FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2025
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Washington, D.C. | A ceasefire is not peace, nor does it absolve Israel of accountability for an unprecedented campaign of extermination of the Palestinian people. Gaza’s skies may be quieter, but the violence persists: even as bombs pause, just yesterday, Al Jazeera journalist Saleh Al Jafarawi was assassinated by an Israeli-linked ‘militia.’ Relief is not justice; prisoner exchanges and a halt in airstrikes are beginnings, not endings. Without accountability—and without an end to U.S. weapons for Israel—the machinery of genocide grinds on. We welcome this step by the Trump Administration and urge it to build toward a lasting peace that respects Palestinian sovereignty, dignity, and humanity; failure to do so will mean only more bloodshed.
Today, roughly 2,000 Palestinian hostages and detainees have been released by Israel—among them 154 cruelly forced into exile. Twenty living Israeli hostages and recovered bodies were also returned. These exchanges are a beginning, not an end.
Palestinians are returning home to meet a Gaza in ruins. Freedom from a cell now collides with the daily fight to survive amid shattered neighborhoods and the unhealed trauma of captivity and war. Released Palestinians describe systematic torture and sexual violence in Israeli custody, and today’s release does not end the suffering of those who remain behind bars. Israel still withholds a full accounting of those it detains, including an estimated 6,000 Palestinians from Gaza; thousands are held under administrative or “unlawful combatant” regimes that permit imprisonment without charge or trial. Transparency and due process are non-negotiable.
President Trump, addressing Israeli lawmakers, said Prime Minister Netanyahu asked for weapons he “had never heard of.” That admission is alarming. It underscores why the United States must stop sending weapons and military aid that fuel violations of international law and prolong suffering. Peace cannot grow where arms keep flowing.
The path forward is clear: halt U.S. weapons and military support to Israel; end torture, abuse, and secretive detention regimes; disclose who is held and why; guarantee Palestinians the right to govern themselves through their own democratic institutions; and launch a credible international accountability process capable of delivering truth, redress, and deterrence.
Peace without justice is no peace at all.