Israel Resumes Total Gaza Blockade Amid Iran Strikes | Palestine Policy Roundup 03.02.26
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “The Israeli apartheid regime and its settler gangs have murdered yet another U.S. citizen in the West Bank, and our government does absolutely nothing. Justice for Nasrallah Abu Siyam. Killings like this will keep happening until we stop funding genocide and apartheid.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez: “Another Palestinian American murdered by Israeli settlers. Nasrallah Abu Siyam deserves justice. Everyone in Congress must stop turning a blind eye to the horrors happening to Palestinians, including American citizens, due to Israel-sanctioned settler violence. We must hold the Israeli government accountable. Not one more dollar, not one more excuse. Let's start by passing Block the Bombs.”
IN THE NEWS
🗳️ REPORT: BIDEN ADMIN’S GENOCIDE SUPPORT COST HARRIS VOTES
Democratic National Committee officials who worked on its autopsy report on the 2024 presidential election reportedly found that President Biden’s unflinching support for Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza caused Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign to lose “significant support.” The report, which was published by Axios, corroborates several polls that found similar trends and provides more evidence for the urgent need for Democrats to change course on their support for Israel’s genocidal crimes as the midterm elections loom.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: IMEU Policy Project Executive Director Margaret DeReus wrote about the report in Zeteo: “We encourage the DNC to release these findings publicly, but if they do not, we hope they are taking necessary steps to inform other party committees and candidates about what their research showed. It was political malpractice for Democratic leadership to choose funding a genocide over stopping Donald Trump…Democrats have a duty – not just in pursuit of winning elections, but to their own most deeply held beliefs about human rights for all people - to not repeat this same mistake, ever again.”
POLLS CONFIRM TREND: Several polls published before and after the 2024 presidential election demonstrated that Democrats needed to change course and support Palestinian rights in order to align with their base of support.
An August 2024 poll published by IMEU Policy Project found that likely Democratic and independent voters in the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia would have been more likely to support Harris if President Biden used his leverage to secure a ceasefire in Gaza or if Harris pledged to withhold weapons deliveries to Israel.
A January 2025 poll published by IMEU Policy Project found that 29% of Biden 2020 voters who did not support Vice President Harris in 2024 cited ending Israel’s violence in Gaza as their most important factor in deciding their vote. This was the top issue for these voters.
THE TREND CONTINUES: Voters have continued to demonstrate their support for Palestinian rights since the 2024 election, highlighting that this issue is much bigger than a post-mortem study and has strong implications as the Democrats seek to win a Congressional majority this November.
For the first time, more Americans now express more sympathy with Palestinians than Israelis in a change that is likely driven by Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza.
The poll published by Gallup found that this change is driven by independents–41% of whom sympathize more with Palestinians as opposed to 30% who sympathize more with Israelis. Nearly two-thirds of all Democrats also express more sympathy for Palestinians in the poll.
WHAT DEMS MUST DO: Democrats can’t afford to repeat the mistakes of the Harris campaign–which included ignoring responses from voters who were concerned about Israel’s genocidal violence in Gaza. Democrats must heed the lessons from the now-buried 2024 autopsy report and stand up for Palestinian rights if they want to mount a serious effort in the midterm elections and in the 2028 presidential election.
💸 TRUMP’S GAZA BOARD ADVANCES ECONOMIC TAKEOVER PLANS
President Trump and his personally-led, corporate-style board tasked with carrying out his vision for a takeover of Gaza, advanced several parts of the Kushner plan that promise to exert complete control over the economic and political rights of Palestinians.
CRYPTO CONTROL: Last week it was reported that Trump’s board is considering imposing a US dollar-backed cryptocurrency on Palestinians in Gaza. This plan would force Palestinians to handle all of their transactions through digital wallets, which is a key part of the corporate takeover plan. This cryptocurrency scheme is startling for several reasons:
By introducing this new currency, the plan will decouple the economies of the West Bank and Gaza. Today, Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza are forced to use Israeli shekels for transactions. By introducing this new coin and moving Palestinians in Gaza away from the shekel, Palestinians in the West Bank will lose a key economic link to Gaza.
This dollar-backed cryptocurrency is yet another way that President Trump intends to entangle the US in his complete control over Palestinians in Gaza. By pegging the coin to the dollar, control over Palestinian monetary policy will shift to the Federal Reserve and present a further obstacle to Palestinian self-determination in the future.
Forcing Palestinians to use this digital wallet would make it even easier for Israel, the US, or Trump’s board to surveil even more aspects of Palestinian life as Palestinians are forced into militarized, high-tech ghettos as stipulated in Kushner’s presentations. By providing a digitized and comprehensive log of all transactions, digital wallets would allow the controlling entity to track purchases made by Palestinians likely without privacy safeguards and in real time, and it would link transactions to a permanent and centralized record, which contributes to the broader surveillance system–and potential targeting of Palestinians–proposed under Trump’s plan.
ENRICHING TRUMP’S ALLIES: Another report revealed that Palantir, the tech company tapped by the Trump administration to collect data from Americans and assist in its racist agenda of mass deportations, has a permanent desk at the U.S.-led Civil Military Coordination Center (CMCC) headquarters. The tech firm is also building the architecture for the Trump-controlled distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
A representative from Palantir is already stationed in the CMCC and monitors the delivery and distribution of aid to Palestinians in Gaza via drone surveillance, according to the report. Palantir is reportedly using its Gaia platform, which is specifically marketed for warfighting purposes, for this surveillance.
Palantir’s presence also opens the door for its use of its already-existing surveillance programs–which the Trump administration is using to carry out its racist mass deportation campaign–to also be employed against Palestinians, potentially facilitating further Israeli violence in Gaza.
