Despite US President Donald Trump’s claims that a ceasefire in Gaza is imminent, we have not seen anything that inspires hope for a breakthrough that ends suffering in Gaza. Israel is proceeding with its genocide as the entire world watches on. Relentless airstrikes, starvation, and the destruction of what remains of the infrastructure have turned the Strip into an open-air mass grave. The pursuit of mass displacement is not even obscured by diplomatic language any longer. It is an explicit policy being implemented on the ground, with extreme violence and brutality.
Images of children, some with emaciated bodies as a result of malnutrition and the famine imposed on the Strip, and scenes of victims being shot by Israeli forces as they try to obtain aid have failed to stir the global conscience. No serious pressure to end the tragedy has been applied to Israel. An immediate truce is needed to save civilians; ideally, it would be followed by agreements on the administration of the Strip in the future, and ultimately, by the only viable political solution to the Palestinian tragedy: a durable political settlement that gives rise to a Palestinian state.
Over 1.7 million people have been forcibly displaced, fleeing to makeshift camps where basic needs are unavailable: no clean water, insufficient quantities of food, and virtually no medical services. As the summer began, health organizations warned of meningitis, cholera, and typhoid outbreaks amid the contamination of the water in Gaza, poor sanitation, a heatwave, and a severe shortage of essential medications and medical services.
To make matters worse, the ongoing Israeli blockade and the destruction of Gaza’s roads and crossings have paralyzed the delivery of humanitarian aid. Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war and a tool for displacement- an egregious violation of international humanitarian law. It is becoming increasingly clear that the food distribution centers operated by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (funded by the US and Israel) are nothing more than death traps. 130 international organizations called for shutting it down and allowing credible international organizations to distribute aid after more than 500 Palestinians were killed around the Foundation’s aid centers. Israeli soldiers routinely open fire on unarmed Palestinians near aid centers gratuitously. They are merely following orders as Haaretz recently reported.
Amid these tragic circumstances, Trump and Netanyahu’s Monday meeting is being promoted as a potential turning point that breaks the deadlock in negotiations. Seeking a Nobel Peace Prize, the US president has raised expectations, saying that he will firmly insist that Netanyahu facilitate a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. He added that Israel has agreed to the terms needed for a ceasefire. However, the details of this “agreement” remain obscure, and the leaks do not inspire optimism. According to these leaks, the ceasefire would last 60 days, during which hostages and prisoners would be exchanged between Israel and Hamas. Israel would then be allowed to resume military operations, with US approval, if Hamas does not disarm within these two months.
Moreover, Hamas has not responded to the proposal thus far, but it has repeatedly reiterated that disarmament is a red line. The mechanism by which they would be disarmed also remains unclear, and there is no word on who would carry it out. Hamas maintains that it cannot accept dismantling its military infrastructure in exchange for a temporary truce. It insists that any ceasefire must lead to Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, the lifting of the blockade, guarantees that humanitarian aid will be delivered to Gaza and reconstruction.
It is clear that there are many obstacles and “mines” on the road to a truce- let alone a deal to end the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, driven by his own personal political calculations amid the looming threat of prosecution- and by the extreme rhetoric of his fanatical allies- insists on terms that Hamas would struggle to accept. In addition to the release of all Israeli hostages, Netanyahu wants the dismantlement of Hamas’s military infrastructure and international guarantees that prevent the group from rearming in the future, through an international-Arab monitoring force.
On the political front, Netanyahu’s government wants the Gaza Strip to be governed by local Palestinian families and clans- preventing both the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and Hamas from playing any role in running Gaza.
A chasm between the two sides of the negotiation remains. Without a comprehensive initiative that demands concessions from both sides, the negotiations will remain caught in a vicious circle. The Palestinian people in Gaza will suffer as a result. Every day that a ceasefire is delayed adds more corpses, more orphans, more rubble, and more suffering.
No single party has the keys to the solution. However, the world does have the power, if it chooses, to end this tragedy. It will only make this decision if it begins to see Gaza not as a security issue but as a humanitarian catastrophe.
