JERUSALEM, Israel – With ceasefire talks stalled and pressure mounting on both sides, international voices are growing louder, and so is the fight over facts on the ground.
Pressure is mounting on Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal already approved by Israel. U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler is calling on the group to “take the deal” and release the remaining hostages. At the same time, global calls for a permanent end to the war are intensifying, with New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters joining 28 countries in backing an immediate halt to the conflict.
“The only way forward is an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire. Human suffering is indiscriminate. Further bloodshed serves absolutely no purpose, and therefore it must stop,” Peters said.
On the ground in Gaza, civilians continue to face harsh conditions as fighting escalates in Deir al-Balah, where Israel believes Hamas is holding the Israeli hostages.
One Gaza resident declared, “We woke up in the morning like every time, wanting to prepare something for our children. Suddenly, they had written an evacuation notice. They are asking for two thousand shekels to leave. The situation is really very difficult.”
Israeli officials argue that increased military pressure is the only viable path to both ending the war and bringing hostages home. But the battle for public perception is raging far beyond the battlefield.
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In Judea and Samaria, media reports last week claimed Jewish settlers had attacked a historic church in the Christian village of Taybeh. Yet a newly released police report says no damage occurred, and eyewitnesses say the story doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
Joshua Waller, executive director of HaYovel in Samaria, told CBN News, “The Israeli police just confirmed what we found yesterday. This piece, in my opinion, is another hit piece by the anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian movement to delegitimize Israel and make the Jews look like – equal to Hamas – kind of radical groups.”
Waller says even the Palestinian bishop at the site admitted the narrative didn’t match the facts.
“I said, – I came and I walked and I said, ‘That’s not what happened.’ He said, ‘But that’s what could have happened.’ I said, ‘But that’s not what happened. The church did not burn.'”
From disputed battlefield claims to disproven headlines, the war over truth is running parallel to the war on the ground.
