TEHRAN – As expected, the Gaza ceasefire brokered under US President Donald Trump’s “peace plan” has been exposed as a once cruel illusion after the Israeli occupation regime’s most violent bombing campaign since it took effect on October 10.
Occupation regime forces have killed more than 100 Palestinians, including at least 46 children and 20 women. More than 255 other people were seriously injured, and the death toll is expected to rise. This tragedy, unfolding under the watchful eye of the world, highlights how the so-called “peace” promoted by the U.S. government has only exacerbated the suffering of the Palestinian people while absolving the occupying regime of responsibility.
A sham ceasefire with ulterior motives
The major escalation in Gaza coincides with an attempt by the United States to reaffirm its position as a “peacemaker” in West Asia. However, behind the rhetoric of restraint and diplomacy, President Trump’s ceasefire initiative turned out to be a political ploy aimed at buying time for the Israeli regime.
Far from halting the violence, the ceasefire gave the occupying regime a strategic pause and an opportunity to regroup militarily and diplomatically amid growing international isolation and growing condemnation of ongoing crimes against humanity.
Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States sought to reshape the narrative by positioning itself as the arbiter of the crisis it had long fomented through military aid, diplomatic patronage, and veto power at the United Nations.
The result was an empty peacebuilding performance in which the ceasefire served as a means of control rather than a move toward justice.
There is no peace for Palestinians
For Palestinians trapped under continued siege and burying their loved ones, the so-called ceasefire has brought neither security nor respite. Airstrikes by Israeli occupation forces from early Wednesday morning targeted civilian settlements across the Gaza Strip, from the central city of Deir al-Balah to the densely populated al-Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City.
Families seeking refuge were trapped under the rubble. The five barely functioning hospitals were overwhelmed with injured people, and emergency workers faced desperate shortages of fuel and medical supplies.
The Gaza Ministry of Health has confirmed that at least 104 people have been killed in the recent indiscriminate bombing campaign. The ministry added that 211 Palestinians have been killed and a further 597 injured by Israeli occupation forces since the start of the ceasefire.
The government media office also announced that the death of journalist Mohammed al-Munirawi brings the number of Palestinian journalists killed by the Israeli regime to 256.
These numbers are not conflict statistics. They are evidence of systematic targeting carried out under the cover of a ceasefire that was never intended to end the genocide.
These horrific scenes are heartbreakingly familiar to Gazans who have endured more than two years of relentless slaughter.
Silence of the international community
As Mahmoud Bassal, Gaza’s civil defense spokesman, said: “In less than 12 hours, the Israeli occupation forces (military) committed a horrific massacre against civilians… a documented crime, adding to an ongoing record of violations.”
However, the international community’s response remains muted concern and diplomatic paralysis.
World leaders, who once vowed to end the genocide, watched in silence as Palestinians were killed in makeshift tent camps and entire families wiped out with empty statements.
Resident breathing space
For the Zionist regime, the ceasefire served the dual purpose of repairing its image and consolidating its occupation. As international criticism mounted, the ceasefire became a tactical measure, a pause to deflect global anger while continuing war crimes under new pretexts.
The Israeli regime, emboldened by the unwavering support of the United States, has turned every lull in fighting into an opportunity to prepare for the next round of destruction.
Meanwhile, Washington uses these moments to hone its diplomatic credentials and sell the illusion of balance while ensuring that Israeli interests remain intact. President Trump’s “peace plan” has thus emerged not as a path to stability but as a political shield against continued repression.
The US president, who had been boasting about peace three weeks earlier, told reporters: “From what I understand, they took out Israeli soldiers. So the Israelis fought back, so they should fight back.”
Amidst the baffling claims surrounding the death of an Israeli occupation soldier, a man who claimed to have “solved” a genocidal war in which more than 100 Palestinians were massacred showed no signs of empathy. Adding irony to the tragedy was Vice President J.D. Vance, who insisted that aside from a few “skirmishes here and there,” the ceasefire was still in place.
I can’t see the end
What remains in Gaza today is not peace, but deepening tragedy. The supposed ceasefire has collapsed into a new chapter of bloodshed, exposing the moral bankruptcy of a process that pretends to balance both sides while one side continues to occupy, surround, and annihilate the other.
For the Palestinians, there is no end in sight, only a stark certainty that under Trump’s so-called peace plan, bloodshed will continue and peace, justice, and accountability remain as distant as ever.