The ceasefire between Gaza and the Zionist regime is hanging by a precarious thread. The agreement of the peace process between the Israelis and the Gazan Palestinians was meant to pan in three phases. This began with the release of the hostages for the cease fire. Now that former US president Joe Biden who brokered the peace plan and process has been succeeded by US President Donald Trump, the new administration is planning to abandon the ceasefire and return to the sale of arms to Israel. No strings attached. This could be the dreaded answer to the question of “What comes next? At the moment the Palestinians of Gaza and even the West Bank have been granted a gentle if temporary reprieve. But there is no time to rest for serpents.
The pause in Israel’s bombing of Gaza is, of course, a welcome development. It has provided Palestinians some amount of relief, the opportunity to grieve, and, for some, the chance to attempt to trek northward, assess the damage to their bombed-out neighbourhoods, and dig through the rubble to find the bodies of missing family members. The pause has also allowed for a huge influx of food and aid supplies into Gaza and the passage of critically wounded Palestinians to Egypt for treatment. This was the good news about the pause. The bad news is that the agreement is weak, with no enforcement mechanism. The original plan offered by President Biden over six months ago included three phases with the parties agreeing to all three from the outset.
What we’re learning from the Israeli press is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been assuring his supporters that he will only honour the first phase and will resume the bombing when it’s over. He will not withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza, nor allow Palestinian governance in Gaza that politically connects that area with the West Bank.
The Palestinian people are now stuck in a quagmire, concerning what Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s next move will be. Although the Palestinians living in Gaza have been granted a reprieve how ever temporary from the carnage. There appears to be a realization that there will be no time for any form of rebuilding or foreclosure there is a risk that a further genocide is being planned. So far only the Houthis in Yemen and the Islamic Republic of Iran are the only ones showing any sign of disrupting the flow of arms to the Zionist regime. It remains to be seen how the United States under Trump, the most pro-Israel American President will respond. It looks like not only the Palestinians are in for a second phase of war and devastating loss and Trump may sort to impose further sanctions on Iran.
It remains to be seen though if Trump will come to the aid of the Israelis by attacking the Iranians for their support of the Houthis. The Hamas militant group is in a difficult place right now, given they have lost an ally in former Syrian President Bashir Al Assad. Assad had been arguably Hamas’ closest ally apart from Iran. It remains to be seen how Syria’s new leadership will view Hamas. What support they will give.
Meanwhile as far as the release of the hostages taken on the Seventh of October go, three Israeli and five Thai citizens have been released. The fragile cease fire Hamas and the Israelis agreed upon hinges on the exchange of captives held by Hamas and affiliated groups in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian detainees languishing in Israeli prisons. So far 290 Palestinians have been freed from Israeli jails while Hamas has released seven captives.
In northern Gaza, thousands of displaced Palestinians continued to return to their homes on Wednesday. More than 500,000 Palestinians have made the journey to northern Gaza in the past 72 hours after Israel’s military opened crossing points under the ceasefire agreement, Gaza’s Government Media Office said. “I’m happy to be back at my home,” Saif al-Din Qazaat, who returned to northern Gaza but had to sleep in a tent next to the ruins of his house, told the AFP news agency. Mona Abu Aathra managed to travel from central Gaza to Gaza City, though she has yet to assess the full extent of the war’s impact on her home. “We returned to Gaza City with nothing, and there’s no drinking water. Most streets are still blocked by the rubble of destroyed homes,” said the 20-year-old. Abu Aathra expressed relief at being reunited with her family.
“It’s the first night we’re together again, me, my mother and my father. Last night, we gathered with my three brothers who were here in Gaza City.” Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said that many families returned to homes that were seriously damaged.
The plight of the Palestinians as they return home to virtually nothing is just the tip of the ice berg. Although for now Netanyahu is restrained his unsatiable thirst for destruction is never going to stop. With in a few months’ time with Trump’s blessings he would have resumed the genocide. Washington’s new administration does not care about the lives of Palestinians in Gaza or their future. Netanyahu and the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) will pursue a policy of total genocide. This despite arrest warrants from the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court on Netanyahu, his coalition members and his generals’ heads. As well as those heads of Israeli soldiers. If Netanyahu can avoid sanctions imposed on his regime there will be no time for the Palestinians of Gaza to rebuild. Netanyahu has no qualms about slaughtering the women and children of Gaza after traumatizing them.
The happy reunions of Palestinians and their families will be short lived. There will no time for reconstruction and foreclosure. Reconciliation is a pipe dream. Any talk of peace and reconciliation between Israel while Netanyahu remains in power and other Arab nations should be abandoned. This could be the only way to end the genocide. But the likes of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, Moroccan King Muhammad VI, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El Sisi and Emirati ruler Sheik Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan among others do not seem to care. All they have to do is suspend diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv to attract Washington’s attention. Sadly, this has always bee a matter of divide and rule.
Article written by:
Yacoob Cassim
Journalist at Radio Al Ansaar
