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Now, it is time to grieve in Gaza

Now, it is time to grieve in Gaza

It’s been a week since a ceasefire was declared in Gaza. For the first time in 15 months, the relentless sound of explosions has been replaced by silence. But this silence is not peace. It is a silence that screams loss, devastation, and grief – a pause in the destruction, not its end. It feels like standing amid the ashes of a home, searching for something, anything, that survived. The images coming out of Gaza are haunting. Children with hollow eyes stand in the rubble of what was once their home. Parents hold onto the remains of toys, photographs, and clothing – fragments of a life that no longer exists. Every face tells a story of trauma and survival, of lives interrupted and torn apart. I can barely bring myself to look, but I force myself to because turning away feels like abandoning them. They deserve to be seen. When I called my mother after the ceasefire was announced, the first thing she said to me was, “Now we can grieve.” Those words pierced through me like a blade. For months, there was no space for grief. The fear of imminent death consumed every waking moment, leaving no room for mourning. How do you grieve for what you have lost when you are fighting to survive? But now, as the bombs stop falling, the grief comes rushing in like a flood, overwhelming and unrelenting. Advertisement More than 47,000 people – men, women, and children – are dead. Forty-seven thousand souls extinguished, their lives stolen in unimaginable ways. More than 100,000 are injured, many maimed for life. Behind these numbers are faces, dreams, and families who will never be whole again. The scale of loss is so vast it feels impossible to grasp, but in Gaza, grief is never abstract. It is personal, it is raw, and it is everywhere. People in Gaza grieve loved ones, and they also grieve their homes. The loss of a home is more than the loss of a physical structure. A friend of mine in Gaza, who also lost his home, told me, “A home is like a child of yours. It takes years to build, and you care for it, always wanting it to look its best.” In Gaza, people often build their homes brick by brick, sometimes with their own hands. Losing your home means the loss of safety, of comfort, of a place where love is shared and memories are made. A home is not just bricks and mortar; it is where life unfolds. To lose it is to lose a piece of yourself, and in Gaza, countless families have lost that piece over and over again. My parents’ home, the house that sheltered my childhood memories, is gone. Burned to the ground, it is now a heap of ash and twisted metal. Six of my siblings’ homes have also been destroyed, their lives uprooted and scattered like the debris of their walls. What remains are stories we tell ourselves to survive – stories of resilience, of endurance, of hope, perhaps. But even those feel fragile now. Advertisement For those of us outside Gaza, the grief is compounded by guilt. Guilt for not being there, for not enduring the same terror as our loved ones, for living a life of relative safety while they suffer. It is an unbearable tension—wanting to be strong for them but feeling utterly helpless. I try to hold onto the idea that my voice, my words, can make a difference, but even that feels inadequate against the magnitude of their pain. My family’s story of loss is just one of tens of thousands. Entire neighbourhoods have been wiped out, communities turned to dust. The scale of destruction is beyond comprehension. Schools, hospitals, mosques, and homes – all are reduced to rubble. Gaza has been stripped of its infrastructure, its economy shattered, its people traumatised. And yet, somehow, they endure. The resilience of the Palestinian people is both inspiring and heartbreaking. Inspiring because they continue to survive, to rebuild, to dream of a better future despite the odds. Heartbreaking because no one should have to be this resilient. No one should have to endure this level of suffering just to exist. But even as we feel relief now, we know that any ceasefire is temporary, by default. How can it be anything else when the root cause of this devastation – the occupation – remains? As long as Gaza is blockaded, as long as Palestinians are denied their freedom and dignity, as long as their land is occupied, and as long as Israel is supported by the West to act with impunity, the cycle of violence will continue. Advertisement Ceasefires are not solutions; they are merely interruptions, pauses, a momentary reprieve in a cycle of violence that has defined Gaza’s reality for far too long. Without addressing the underlying injustice, they are doomed to fail, leaving Gaza trapped in an endless loop of destruction and despair. True peace requires more than an end to the bombing. It requires an end to the blockade, to the occupation, to the systemic oppression that has made life in Gaza unbearable. The international community cannot look away now that the bombs have stopped falling. They must hold Israel accountable for its actions. The work of rebuilding Gaza is important, but the work of addressing the root causes of this conflict is more urgent. It requires political courage, moral clarity, and an unwavering commitment to justice. Anything less is a betrayal of the people of Gaza. For my family, the road ahead is long. They will rebuild, as they always do. They will find a way to create a new sense of home amid the ruins. But the scars of this genocide will never fade. My mother’s words – “Now we can grieve” – will echo in my mind forever, a reminder of the immense human cost of this conflict. As I write this, I am overwhelmed by a mix of emotions:

