This ceasefire charade is further evidence — if any was needed — that Palestinian liberation will not come through the impotent international institutions and toothless laws
APRIL was one of the deadliest months in the Gaza Strip since the start of the so-called ceasefire last October. The Israelis, who have never stopped their killing machine, which has been on a slaughterous spree since October 2023, killed 111 Palestinians last month. They continuously bomb police officials to ensure that no semblance of normalcy would return to the besieged enclave. Simultaneously, they killed journalists, civil defence personnel, children, pregnant women, and men, taking the tally of Palestinians they have murdered since the “ceasefire” to well past 800.
Apart from killing civilians in direct attacks, the Israelis have continued to keep a tight leash on aid entering the enclave. A mere fraction of the agreed-upon 600 aid trucks, which include 100 fuel trucks, have entered Gaza since the “ceasefire.” The Rafah crossing, which was meant to open from both sides as part of the agreement in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, has remained closed for the most part. Those attempting to enter through the crossing have been brutalised and humiliated at checkpoints manned by the occupation forces.
Meanwhile, those inside the enclave are forced to endure extremely difficult circumstances, dwelling in flimsy tents without basic necessities. With the infrastructure decimated, rat infestations are wreaking havoc. Thousands of the injured and those with life-threatening illnesses are struggling for survival as the Israelis severely limit medical evacuations.
Moreover, the Israelis, who controlled about 50 per cent of the Gaza Strip at the time of the “ceasefire,” have since gone on to occupy 60 per cent of Palestinian land. To be sure, the Israeli army chief had declared unambiguously that the so-called yellow line would serve as the new fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip. That fence keeps moving westward, pushing the natives in a continuously shrinking pen. A voluntary withdrawal from Gaza appears unlikely, as there is no mechanism to force the land-hungry Israelis out of the enclave.
In a statement marking 200 days since the Sharm El Sheikh agreement, Hamas listed a litany of Israeli violations:
The daily violations committed by the occupation, its killing of hundreds of children, women, and civilians, its deepening of the humanitarian catastrophe through tightening the siege and the policy of starvation, the continued closure or nominal opening of the Rafah crossing, the moving of what is called the ‘yellow line’ westward in many locations, and other violations represent clear evidence of the war criminal Netanyahu’s government’s disregard for the mediators’ efforts and its pursuit to evade and sabotage the agreement.
As if to do away with the fiction of overseeing the supposed ceasefire, the Trump administration is shutting down the Civil-Military Coordination Centre (CMCC), a US military-run body which was meant to monitor the “ceasefire” that never was. Remarkably, the Israelis prevented any Palestinians from being part of the CMCC and started spying on Western officials manning it.
Reuters reported that the CMCC’s mandate would be transferred to the International Stabilisation Force (ISF). “According to the sources, seven diplomats familiar with CMCC operations, the US-led body’s aid and monitoring responsibilities would soon be handed to a US-commanded international security mission that is meant to deploy to Gaza,” the Reuters report said.
“US officials have privately described the move as an overhaul, but diplomats said the International Stabilisation Force would in effect take over, ending the CMCC’s role.”
The ISF is yet to come into meaningful existence. It is unlikely to amount to anything more than an acronym. “The ISF was supposed to deploy immediately to Gaza to establish control and maintain security,” the report added. “But that has yet to happen, with only a handful of countries having so far pledged troops, and none of them have committed to security roles.”
Since the start of the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, no international body has made a sincere effort to halt the Israeli barbarism against the 2.3 million people of the besieged enclave. Palestinian resistance has been the only barrier between the people of Gaza and Israel’s insatiable lust for blood. The “ceasefire” ensured that Palestinian resistance factions stopped firing at the Israelis, in effect allowing them to continue their extermination campaign unimpeded. They have duly grabbed that opportunity, slaughtering Palestinians at will and flattening entire localities in preparation for Jewish-only settlements.
Hamas, in its statement, noted that the “ceasefire” agreement has merely continued Israeli barbarism under the garb of peace:
This continuous aggression, despite the signing of the Sharm El-Sheikh agreement, is considered an extension of the war of extermination against Palestinian civilians and represents an abnormal humanitarian, political, and legal situation in light of the international laws and charters established to protect civilians, where more than two million people are held hostage to the will of the machine of killing, siege, and starvation.
This ceasefire charade is further evidence — if any were needed — that Palestinian liberation will not come through impotent international institutions and toothless laws upheld by imperialists in tailored suits. Resistance is the only way forward. — Palestine Will Be Free
