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Welcome back to Foreign Policy<\/em>\u2019s Situation Report. We\u2019ve got some exciting news: Rishi is officially teaming up with John as co-author of the newsletter. Rishi is a Manchester United supporter; John is a Liverpool FC supporter. We are proof that people can overcome their differences and work together. There\u2019s still hope for the world!<\/p>\n Alright, here\u2019s what\u2019s on tap for the day: A Palestinian American peace advocate discusses the war in Gaza<\/strong>, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/strong> axes the team that tracks foreign disinformation<\/strong>, and Nvidia<\/strong> gets grilled over chip sales to China<\/strong>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been roughly a month since phase one of the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas ended<\/a> without the two sides agreeing to a phase two deal, and Israel restarted air and ground attacks in Gaza. Israel has escalated its operation<\/a> there in the time since, while continuing to block humanitarian aid<\/a> from entering the enclave.<\/p>\n Israel put forward a new cease-fire proposal this week, which included a call for Hamas to disarm. The militant group rejected it, but on Thursday said<\/a> it\u2019s willing to release all remaining hostages as part of a deal to end the war and in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Meanwhile, Israel\u2019s defense minister on Wednesday said that troops will indefinitely remain in \u201csecurity zones<\/a>\u201d in Gaza to act \u201cas a buffer between the enemy and (Israeli) communities.\u201d<\/p>\n SitRep recently spoke with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib<\/a>, a Palestinian American peace activist who spearheads the Atlantic Council\u2019s Realign for Palestine<\/a> project, about the current humanitarian situation in Gaza, recent protests in the enclave against Hamas, and where he thinks the war is heading.<\/p>\n Alkhatib, who spent much of his childhood in Gaza, has lost 33 family members in Israel\u2019s bombardment of the enclave. Yet he remains a passionate advocate for having a more nuanced dialogue on one of the world\u2019s most divisive conflicts.<\/p>\n Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n SitRep:<\/strong> You\u2019ve lost family members in this conflict, and all of this is obviously deeply personal for you. How are you holding up?<\/p>\n Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib:<\/strong> I am struggling, to be honest. On the one hand, I was able to get some family members out. My mom\u2019s out, my sister-in-law is out, and I got four nieces and nephews out. My brother\u2019s still there. I was just talking to him earlier this morning, basically begging him to decide to go. He\u2019s the field director for one of the biggest British medical NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] on the ground in Gaza, and things are horrendous. He\u2019s based in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Things are really awful.<\/p>\n The city of Rafah is gone. People are being vaporized in Gaza. The Israeli war strategy right now is like they can\u2019t get rid of Gazans, but it appears that there\u2019s an effort to basically concentrate them in certain areas and potentially let malnutrition and starvation do the rest. So, things are tough on that front.<\/p>\n SR:<\/strong> Have you been encouraged by the recent protests against Hamas in Gaza?<\/p>\n AFA:<\/strong> Absolutely. I have been both immensely optimistic but also extraordinarily frustrated and disheartened by the dismissal of these protests as effectively inconvenient timing-wise for the so-called pro-Palestine movement who are singularly focused on Israel\u2019s role without giving space for nuance and understanding that Hamas is inseparable from Israel. Hamas is the reason why Gaza is being annihilated and reoccupied.<\/p>\n The people of Gaza are completely against Hamas and against the group\u2019s terror and the squandering of their lives and resources for absolutely nothing. The people of Gaza are completely against the suicidal nihilism and the death cultism and the fascist Nazism of Hamas that has destroyed the Palestinian national project.<\/p>\n SR:<\/strong> Are you concerned that Israel\u2019s moving toward a long-term occupation of Gaza and perhaps even a return to settlements and annexation?