Trump floats gutting the IRS, moving agents to the border armed with guns

Trump floats gutting the IRS, moving agents to the border armed with guns

President Donald Trump floated moving nearly 90,000 IRS agents hired under the Biden administration to the border to patrol the area while armed with guns.  “On day one, I immediately halted the hiring of any new IRS agents. They hired, or tried to hire, 88,000 new workers to go after you. And we’re in the process of developing a plan to either terminate all of them or maybe we’ll move them to the border. And I think we’re going to move them to the border,” Trump said during a rally at Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday evening.  “Where they’re allowed to carry guns, you know, they’re so strong on guns, but these people are allowed to carry guns, so we’ll probably move them to the border,” he continued. Certain special IRS agents are permitted to carry firearms as part of their duties, according to IRS Code, 26 U.S. Code § 7608.  Trump joined supporters in Las Vegas this weekend after touring destruction in North Carolina left by Hurricane Helene in September, as well as California, where he toured Los Angeles and met with local leaders about the wildfires that have ripped through the area this month.  TRUMP VOWS TO DELIVER ON ‘NO TAX ON TIPS’ CAMPAIGN PROMISE DURING LAS VEGAS SPEECH: ‘100% YOURS’ While floating moving the thousands of IRS agents to the border, Trump also suggested ending income tax across the board, saying his plans on tariffs could fill the financial gaps.  “How about just no tax,” he said to cheers, while he chuckled. “You could do that. You know if the tariffs work out like I think, a thing like that could happen, if you want to know the truth.”  ‘FLOODING THE ZONE’ TRUMP HITS WARP SPEED IN FIRST WEEK BACK IN OFFICE “Years ago, 1870 to 1913, we didn’t have an income tax. We had, what we had is tariffs, where foreign countries came in and they stole our jobs, they stole our companies, they stole our product. They ripped us off. And, you know, they used to do numbers. And then we went to tariff, a tariff system. And the tariff system made so much money. It was when we were the richest from 1870 to 1930. Then we came in with the – brilliantly came in – with an income tax,” he continued, explaining the Great Depression rocked the U.S. shortly after moving away from the tariff system of the 1800s and early 1900s. Democrats in 2022 approved $80 billion in funding for the IRS, including to hire roughly 87,000 new agents across a 10-year period as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law that year.  IRS BANNED FROM BUYING GUNS, AMMO WITH TAXPAYER FUNDS UNDER NEW BILL FROM SEN. ERNST Trump’s Vegas speech focused on taxes, hearkening back to his June campaign rally in the state when he first announced he would eliminate taxes on tips. “Any worker who relies on tips [as] income, your tips will be 100% yours,” Trump said on Saturday in the city that is run by service workers at flashy hotels and casinos and restaurants.  DEMOCRATS HIRE ARMY OF AGENTS AT IRS TO SQUEEZE HONEST TAXPAYERS FOR GREEN NEW DEAL Trump also touted that a handful of his campaign promises are already unfolding into real results, including withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO) and dismantling some federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices. “We got rid of the woke crap,” Trump said Saturday. “A lot of crap… you know, these people were petrified of it. I’ll tell you, these companies, they run these big companies, they were petrified of it.” Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis contributed to this report. 

