Carson Neuhausen | News Editor
September 30, 2025
The past few weeks have been among the most pivotal in the Gaza conflict. On September 29th alone, President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu announced a 20-point peace deal which covers everything from hostage rescue to provisional governments. On top of this, a barge full of humanitarian aid makes its way to the Gaza Strip, all while under close surveillance by Turkish drones.
The peace deal, announced on September 29th, 2025, between the US and Israel, marks one of the most groundbreaking developments since the start of the war. The US aims to serve as a mediator between Iran-backed Hamas and Israel. They will do this by instituting a sweeping ceasefire across all fronts of the Gaza conflict. After this, the US will facilitate the hostage exchange between the two regimes. In numerical terms, the Israeli government will give up 250 Palestinians serving life sentences and return over 1700 detained from the Gaza Strip, while Hamas will return all hostages/prisoners to Israeli forces (living or deceased). Following the hostage exchange, an “International Transitional Governance Body” will be instituted in the Gaza Strip. They will supervise all humanitarian aid, maintain neutrality, and ensure stability in the highly volatile area. The final three steps are scheduled to occur simultaneously, with a supervised Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction taking place concurrently. All in all, this plan outlines an optimistic framework for mutual benefit/rebuilding for both sides of the conflict. After informing Mason Steinorth, a senior at SCHS, about the plan, he said, “I’m glad things are looking good. All I usually hear is super negative stuff about people dying.”
On a more lighthearted note, the “Global Sumud Flotilla” is slowly making its way to Israeli waters. The fleet, first made famous by climate activist Greta Thunberg, is currently 150 nautical miles offshore from the Gaza coast and is gradually advancing. Luke Karidis, a senior at SCHS, told me that “I remember hearing something about this when Greta Thunberg got involved… there were a lot of jokes on social media about it.” The goal of this flotilla is to break through the Israeli blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. However, their mission has garnered the attention of other countries. Turkey has deployed drones to survey the flotilla, but their intentions remain unclear.
To summarize, the situation in Gaza is looking up for a change. Instead of the news being full of people dying or new hostage situations, the world can finally say people are feeling optimistic about the war between Israel and Hamas.
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