Trump’s “ceasefire” hasn’t stopped Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Israel has violated the agreement at least 1200 times, with continued near-daily bombings, shootings, demolitions and arbitrary arrests of Palestinians.
At least 464 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began in October, including more than 100 children. This adds to a conservative total death toll of over 71,000 since October 2023.
Israeli troops have refused to remain behind the agreed “Yellow Line” that marks the 58 per cent of Gaza remaining under direct military occupation. Instead, they have repeatedly moved the border and demolished entire neighbourhoods near the line.
Israel has also continued restricting aid entering the strip. Only about 40 per cent of the aid trucks that were supposed to be allowed to enter under the ceasefire agreement have been let in.
Israel has also banned 37 more aid organisations, including Doctors Without Borders, who provide a fifth of hospital beds to the strip and support a third of all births.
The vast majority of the health infrastructure has been systematically destroyed and hundreds have already died from malnutrition and preventable diseases. Essential medicines and medical equipment are in dire need, with 56 per cent of essential drugs “unavailable” as of November.
In winter, plummeting temperatures alongside frequent floods are significantly worsening the situation, with one doctor warning that 1.3 million people—more than three-fifths of the population—will require “urgent shelter support” and that a “total collapse of sanitation infrastructure has left 740,000 people vulnerable to toxic flooding”.
The director of Gaza’s Ministry of Health rightly describes the situation as an “engineering of slow death” and “genocide in Gaza is no longer carried out by bombs alone”.
Trump’s ‘peace plan’
Trump has announced a rogue’s gallery of war criminals, billionaires and Israel loyalists to work with his “Board of Peace” to rule Gaza in the next phase of Trump’s “Peace Plan”. It is a nakedly colonial framework for US control.
Trump will be the chairman of the Board of Peace, with some 60 Prime Ministers and government representatives invited to join it, including Anthony Albanese. Trump is even selling “permanent membership” to interested world leaders for $US1 billion.
Beneath this sits an Executive Board including war criminal and former British PM Tony Blair, who led the UK into Bush’s horrific invasion of Iraq in 2003, leaving over one million Iraqis dead. It also includes billionaire Marc Rowan, a virulent Zionist, and Jared Kushner, the architect of the Abraham Accords, who has previously described Gaza as “very valuable waterfront property”.
Under their control, a separate “National Committee for the Administration of Gaza”, composed of Palestinian professionals and technocrats, will be responsible for service provision.
In late December Trump met Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Gaza’s future, declaring there would be “hell to pay” if Hamas didn’t agree to disarm while pretending Israel had lived up to the ceasefire “100 per cent”.
Hamas has so far refused to disarm—and it has a right to do so. Palestinians have a right to resist Israel’s military occupation.
Trump’s “Phase Two” won’t mean any real relief for Gazans. Israel has reportedly drawn up plans for “renewed intensive military operations” for March, with aims to expand Israel’s occupation in Gaza. Israeli officials claim it is a “contingency” if Hamas refuses to completely disarm.
It’s clear that for Trump, the “Peace Plan” does not mean ending Israel’s genocide, its occupation of Gaza, nor its offensive in the West Bank.
It’s about removing all obstacles to Israel’s expansion by driving Hamas from the region and replacing it with a Palestinian administration in the vein of the hugely corrupt and collaborationist Palestinian Authority.
Hunger strike
In Britain, a group of political prisoners who defied the draconian crackdown on the Palestine movement staged a hunger strike—with several reaching life-threatening conditions.
Many had been held on remand for two years, with restricted communications and reported abuse from prison authorities.
The activists are members of Palestine Action, who carried out direct action to disrupt an Elbit Systems factory, a major Israeli weapons manufacturer, and a UK military base. In response, Starmer’s government designated Palestine Action a terrorist organisation, making support for the group illegal.
They are also demanding that Keir Starmer’s government ends its collaboration with Elbit.
They scored a victory after the government was forced to deny Elbit a $4 billion army training contract.
Eight prisoners began the hunger strike, with one reaching 73 days before suspending it due to the risk of death. One person remained on hunger strike as Solidarity went to press.
The Gaza genocide continues, but so does the global movement of solidarity. We must keep fighting to end Israel’s occupation and apartheid state.
By Maeve Larkins