Secretary of State Rubio hails release of US prisoner in Belarus as controversy hangs over nation’s election

Secretary of State Rubio hails release of US prisoner in Belarus as controversy hangs over nation’s election

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday announced the release of a U.S. citizen who had been imprisoned in Belarus as controversy looms over the Eastern European nation’s ongoing election.  Crediting President Donald Trump’s leadership, Rubio said in a post on X that “Belarus just unilaterally released an innocent American, ANASTASSIA Nuhfer, who was taken under JOE BIDEN!”  Rubio added that Christopher Smith, State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Eastern Europe and Policy and Regional Affairs, “from our team did a great job on this.”   “PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH,” Rubio, who served 14 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before he was sworn in as Trump’s new Secretary of State last week, wrote.  RUBIO DEMANDS ANSWERS WITH 2 MORE AMERICANS REPORTEDLY HELD BY TALIBAN No further information was immediately released about Nuhfer or her release, as some social media users marveled about not knowing an American had been jailed in Belarus during former President Joe Biden’s administration.  Meanwhile, Belarus is holding its national election on Sunday. President Alexander Lukashenko, a loyalist of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, only faces token opposition and is expected to get another term on top of his three decades in power.  Lukashenko’s more consequential opponents, many of whom are imprisoned or exiled abroad by his unrelenting crackdown on dissent and free speech, are calling the election a sham – much like the last one in 2020 that triggered months of protests that were unprecedented in the history of the country of 9 million people. The crackdown saw more than 65,000 arrests, with thousands beaten, bringing condemnation and sanctions from the West, according to the Associated Press.  The country holds nearly 1,300 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, founder of the Viasna Human Rights Center. Since July, Lukashenko has pardoned more than 250 people. At the same time, authorities have sought to uproot dissent by arresting hundreds more in raids targeting relatives and friends of political prisoners. Authorities detained 188 people last month alone, Viasna said. Activists and those who donated money to opposition groups have been summoned by police and forced to sign papers saying they were warned against participating in unsanctioned demonstrations, rights advocates said, according to the AP. HAMAS RELEASES 4 FEMALE HOSTAGES AS PART OF ISRAEL CEASEFIRE DEAL Opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled Belarus under government pressure after challenging the president in 2020, told the AP that Sunday’s election was “a senseless farce, a Lukashenko ritual.” Voters should cross off everyone on the ballot, she said, and world leaders shouldn’t recognize the result from a country “where all independent media and opposition parties have been destroyed and prisons are filled by political prisoners.” “The repressions have become even more brutal as this vote without choice has approached, but Lukashenko acts as though hundreds of thousands of people are still standing outside his palace,” she said. The European Parliament urged the European Union to reject the election outcome. EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas called the vote “a blatant affront to democracy.” Shortly after voting in Minsk on Sunday, Lukashenko told journalists that he did not seek recognition or approval from the EU. “The main thing for me is that Belarusians recognize these elections and that they end peacefully, as they began,” he said. Media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders filed a complaint against Lukashenko with the International Criminal Court over his crackdown on free speech that saw 397 journalists arrested since 2020. It said that 43 are in prison. Two years after the demise of the Soviet Union, Lukashenko took office in 1994 and has earned the nickname of “Europe’s Last Dictator.” His iron-fisted rule had been cemented through subsidies and political support from Russia, a close ally.  He let Moscow use his territory to invade Ukraine in 2022, and even hosts some of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons, but he still campaigned with the slogan “Peace and security,” arguing he has saved Belarus from being drawn into war. “It’s better to have a dictatorship like in Belarus than a democracy like Ukraine,” Lukashenko said.  The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Homan warns daily migrant arrests will ‘steadily increase’ as Trump admin targets nonviolent illegal aliens

Homan warns daily migrant arrests will ‘steadily increase’ as Trump admin targets nonviolent illegal aliens

