When will Israel fulfill its ceasefire obligations?

The badly violated Gaza ceasefire might be getting further attention from the US-led Board of Peace.
Last September, President Donald Trump presented Arab and Muslim leaders at the UN with a 20-point, multiphase plan for Gaza. It was accepted by all parties, including Israel and Hamas, and received UN backing from a binding Security Council resolution.
That is the point at which the plan stopped being respected. Or, to be fair, stopped being respected by one of the parties, Israel, which has continued shooting and occupying more land, while the other party, the Palestinian resistance, has become a lame duck.
But suddenly, while the world was focused on the war between the US and Iran and the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the beleaguered Gaza Strip recently got what appeared to be some good news.
Hamas, headed by newly elected leader Khalil Al-Hayya, agreed on July 31 to a detailed Board of Peace road map for the future. However, even the acceptance of a made-for-Israel plan, which was seen and not rejected by the Israeli authorities, is now opposed by Tel Aviv.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing entourage had expected Hamas to reject the plan. On Sunday, Netanyahu himself openly dismissed it, saying that Israeli forces “would not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed.” The Israelis are now looking for ways to once again shift the goalposts, with the expectation that Hamas will not accept any further compromise.
The BBC has reported that at least 13 people, including several children, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza since Hamas agreed to disarm. Criticism followed from the US-appointed envoy Nickolay Mladenov, director general of the Board of Peace, who wrote on X: “Two days of strikes across Gaza have killed civilians and destroyed medical supplies.”
The board’s latest 15-point sequencing plan commits Hamas, along with other armed factions and militias, to total disarmament in return for a gradual, reciprocal Israeli withdrawal from 60 percent of the Gaza Strip and the governing of Gaza by a Palestinian technocratic committee chosen by Washington.
Trump publicly approved the plan, describing it as “a critical step toward Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government.” In a message posted on Truth Social, he said that “the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors.”
This time, Israel will not be able to flout the ceasefire since it will be monitored by an international force, most likely made up of peacekeeping troops from Morocco and possibly Kazakhstan, Uganda and Albania. 

Even a made-for-Israel plan, which was seen and not rejected by the Israeli authorities, is now opposed by Tel Aviv.

Daoud Kuttab

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the latest developments were a rare positive sign for the Middle East. “The only good news in recent days is the announcement by the US president of an agreement for Hamas to relinquish their weapons and for Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza,” he posted on X.
The detailed timetable and implementation mechanisms for the road map were set to be finalized within 14 days of approval of the plan, in other words by mid-August. The first order of business will be for Israel to withdraw from the areas of Gaza its forces reoccupied after the ceasefire agreement was ratified by the UNSC last year, when Israel unilaterally expanded its control of Gaza from 53 percent of the territory when the truce was announced in October to more than 60 percent now.
The International Stabilization Force, a peacekeeping body made up of international troops, and the Palestinian police will be tasked with assisting in the process, though there is as yet no timeline for the deployment of either to begin.
On the eve of a visit by Netanyahu to Washington in late July, the Israeli Cabinet gave permission for about 200 members of the stabilization force to be stationed in Gaza. Some media reports suggested this approval was a condition set by Washington for the visit by the Israeli prime minister to the White House.
The technocratic committee that will govern Gaza under the terms of the road map, the membership of which Israel has approved, has yet to be allowed to enter the territory. Formally called the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, it is led by Ali Shaath and is expected to govern with the help of the International Stabilization Force, whose mission will include ensuring the implementation of the Board of Peace road map.
Though the Israelis have finally granted permission for 200 members of the force to be stationed in Gaza, their actual deployment needs to be approved by Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Israeli authorities say their reluctance so far to agree to any withdrawal from Gaza is because they do not trust Hamas. Recent history, however, shows that it is Israel that is the untrustworthy party.
Since the ceasefire agreement came into effect, Israel has continued to wreak havoc on the territory. Doctors Without Borders recently reported that 1,185 Palestinians had been killed and 3,816 injured since the truce was announced on Oct. 10 last year. That equates to about one Palestinian killed or injured every hour and 20 minutes. As of June 19, more than 265 children had been killed since the ceasefire announcement, according to UNICEF.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, continues to await verdicts on four charges he faces in criminal corruption trials, as well as the possibility of an official investigation into the events leading up to Oct. 7, 2023.
While the efforts of the US Board of Peace are slow and lack accountability for violators of the agreement, they do follow historically tested conditions required for peace and an end to violent conflict.
Those conditions are simple: a ceasefire agreement needs to be monitored on the ground by a neutral third party and genuine efforts must be made to address the root causes of the problems that resulted in the escalation of violence.
If the International Stabilization Force is allowed to enter Gaza and monitor the ceasefire agreement, real efforts must then begin to find a political solution to the wider issues.
Article 19 of Trump’s 20-point plan calls for a negotiated role for a reformed, Ramallah-based Palestinian leadership, leading to self-determination and statehood. Serious efforts have been made to address all the reform requirements set out by the international community, including an end to support for Palestinian prisoners, the need for elections and a review of the Palestinian educational curriculum. Municipal elections took place in April, legislative elections will take place in November and a presidential election is due in the first quarter of 2027.
Palestinians in Gaza and Ramallah have fulfilled their ceasefire obligations and reform conditions, yet Palestinians continue to be killed daily in Gaza and the West Bank and Israelis violate the status quo in Jerusalem. For how long will Palestinian patience be tested?

• Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. He is the author of “State of Palestine Now: Practical and Logical Arguments for the Best Way to Bring Peace to the Middle East.”
X: @daoudkuttab