It has been 46 days since Trump’s ceasefire agreement was signed. When it was declared, Palestinians collectively felt a moment of relief after two years of relentless Israeli bombardment, starvation, forced displacement, and more.
However, almost immediately after the so-called ceasefire was announced, with Donald Trump cheerfully claiming it was “the historic dawn of a new Middle East,” Israel resumed its attacks on the Palestinian enclave, violating the truce more than 490 times in just 44 days, according to the Gaza Government Media Office on Saturday, and killing 342 civilians.
The most recent attack took place on Thursday, when 32 Palestinians were killed in strikes across Gaza. An entire family was removed from the civil registry in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza when their house was hit.
It was an ordinary day, much like those that had followed two years of genocide. Gazans were desperately searching for food and water; some worked to repair their dilapidated tents, while others mourned the loved ones they had lost in previous Israeli attacks. Yet once again, Israel abruptly shattered the fragile sense of normalcy.
Israeli violations extend beyond direct attacks; Israel continues to use starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinians, even after they have endured two years of famine. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), only half the required food aid is currently reaching Gaza, while Palestinians say total aid deliveries amount to just one-quarter of what was agreed under the ceasefire. They are also preventing the entry of nutritious foods, including meat, dairy, and vegetables, as well as much-needed medicine, tents, and other materials for shelter while flooding its markets with processed, high-calorie items.
Trump told a Palestinian reporter last week that “we are making a lot of progress” and Palestinians “like him” and were “doing well.”
But Gazans see his brokered ceasefire as a cover for the ongoing displacement, genocide, and erasure of the Palestinian people in Gaza. The gap between Trump’s words and reality could not be starker. Children in Gaza continue to die from malnutrition and preventable diseases. Families remain trapped in overcrowded shelters with no access to clean water or electricity. Schools, hospitals, and markets lie in ruins, yet the international media remains largely silent, amplifying the false narrative of “progress” that Trump promotes.
Yet, despite this, Israel continues to receive unprecedented diplomatic, financial, and military support, the latest being the UN Security Council adoption of Resolution 2803 on November 17, in a “day of shame,” endorsing Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza—a plan Palestinians see as a way to strip them of their right to manage their own affairs. The global community’s complicity allows these violations to persist, leaving Gazans in a permanent state of fear, hunger, and oppression.
The ceasefire, once seen as a potential lifeline, has instead become a tool to legitimize ongoing genocide and systemic displacement. For Palestinians, the so-called historic dawn Trump celebrated is nothing more than another day under siege.
