A fragile ceasefire in Gaza on Trump’s demand

The Israeli Government and Hamas announced a one-month ceasefire. Note that a ceasefire is not a permanent cessation of hostilities.

Tel Aviv repeatedly rejected many previous suggestions for a ceasefire. The Zionists said they would not stop their war of terror against Palestinian civilians until Hamas was annihilated. Israel slew over 40,000 Palestinian civilians even by the lowest estimate.

Donald J Trump said he wanted the Gaza War over before he resumed the presidency. He had a good rapport with Binyamin Netanyahu. Trump gave Israel all it wanted. He recognised the illegally Israeli-occupied Golan Heights as part of Israel. This land belongs to Syria. He shifted the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine as well as Israel as recognised by the United Nations when it established the State of Israel. Israel illegally occupies East Jerusalem which is Palestinian sovereign soil.

Israel was elated with Trump’s obeisance to them. The Israelis even named a town after Trump.

President Biden had a tetchy relationship with Bibi Netanyahu. The Biden Administration asked Israel if they could please not kill quite so many Palestinian civilians. Israel refused to slow down its pace of slaughter.

The Biden White House begged and beseeched Israel to have some regard for civilian life. The bloodlust of the IDF meant that there was no limit on the mass killing of civilians. IDF soldiers were regularly filmed humiliating and torturing Palestinian civilians. If that is what they did when they knew they were being filmed then the IDF did far worse off-camera.

Tel Aviv was affronted that the USA asked them to have any concern for Palestinian lives. Israel repeatedly made humanitarian aid contingent on Hamas doing certain things. This is illegal.

The USA got so frustrated that Israel murdered so many civilians that the US eventually withheld some military aid. It is important to note that some of the murder committed by Israel was with weaponry furnished by the United States.

Some Zionist politicians in the US were furious that the US Government withheld some arms from Israel. The Zionists insisted that the US should give Israel all the weapons the Israelis wanted to do violence to Palestinian civilians.

The US wielded its veto in the UN Security Council to stop resolutions that would have made Israel’s war in Gaza illegal. Finally, the US abstained from a UNSC resolution calling for a ceasefire. As Israel persisted in its war this was illegal.

Trump was re-inaugurated on 20 January. He is glad that the messy situation in Gaza is over at least for the time being.

The ceasefire provides for the release of 43 Israelis held by Hamas and about 900 Palestinians held by Israel. Hamas notes that the people it holds are Prisoners of War in some cases. Most Israeli men and some women are military reservists.

Israel holds over 10,000 Palestinians in its prisons. Human rights organisations say they are regularly tortured. They are often held for years without trial or charge. The so-called trials they are put through are farcical and flagrantly unfair. Palestine states that Palestinians held by Israel are hostages. Hundreds of them are children.

Netanyahu says the reserves the right to resume the war against Gaza. He wants the Israelis held in Gaza to be released. He is under pressure from many in Israel. He regards the war aims as already achieved except for bringing the hostages home.

Prime Minister Netanyahu managed to delay his trials by over a year by prolonging the war in Gaza. But he has finally been held up in court. Continuing the war will not postpone the war any further.

Hamas has been almost entirely destroyed. It has almost no weapons and virtually no ammunition. It has not been able to bring in any arms since October 7.

Humanitarian aid is supposed to start flowing into Gaza. Israel has regularly cut it off. Many Palestinians have died due to lack of food, clean water and medicines. Almost every hospital and clinic has been attacked by the Israel Defence Force (IDF).

Over 2% of the population of Gaza has been killed. Over 6% are wounded and about 1% have been captured by the Israelis. Most of the population is internally displaced.

Several thousand Gazans have been allowed to leave Gaza.

24 Palestinian wounded children have been allowed to go to Ireland for medical treatment. Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Sweden all recognised Palestine in 2024. Israel was so irate that it closed its embassy in Dublin. The erstwhile Israeli Embassy in Ireland will now be used as a Palestinian Cultural Centre.

The countries that caused the Israel-Palestine Conflict bear some responsibility for it. The United Kingdom gave the Balfour Declaration which led indirectly to Israel’s refoundation in 1948. Germany, Austria, Hungary and some other European countries perpetrated the Holocaust. This caused the efflux of European Jewry to Palestine.

Thus it behoves these nations to take in Palestinian refugees.

Of course, the conflict today is the fault of Israel and some Palestinians. Qatar financially backed Hamas which launched its attacks on 7 October 2023.

Gaza has suffered horrendously. The damage wrought in more than one year of war will take years to recover from.