages, leaving 11 still held inside Gaza. The United States continues to press toward phase two of the agreement, working to finalize plans for an international security force to operate in Gaza. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, the Israeli military carried out its first airstrike in months, killing three militants, according to Israeli military officials, amid a record-setting year of settler violence.

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 Welcomes House Letter Urging Sustained US Leadership on Gaza Ceasefire

Statement

J Street Calls Out Fear-Mongering in NYC Mayor’s Race

Expert Analysis

Israel Two Years On: Politics After the Ceasefire

Expert Analysis

The Economic Benefits of the 23-State Solution

Substack

If There Is a Future for Zionism, It’s the Path of Rabin, Not Netanyahu

Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill at Least 100, Local Health Officials Say

Israeli strikes killed at least 100 people across Gaza overnight, local health officials said, in what appeared to be the deadliest day since Israel and Hamas agreed on a cease-fire three weeks ago. The strikes began late Tuesday after Israel’s government accused Hamas of violating the truce by failing to return the bodies of dead captives and by attacking Israeli forces in Rafah, southern Gaza. The Israeli military said one of its soldiers had been killed in the Rafah attack. On Wednesday, the Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, said “dozens of Hamas commanders” had been killed in the strikes. The military said the cease-fire resumed at 10 a.m. local time. But on Wednesday evening, the Israeli military released a statement saying that it had attacked a weapon-storage site in northern Gaza. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Scoop: U.S. pushing to finalize plan for international Gaza security force

U.S. officials have been holding sensitive conversations with a range of countries about establishing an international force to deploy to Gaza and intend to present a plan in the next few weeks, three sources intimately involved in that process tell Axios. Why it matters: The breakdown in the ceasefire on Tuesday underscored just how fragile the peace is. But the International Stabilization Force (ISF) envisioned in President Trump’s plan raises politically explosive questions for Israel, Hamas and the countries considering sending troops.

Remains of deceased hostages Amiram Cooper 84, and Sahar Baruch, 25, returned to Israel

Hamas on Thursday returned to Israel the remains of two deceased hostages, Amiram Cooper, 84, and Sahar Baruch, 25, with Israeli authorities confirming their identities within hours. Military representatives notified their families of the development, following the completion of identification efforts by forensic experts…It marked the first time in nine days that Hamas handed over bodies of deceased hostages. Israel has said that the terror group is dragging its feet on the requirement that it return all of the captives, as agreed in the ceasefire that came into place on October 10. The remains of 11 deceased hostages are still being held in Gaza.

Israel Conducts First Airstrike in West Bank in Months and Kills 3

The Israeli military said it had killed three militants near the West Bank town of Jenin on Tuesday. The attacks included an airstrike that local security officials said was the first on the Palestinian territory in months… The strike in the Israeli-occupied West Bank came amid continuing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians since a cease-fire three weeks ago in the Gaza Strip. The agreement has been strained by repeated flare-ups of violence and difficulties in the exchange of deceased captives between Israel and Hamas. And the West Bank has experienced record levels of Israeli settler violence, which were on the rise before the war in Gaza but have since become common.

Classified U.S. report finds backlog of hundreds of possible Israeli human rights violations

A classified report by a U.S. government watchdog has found that Israeli military units committed “many hundreds” of potential violations of U.S. human rights law in the Gaza Strip that would take the State Department “multiple years” to review, according to two U.S. officials who relayed the details to The Washington Post. The findings by the State Department’s Office of Inspector General mark the first time a U.S. government report has acknowledged the scale of Israeli actions in Gaza that fall under the purview of Leahy Laws, the landmark legislation that bars U.S. security assistance to foreign military units credibly accused of gross human rights abuses.

With 10,000 Still Missing in Gaza, Survivors Search for Their Loved Ones’ Bodies Under the Rubble

According to data the Gaza Health Ministry published on Monday, over the past two weeks, the bodies of 472 people have been removed from ruins that were excavated. The data is based on requests from families for assistance in extricating their loved ones from damaged buildings. The families use simple equipment that isn’t capable of lifting blocks and mounds of concrete. These families know where the bodies of their relatives are. Many others don’t know where to search. According to reports, the bodies of about 10,000 dead have yet to be found.

Opinion | In Shift in Relationship With Netanyahu, Trump Says ‘I Will Decide’ What Is Right for Israel

“The parade of Trump administration officials to Jerusalem over the past week to ensure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sticks to the cease-fire in Gaza drew a catchy shorthand in the Israeli news media, playing on the prime minister’s nickname: “Bibi-sitting.” Beyond the supposed adult supervision being given to a sovereign ally, however, was a more striking change. A distinct new phase in the U.S.-Israel relationship is being cemented, particularly in the relationship between the two countries’ leaders.”

Opinion | The Israeli Right’s Plan to Carve Up Gaza

“We are a few weeks into the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. It’s a deal that has already been troubled by violence. But so far, it is holding… In America, the dominant position on the Israel-Palestine conflict is still a belief, a hope in the two-state solution. But in Israel, it’s just not. Israeli politics is well to the right of where America admits, or even realizes, it is.”

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | October 31, 2025