Border Czar Tom Homan warned that daily deportation numbers are set to rise in the coming weeks as President Trump’s administration begins to expand its operations. Homan made the comment during a Sunday appearance on ABC News’ “This Week” with host Martha Raddatz. The border chief says the administration is currently only targeting violent illegal aliens, but that will soon change. “You’re going to see the numbers steadily increase, the number of arrests nationwide as we open up the aperture,” Homan said. “Right now, it’s concentrating on public safety threats, national security threats. That’s a smaller population. So we’re going to do this on a priority basis. That’s President Trump’s promise. But as that aperture opens, there’ll be more arrests nationwide.” “When you talk about the aperture opening, the estimates of those who have been convicted or arrested in the past are 700,000 to over a million. So after you do that, then you go after everybody who is there illegally?” Raddatz asked. TRUMP DHS REPEALS KEY MAYORKAS MEMO LIMITING ICE AGENTS, ORDERS PAROLE REVIEW “If you’re in the country illegally, you’re on the table because it’s not OK to, you know, violate the laws of this country. You got to remember, every time you enter this country illegally, you violated a crime under Title Eight, the United States Code 1325, it’s a crime,” Homan responded. TRUMP DHS REPEALS KEY MAYORKAS MEMO LIMITING ICE AGENTS, ORDERS PAROLE REVIEW “So if you’re in a country illegally, you got a problem. And that’s why I’m hoping those who are in the country illegally, who have not been ordered removed by the federal judge, should leave,” he added. The statement comes after Homan warned sanctuary cities across the U.S. that their policies will not prevent deportations, and will instead endanger communities, federal agents and illegal aliens. ‘NATIONAL EMERGENCY’: TRUMP DECLARES AMBITIOUS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN IN INAUGURAL ADDRESS Sanctuary cities are defined by a policy of not turning over illegal aliens to federal authorities when they are arrested. The aliens are then often released back into the community. Homan urged officials in sanctuary cities to help with the effort on “Fox & Friends” last week. “Work with us, because you’ve forced us into the community.” He continued, “Here’s what’s going to happen. We’ll find the bad guy, but when we find him, he’s going to be with others, others that may not be a criminal priority. But guess what? If they’re in the United States illegally, they’re going to be arrested, too.” “I want to save lives. A secure border saves lives,” Homan said. “When President Trump locks this border down, less women and children will be sex trafficked in this country, less aliens would die making that journey. Under President Biden, we’ve had a record number of people die crossing that border [and a] 600% increase in sex trafficking.” Fox News confirmed Sunday that Tom Holman is in Chicago with acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to observe and support the immigration process in the city. Fox News’ Matthew Finn contributed to this report.

Ceasefire disputes between Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah throw region into turmoil

Ceasefire disputes between Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah throw region into turmoil

Ceasefire disputes between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah are threatening to derail deals Sunday as arguments break out over several key details. Israel accused Hamas of changing the order of hostages it planned to release. As a result, Israeli forces blocked thousands of Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza. Israeli forces also announced Friday that they will not fully withdraw from southern Lebanon as the ceasefire requires until the Lebanese government fully implements its own responsibilities. According to the agreement, both groups were expected to make withdrawals by Sunday. “IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon fired warning shots to remove threats in a number of areas where suspects were identified approaching the troops,” the IDF wrote in a Sunday statement.  HAMAS RELEASES 4 FEMALE HOSTAGES AS PART OF ISRAEL CEASEFIRE “Additionally, a number of suspects in proximity to IDF troops that posed an imminent threat to the troops were apprehended and are currently being questioned at the scene.” BITTERSWEET REJOICING AS FIRST HOSTAGES RETURN TO ISRAEL AFTER 471 DAYS IN CAPTIVITY The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) expressed concern over the situation in a statement on X, saying Lebanese civilians had been attempting to return to their homes that were still occupied by Israeli forces. “The IDF must avoid firing at civilians within Lebanese territory. Further violence risks undermining the fragile security situation in the area and prospects for stability ushered in by the cessation of hostilities and the formation of a Government in Lebanon,” UNIFIL wrote. The disputes come just after President Donald Trump called for Egypt and Jordan to accept refugees from Gaza to “clean out” the region. “I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’” Trump said he applauded Jordan for accepting Palestinian refugees but that he told the king: “I’d love for you to take on more, because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.”