The peace agreement proposed by Donald Trump for Gaza, accepted by Israel and Hamas in its initial phase, imposes a temporary halt to two years of systematic destruction. This truce, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, pauses the genocide but reinforces the dynamics of domination that the United States and Israel have imposed on Palestine. Washington’s complicity in the Holocaust in Gaza and the hypocrisy of prioritizing allies over international law emerge as pillars of a superficial pact that does not alleviate structural causes. Academics estimate that the real death toll in Gaza is 12 times the official figure, a third of the total population.
Trump’s plan includes the exchange of hostages and prisoners, freeing some twenty Israelis alive for nearly two thousand detained Palestinians. This restores fragments of humanity in a conflict that has fragmented entire families. Arab mediators have facilitated this pragmatic de-escalation, essential for any semblance of reconstruction. However, this release comes too late for thousands of Palestinians extrajudicially executed by Israeli forces, a toll the agreement completely ignores.
The opening of humanitarian corridors marks another concrete step forward, allowing the entry of food, medicine, and equipment to clear rubble. Under Trump’s framework, this phase will rehabilitate hospitals and provide water and electricity, reversing months of deliberate siege. Survivors will be able to rebuild shattered lives, a relief that mitigates the famine imposed by the Israeli blockade. Still, these flows depend on the good faith of an occupier who has used hunger as a weapon, calling into question their true sustainability.
The partial withdrawal of Israeli troops to buffer zones creates a respite in Gaza, temporarily ceding control to transitional Palestinian forces. This enables the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced people, opening avenues for internal mobility. The plan, in theory, paves the way for future negotiations, but only if Israel keeps its promises. The history of previous violations, such as the end of the ceasefire in March 2025, suggests that this withdrawal is more tactical than transformative, preserving military supremacy.
The problems with the agreement, however, reveal its deep bias toward Israel’s expansionist agenda, backed by Washington. Hamas’s demand for total disarmament, without counterparts for Israel’s nuclear arsenal, amounts to a forced surrender that dismantles Palestinian resistance. This perpetuates impunity for war crimes, allowing massive bombings to go unaccountable. The United States, as the main arms supplier, orchestrates this asymmetry to keep Israel untouchable, betraying any notion of international equity.
Transitional governance, entrusted to an apolitical Palestinian committee overseen by a “Peace Council” chaired by Trump, dilutes Palestinian self-determination. This neocolonial structure invites external interventions that turn Gaza into a controlled enclave, where local factions are marginalized. Israel maintains a military presence at its borders, and the United States administers reconstruction funds, prioritizing allied contractors over genuine needs. Such a model is not peace, but a prolongation of apartheid disguised as benevolence.
In the long term, the omission of permanent borders or the end of the blockade condemns Gaza to perpetual isolation, without a viable Palestinian state. Expansionist Zionism, fueled by US subsidies, continues to devour land without restraint, only postponing the cycle of violence. Resources to build on the rubble are conditioned on submission, deepening inequalities that benefit foreign powers. Without dismantling this hegemony, the agreement sows resentments that will inevitably erupt.
In essence, Trump’s pact stops bullets but buries Palestinian rights under layers of domination. Washington and Israel emerge strengthened, while Gaza languishes like a festering wound. Relentless global scrutiny is imperative to demand real justice, not this mirage of peace. Otherwise, history will judge this armistice as a mere interval in continuing oppression.
