The leaders of Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar have put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu to agree to a US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
This deal was reached at the end of a day where Hamas handed over all 20 living hostages it was holding in Gaza in exchange for a release of almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The first phase of the plan, brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, saw the ceasefire come into effect at 12:00 pm on October 10 and allowed unprecedented amounts of essential humanitarian aid to enter the Strip. Israeli troops pulled back to a line that has left them in control of 53% of Gaza while Hamas are required to completely disarm. The rest of the 20-point plan includes agreements to demilitarize the Gaza strip and secure a committee governed by Palestinians but no terms which outline a process to peace or provide any retribution for the Palestinian people.
President Donald Trump recently went on a victory lap in Israel and Egypt after Netanayahu signed the deal, where he gave self-congratulatory speeches for “solving a 3,000 year conflict” as well as emphasizing how all his life he has “done deals”. The ceasefire deal in Gaza is the second this year, following one brokered by President Joe Biden in January INSERT YEAR that was violated by Netanayahu in March INSERT YEAR. Donald Trump has been receiving heavy acclaim for this deal in Israel, with crowds chanting his name out on the streets. Amid Trump’s fanfare and Netanayahu’s uncharacteristic silence, the deal stands as a band aid on a bullet hole for the flattened Gaza.
Ceasefires that hold and maintain peace are the ones that lay out specific and binding conditions, which this one does not. Only 24 hours after the hostages were returned, cracks began to show in the deal. Hamas has not returned all of the bodies that were incarcerated and Israel, a notorious ceasefire violator, has issued strikes on the grounds that Hamas is withholding remains. Israel is already threatening to stop the flow of aid into Gaza if it does not receive the bodies back soon. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) is still occupying over half of Gaza and multiple Palestinian casualties from the hands of the IDF have been reported already.
Let me be clear, the truce in Gaza is welcomed, but it should not be mislabeled as peace. President Donald Trump has made his motivations very clear: he wants to win a Nobel Peace Prize. On his victory lap tour, he claimed that this was the eighth war that he had solved. Trump’s legacy, on the other hand, consists of hateful rhetoric, policies that decimate the American working class, alleged pedophilic activities, and blatant racism. He hopes to glaze these over by receiving a title as a “peacemaker”.The majority of acclaim he has received for this deal ignores that he has had the opportunity to use his authority to pressure Netanayahu since he entered office. He has had the opportunity to stop sending weapons to the Israel Defense Forces. He has had the opportunity to cease American tax dollars from funding Israel’s decimation of Gaza. Trump began to pull strings when Netanayahu bombed Qatar on September 9 YEAR. The U.S. has several important and lucrative military bases in Qatar where Trump’s sons have often done business. This attack on Qatar was to Trump, an attack on American business and that is where the majority of Trump’s interests lie. Nevertheless, Trump is proclaiming that this deal will lead to peace across the Middle East, a statement which is as delusional as his desires for a Nobel Peace Prize.
I will note that, without pressure from Donald Trump upon Netanyahu, this deal would not have been reached. This deal is already beginning to break, but any moment where a population is not being indiscriminately bombed is welcomed. But this deal is not justice for the Palestinian people. Gaza has been flattened, and the IDF still remains in many parts of Gaza. This is a moment for people to search through the rubble for the bodies of their loved ones, this is not peace.
I find it important to point out the precedent that this deal sets for the world. The ceasefire deal only requests that Israel stop bombing Gaza. As of yet, there is no process for peace laid out, no process for rebuilding homes, and no justice served against Israel for their war crimes carried out against Palestinian people. This exists as an example for the world that if you want to systematically destroy and ethnically cleanse an entire group of people, you will receive very little consequence.
Ana Kasparian, a journalist and commentator for The Young Turks, put it best when she went on Piers Morgan’s panel this weekend to discuss the ceasefire, stating that “there is no peace as long as we keep supporting the terrorist welfare state of Israel.” This ceasefire deal does not mean peace and any claims that it does are misleading and directing focus away from the ongoing genocide in Gaza. What does a “peace” deal mean to a leveled Gaza that is still occupied? Israel is violating the loose terms of this ceasefire already, there needs to be a ceasefire that outlines specific demands and plans that ensure safety and retribution for Palestinians and that requires the IDF to leave Gaza. We must keep our eyes on Gaza and pressure on our governments to cease funding and demand lasting peace.
