Israel has finally agreed to a ceasefire after 15 months of genocide in Gaza, following its killing of 46,700 people, according to official figures. The true total is far higher.
There were celebrations in Gaza following the news, with hopes for an end to the daily slaughter, hunger and desperate conditions. But in the hours following the announcement, Israel stalled signing the agreement and continued to butcher scores of Palestinians.
The ceasefire will begin on Sunday, with an initial phase lasting six weeks. During this time there will be a gradual exchange of 33 Israeli hostages and an increase in aid deliveries. Palestinians will be allowed to return to their homes across Gaza and Israeli troops will occupy a buffer zone of 700 metres (and up to 1100 metres in five places) inside the Gaza border.
Despite 15 months of genocide, Israel has been unable to totally defeat Hamas. Its efforts to depopulate and ethnically cleanse the north of Gaza, as its Generals’ Plan suggested, have also failed.
Yet the ceasefire may not deliver a permanent end to the war. The current outline would require a full Israeli withdrawal but the agreement may never get that far. Discussion about phase two of the agreement is meant to begin on day 16 of the ceasefire but there is no guarantee that Israel will move to phase two.
Indeed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to have said that he intends to restart the carnage at the end of phase one. Millions of Palestinians are without proper shelter, the health system is shattered, schools have been razed. Any actual rebuilding of Gaza is not scheduled to take place until phase three.
Netanyahu has declared he wants Hamas completely destroyed. And just as Israel has continued to bomb and murder in Lebanon despite the negotiated ceasefire, Netanyahu has insisted even during the “ceasefire” Israel will continue to strike at will against anything it deems a “security threat”.
Israel has no intention of loosening its stranglehold on Gaza or ending its occupation of Palestine; it continues to expand settlements and attack Palestinians in the West Bank.
Far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet have vowed to vote against any ceasefire agreement. The far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to resign from the government if it goes ahead. But opposition parties have said they will step in to prop Netanyahu up.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden tried to claim credit for securing the ceasefire, saying it was similar to a proposal he put forward in May, but the US has ensured Israel had all the arms it needed for the genocide. Just two weeks ago Biden sent plans for another $12 billion in arms transfers to the US Congress.
Anthony Albanese too claimed his government had “consistently been part of the international call for a ceasefire”. But it continues to back Israel and is insisting a permanent end to the war requires a complete Hamas surrender.
And Albanese has refused to apply any pressure on Israel through sanctions on Israel or ending the supply of parts for its F-35 jets that have relentlessly bombed Gaza.
Pressure from incoming US President Donald Trump appears to have helped secure the deal. Trump told Netanyahu he wanted a ceasefire and threatened Hamas with “hell” if they didn’t agree.
But Trump’s support for Zionism and US imperialism means any agreement he imposes will be designed to benefit Israel and the West.
Trump’s pick for National Security adviser Mike Waltz said, “We’ve been clear that Gaza has to be fully demilitarised, Hamas has to be destroyed to the point that it cannot reconstitute, and that Israel has every right to fully protect itself.”
Israel is set to continue to rain terror on Gaza until the ceasefire takes effect. It has killed at least 80 Palestinians since the ceasefire was announced in the heaviest bombing in weeks.
Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud, reporting from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, said, “As people were celebrating here we could clearly hear the sound of heavy artillery and bombardment on the Bureij refugee camp and Nuseirat.”
Israel has a history of breaking previous ceasefire agreements. It has violated the ceasefire in Lebanon more than 470 times since it was agreed in November, according to Lebanese authorities, launching regular missile strikes that have killed 32 people.
Gaza has been decimated, with most of its hospitals destroyed and barely a building left standing. Israel continues to control Gaza’s borders and has not agreed to end the crippling blockade it began in 2007.
Israel’s military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, and its policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing, continue. Netanyahu is still a war criminal. Trump will take Biden’s place to provide arms, to maintain Israel as Palestine’s jailer and watchdog for the West. Albanese will keep supply chains open and ensure Pine Gap keeps providing the intelligence for Israel.
The movement for Palestine has to keep fighting until Palestine is free from the river to the sea.