<\/p>\n AFA:<\/strong> Without a doubt. I sat down with some who are part of [far-right politician and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich\u2019s party, and I was sharing with them ideas I had about stabilizing the [Gaza] Strip, and they were in my face telling me [that]. In the first half of the conversation, they were talking about the need for the Strip to lose half of its territory and just be annexed by Israel as a way to show the Palestinians consequences. Then the second part was like: Well, it wouldn\u2019t be so bad for settlements to be created in northern Gaza. And from their perspective, northern Gaza is where a lot of the deadly Hamas presence has been, so therefore that\u2019s where they need to build settlements.<\/p>\n That said, having had extensive conversations with a large number of Israelis who are part of the national security apparatus, that remains a minority view. The interest is in neutering the security threats that are emanating from Gaza, rather than actually looking to really have long-term settlements in Gaza. However, in terms of a longtime occupation in Gaza, that seems quite likely, because any mention of the Palestinian Authority remains taboo because any connectivity with the West Bank brings up the thought of the two-state solution.<\/p>\n I am completely, completely terrified about the prospect of direct military occupation killing the hope of Gaza\u2019s rejuvenation and reconstitution. I don\u2019t want just [for] Gaza to be rebuilt. I want it to be reconstituted. I\u2019m terrified about the consequences in terms of loss of life, and I\u2019m terrified that\u2019s going to potentially keep Hamas relevant because that\u2019s actually what they ultimately desire.<\/p>\n There have been a slew of departures at the Defense Department this week, Politico<\/em> reported<\/a>, with the Pentagon\u2019s former top spokesperson, John Ullyot<\/strong>, confirming his resignation. That\u2019s after the suspensions of three officials over allegations of leaking sensitive military information, including Dan Caldwell<\/strong>, a senior aide to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; Darin Selnick<\/strong>, the department\u2019s deputy chief of staff; and Colin Carroll<\/strong>, the chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg.<\/p>\n What should be high on your radar, if it isn\u2019t already.<\/em><\/p>\n Rubio axes disinfo team.<\/strong> Rubio has disbanded a State Department team dedicated to tracking disinformation from U.S. adversaries such as Russia, China, and Iran. The Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference office, also known as R\/FIMI, was a successor to the Global Engagement Center (GEC) set up under the Obama administration to counter propaganda from extremist organizations.<\/p>\n But Rubio, in his statement<\/a> announcing the closure, claimed it \u201cspent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving.\u201d The GEC had become a lightning rod for U.S. conservatives who claimed that it was being used to silence right-wing voices, even prompting a lawsuit<\/a> by two U.S. right-wing outlets and the attorney general of Texas in 2023.<\/p>\n Trump nixed Israel\u2019s Iran attack plan.<\/strong> U.S. President Donald Trump stopped Israel from attacking Iran\u2019s nuclear sites as his administration continues to negotiate a deal with Tehran to curb its nuclear program, the New York Times<\/em> reported<\/a>. Those negotiations are in full swing, as we wrote<\/a> in last week\u2019s newsletter, with Trump\u2019s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, meeting Iranian negotiators in Oman last weekend and set to continue<\/a> those talks later this week.<\/p>\n Nvidia faces more China questions.<\/strong> The U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party on Wednesday sent a formal letter<\/a> to U.S. semiconductor giant Nvidia and its CEO, Jensen Huang, demanding details of the company\u2019s sales of chips to China. The letter follows a new report<\/a> released by the committee that found that Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek may have used Nvidia chips to develop its latest AI model.<\/p>\n Nvidia said in a statement<\/a> that it follows \u201cthe government\u2019s directions to the letter,\u201d adding that the products in question were not shipped to China. \u201cThe technology industry supports America when it exports to well-known companies worldwide\u2014if the government felt otherwise, it would instruct us,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n Huang flew to Beijing<\/a> on Thursday to meet with Chinese trade officials, days after the Trump administration issued additional export restrictions<\/a> on the types of chips that Nvidia is authorized to sell to China. \u201cWe regularly meet with government leaders to discuss our company\u2019s products and technology,\u201d a Nvidia spokesperson told SitRep when asked about the trip.<\/p>\n