https://arab.news/28xv2
Gaza’s Board of Peace, a body that US President Donald Trump created with much fanfare more than six months ago, is proving to be a monument of broken promises for the 2 million barely surviving inhabitants of the Strip.
Trump stepped in to end two years of what most of the world described as a genocide being perpetrated by Israel against Gazans following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. His Gaza plan, through which the Board of Peace was established, called for an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of living and dead Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners of war, and the immediate resumption of full humanitarian aid. A Civil-Military Coordination Center under Adm. Brad Cooper was established to facilitate the flow of aid.
In addition, an International Stabilization Force was to be deployed earlier this year, while the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza was to relocate to the enclave and assume responsibility for its administrative affairs.
But none of what was promised — and endorsed by a UN Security Council resolution — has been fulfilled. One party to the deal, Israel, has taken it upon itself to derail, delay and obstruct the entire process. What the people of Gaza find themselves confronting today is a state of no-peace, no-war, while the Israeli military actively violates the ceasefire daily.
One party to the deal, Israel, has taken it upon itself to derail, delay and obstruct the entire process
Osama Al-Sharif
Israel has reportedly carried out strikes and bombardments across the narrow corridor where 2 million Gazans are confined more than 2,000 times since last October. The most recent figures put the number of Palestinians killed at more than 800, with some 2,000 injured, since the ceasefire came into effect.
Israel has established a so-called Yellow Line as a separation boundary and now maintains effective control over 50 to 55 percent of the Strip, including large swaths of Rafah, Khan Younis and northern Gaza. In the areas under its control, Israel has carried out systematic infrastructure destruction and dug a trench along the separation line to prevent the return of displaced Palestinians. A joint EU-UN assessment found that two years of hostilities caused Gaza’s development to leap back by an estimated 77 years.
Beyond the relentless killing, which has intensified sharply in the past week, Israel has barred members of the national administrative committee from entering the enclave, while restricting the flow of humanitarian aid to about 20 percent of what was agreed. Aid agencies, including UNRWA, have been prevented from operating in Gaza and those still present report shortages of food and medicine.
The situation in Gaza is so dire that, with rising temperatures, the population is now suffering from waterborne diseases, pollution and pest infestations. UNRWA reports surging cases of ectoparasitic infection and chickenpox amid critical shortages of medication and pesticides, with rodent infestations spreading across residential areas and displacement camps.
A report by Doctors Without Borders has accused Israel of using access to water as a weapon against Palestinians, documenting cases of people being injured or even killed while attempting to reach water sources.
Even before the eruption of the Iran war at the end of February, attention on Gaza’s plight had already begun to wane. Warnings and appeals from the UN and other agencies have gone unheeded. The Board of Peace has not convened once to review implementation of the agreed steps and neither Trump nor his aides have spoken publicly about Gaza since US envoy Steve Witkoff announced in January the launch of stage two of the ceasefire. Since then, not a single one of the plan’s goals has advanced. All the early optimism surrounding the plan’s prospects has since evaporated.
Even before the eruption of the Iran war, attention on Gaza’s plight had already begun to wane
Osama Al-Sharif
The eruption of the US-Israeli war on Iran has further complicated matters. The crises spawned by that conflict — the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a global energy crunch, a military buildup across the region, the prospect of renewed hostilities, the volatile situation in southern Lebanon and faltering nuclear talks — have kept Gaza’s ordeal firmly in the shadows.
Israel has exploited the current environment to make life in Gaza unbearable. Even the key intermediaries — Egypt, Turkiye and Qatar — have shifted their focus toward resolving the US-Iran conflict amid its regional fallout. Meanwhile, the death toll in Gaza continues its climb. The confirmed Palestinian death toll as of this month stands at more than 72,500, including 20,000-plus children, 270 journalists, 120 academics and at least 560 humanitarian aid workers.
At the International Court of Justice, proceedings in the South African genocide case against Israel are moving at a glacial pace. In March, Israel and a number of other countries, including the US, submitted counter memorials and interventions to the court, to which South Africa will respond. The court may hear rebuttals by year’s end and it is clear the case will drag on for many months more. Even then, Israel will almost certainly reject the ruling.
The International Criminal Court, meanwhile, has been preoccupied with a sexual misconduct case against Prosecutor Karim Khan, who was finally cleared of all charges last month. Khan — who issued an arrest warrant in November 2024 against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes — had been on leave to contest the allegations. Now that he has returned, there is speculation that a new round of arrest warrants may be issued against senior Israeli ministers.
Trump’s Board of Peace was supposed to halt the killing of Palestinians and create the conditions for a political process to restore life to the enclave and begin reconstruction. The US president secured the backing of prominent Arab and international figures for his controversial initiative. Yet, here we are, mired in a gray zone where neither the UN nor its agencies are permitted to intervene in an ongoing conflict, while the Board of Peace is nowhere to be found.
This suits Israel perfectly. Its daily violations continue unchecked and unpunished, while the world’s attention is trained elsewhere. The question that demands an answer is: How much longer must the people of Gaza endure the most horrific atrocities amid a peace plan that is terminally paralyzed?
- Osama Al-Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman. X: @plato010