For today, links to seven reports: from the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Reuters, Middle East Eye and Anadolu Ajansi, and to articles of commentary from Middle East Eye and the Flautist; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA 10-18-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  WEST BANK, UKRAINE and MEDIA entries for today are HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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Israel strikes Gaza after it says Hamas attacked across ceasefire line, by Melanie Lidman and Samy Magdy | AP  TEL AVIV — Israel today struck targets in the southern Gaza Strip after it said its troops came under fire from Hamas militants, in the first major test of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire meant to halt more than two years of war. Members of the Palestinian group used a rocket-propelled grenade and . . . READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE, HERE and HERE for reports from NPR, Reuters and Middle East Eye. 

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Israeli strikes on Gaza continue, as death toll today rises to at least 11. From Middle East Eye. Israel’s bombardment campaign across Gaza has continued since this morning, killing at least 11 Palestinians. A tent sheltering displaced people in al-Mawasi, southern Gaza, was among the latest targets.

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Hamas denies U.S. allegations of harming civilians, violating ceasefire agreement, by Betul Yilmaz | Anadolu Ajansi  ISTANBUL — Hamas today rejected a statement by the U.S. State Department accusing the group of harming Palestinians and violating a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. The State Department said earlier that . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM OCT. 18  NPR’s Jane Arraf reflects on decades of covering the Middle East. Reported by Linah Mohammad, Jane Arraf and Andrew Limbong | NPR  Speaking from Amman, Jordan’s capital, Arraf describes how the ceasefire is holding, the toll of years of war on ordinary people, and what feels different in the region today. Click HERE to listen and read.

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FROM OCT. 18  Trump’s Knesset speech was a celebration of war crimes, not a vision for peace, by Michel Shehadeh | Middle East Eye  Framed as a celebration of “peace,” the self-congratulatory spectacle on Oct. 13 quickly became a brazen admission of U.S. complicity in Israel’s genocidal warand an attempt to reassert its dominance in the region. READ MORE . . .

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FROM OCT. 18  ‘Against chutzpah,’ by Patrick Lawrence | The Flautist  There is a public-display aspect to all of these cases of overreach and barbarism. The conduct of Zionists is meant to be seen—the more unacceptable it may be to civilized sensibilities the more this seems to be so. READ MORE . . .

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