Putting Palantir in charge of monitoring aid distribution not only is another example of President Trump enriching his allies, but is also a slap in the face of Palestinians who have faced Israel’s genocidal violence. Palantir openly expressed support for and was complicit in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
❌ ISRAEL BLOCKADES GAZA AMID ITS STRIKES ON IRAN
As Israel and the US launched joint strikes on Iran, Israel also closed all crossings into Gaza and once again halted the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians there. This move followed a week marked by humanitarian NGOs warning of the serious effects that their de-registration by Israel would have on Palestinians in Gaza.
CROSSINGS CLOSED: In addition to closing the crossings to the transit of humanitarian aid, Israel also indefinitely postponed the entry and exit of Palestinians through the Rafah crossing and the rotation of humanitarian workers into and out of Gaza.
These are clear violations of Trump’s October 2025 Gaza plan, which called for the immediate increase in the amount of humanitarian aid delivered to Palestinians in Gaza and for the opening of the Rafah crossing.
Even before this move, Israel had refused to meet its commitments to provide adequate levels of aid–a December analysis found that it allowed far fewer trucks than the 600 per day for which the Trump plan called.
This action also mirrors Israel’s move to reimpose its genocidal siege of Gaza just before it unilaterally broke the January 2025 ceasefire agreement. While the US-Israeli strikes on Iran are being used as a pretext for closing the crossings, the lack of accountability with which Israel is violating its commitments once again should cast serious doubt on Trump’s commitment to Palestinian welfare.
US LAW VIOLATED, AGAIN: The closing of these crossings and Israel’s continued obstruction of the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza is also a violation of Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act–which should immediately compel the halt of weapons transfers to Israel.
NGOs STAY, FOR NOW: Israel’s reimposed siege of Gaza came just days after the Israeli Supreme Court temporarily froze the government’s action to de-list and ban more than three dozen humanitarian NGOs from providing aid and services to Palestinians in Gaza.
The Israeli Supreme Court granted a temporary injunction stopping the implementation of the ban as it hears the petition of several NGOs which would be affected and would have to stop their work in Gaza because of Israel’s regulations.
This challenge stems from Israel’s new registration measures which are designed to impede the work of humanitarian NGOs providing aid and services to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The regulations would ban any NGO that engages in even the most basic recognition of Israel’s genocidal violence in Gaza and would force the organizations to disclose the identities and hand over sensitive information about their Palestinian staff. This move would further endanger the lives of Palestinian humanitarian aid workers, who have been repeatedly targeted in attacks by Israel during the genocide.
🚨 WEAPON USED TO KILL US CITIZEN IN WEST BANK LIKELY PROVIDED BY US
New eyewitness accounts of the killing of Palestinian-American citizen Nasrallah Abu Siyam revealed that Israeli settlers shot and killed him using an M16 rifle–a weapon that was likely provided by the US to Israel. This is a likely violation of the Arms Export Control Act and highlights the complicity of the Israeli military in settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.
WHY THIS MATTERS: This report demonstrates the support that Israeli settlers receive from the Israeli government and military, and how Israel supports settlers in carrying out this violence by effectively deputizing settler militias. Read our recently published policy memo about this process and why a comprehensive response to settler attacks on Palestinians must include ending weapons deliveries to Israel.
EYEWITNESSES SPEAK: The eyewitnesses reported that an Israeli settler who is affiliated with a nearby outpost–which is a type of settlement that is not initially approved by the Israeli government–used an M16 to intimidate Palestinians in the town of Mukhmas, where Nasrallah was killed.
Another report published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed that a settler who is a state-sanctioned militia leader participated and possibly instigated the attack. This settler has participated in attacks on Palestinians in Mukhmas as recently as June 2025.
Eyewitnesses also reported that an Israeli settler shot an M16 rifle into a crowd of Palestinians who were rushing to help another Palestinian who was injured by settlers during the attack. Nasrallah was reportedly shot during this incident. He was then beaten with rods by settlers.
MILITARY-SETTLER COLLABORATION: Israeli soldiers who arrived on the scene reportedly assisted settlers in pushing Palestinians from the area and facilitated the settlers’ theft of Palestinian-owned livestock.
The Israeli military unit also reportedly fired tear gas at Palestinians who were attempting to defend their land and livelihood from the settler attack, thereby escalating the situation.
Once again, this demonstrates the indispensable role that the Israeli military plays in supporting and facilitating settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, and highlights why a comprehensive response to these attacks must address state complicity.
THE US CONNECTION: The US is the primary provider of weapons to Israel, including small arms. Until recently, Israel had used US-provided M16 rifles and variants of the weapon, such as the M4, as its standard rifle for its military for decades. These rifles were funded by US taxpayers.
This isn’t just a historical connection: the US is still sending M16 variant weapons to Israel. In 2023, President Biden halted a shipment of more than 20,000 M4 rifles over concerns that they would be used against Palestinians in the West Bank. President Trump later advanced this weapons giveaway.
ARMING SETTLERS: The Israeli military provides weapons and financial support to units that are stationed in its illegal settlements in the West Bank. This is how a US-supplied M16 or its variant might have gotten into the hands of Israeli settlers. These units have been accused of participating in settler attacks and killing Palestinians.
Israel also provides weapons to settler militias which are organized by state-sanctioned militia leaders–such as the initial attacker in Mukhmas.
Settlers are also documented as attacking Palestinians using M16s, which they likely receive because of their role in settler militias armed by the Israeli military.
Photo: Anas-Mohammed, via Shutterstock. Stock Photo ID: 2426968429