Eid in Gaza was another bloodbath. The ceasefire is a lie

Eid in Gaza was another bloodbath. The ceasefire is a lie Soumaya Ghannoushi on Tue, 06/02/2026 - 12:42 The real function of the so-called Board of Peace was not to stop the genocide, but to manage perceptions while it continues A Palestinian boy stands by the rubble of a residential building targeted overnight by an Israeli strike in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on 24 May, 2026 (AFP) On Eid has just ended. Across much of the Muslim world, families gathered around tables, children wore new clothes, and homes echoed with laughter and celebration. While communities elsewhere marked the occasion with joy and togetherness, Gaza endured another season of grief, displacement and death. The images that emerged from Gaza during Eid al-Adha were not isolated tragedies. They were a glimpse into the reality that continues every day behind the convenient fiction that the war has somehow ended. One image showed a mother, Hidayah, taking her daughters shopping for Eid clothes. The girls entered the shop while she remained outside. Moments later, an Israeli strike hit. They rushed back out in panic only to find their mother lying dead in the street, soaked in blood. Another clip lasted only seconds. Amid the ruins of a building destroyed by an Israeli air strike, a man held the body of a small girl in his hands. Her body was shattered, charred and covered in blood. As he lifted her from the rubble, he screamed: "This is the first day of Eid!" (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); A third image showed tents burning in the darkness of an Eid night. Even the makeshift shelters of the displaced are not spared. It is no longer enough that Palestinians have been driven from their homes; even the scraps of canvas under which they seek refuge have become targets. A meaningless ceasefire These scenes were not anomalies. According to the United Nations and humanitarian organisations, more than 26 Palestinians, largely women and children, were killed during the first days of Eid alone. On the first day of Eid al-Adha, an Israeli strike in central Gaza City reportedly killed at least 10 people, including four girls, one boy and three women. How Israel's war on Gaza has made Hajj an unreachable dream Read More » For the victims, the debate over whether there is a ceasefire is meaningless. They are dead either way. That is the great deception at the heart of the current discourse on Gaza. The United Nations reports that Israeli forces have killed around 1000 Palestinians since the October ceasefire was announced, bringing the overall death toll since October 2023 to nearly 73,000. Thousands more are missing and presumed dead under the rubble. The reality is stark. Palestinians largely adhered to the ceasefire. Israel did not. Yet, Western governments, media organisations and political establishments continue to speak as though a ceasefire exists. The new definition appears to be that Israel may continue carrying out air strikes, shooting civilians, demolishing homes and killing Palestinians on a near-daily basis, and the world will still describe the situation as a ceasefire. The moment a single bullet is fired from Gaza, however, headlines fill with accusations of violations and escalation. This fiction serves an obvious purpose. It removes Gaza from the headlines, lowers public scrutiny and allows Israel to continue its assault while political leaders present themselves as peacemakers. No figure embodies this deception more clearly than Tony Blair. Speaking recently about Gaza, the former British prime minister declared: "We put together a plan that ended the war." Ended the war for whom? For Hidayah, killed while buying Eid clothes for her daughters? For the little girl carried from the rubble on the first day of Eid? For the families burned alive inside tents? (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Managing the genocide Blair concedes that there is still "some fighting going on", a remarkably evasive phrase. Who is fighting whom? Who is carrying out the daily air strikes? Who is expanding military control over Gaza? Who is killing civilians almost every day? Blair never says. The real function of the so-called Board of Peace is not to stop the genocide, but to manage perceptions while it continues Instead, he speaks of further negotiations. Not with the party violating the ceasefire. Not with the party carrying out the bombings. Not with the party openly discussing the permanent occupation of Gaza and the removal of its population. The negotiations, once again, are with the Palestinians. The perpetrator disappears from the story. The victim remains permanently in the dock. That is the real function of the so-called Board of Peace. Not to stop the genocide, but to manage perceptions while it continues. Its promises are already collapsing. The talk of international forces entering Gaza has quietly vanished. The glossy reconstruction plans promoted by Jared Kushner have failed to materialise. The Financial Times recently revealed that the Board of Peace fund contains virtually nothing. Zero dollars. Reuters has, meanwhile, reported plans to close the American-led mission supposedly tasked with monitoring the ceasefire and facilitating aid deliveries. Whether Washington formally shuts it down is almost beside the point. In practice, it is already little more than a shell. The reality on the ground tells a very different story from the one presented at diplomatic conferences. While diplomats speak of peace, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly boasts about expanding Israeli control over Gaza. He recently declared that Israeli forces control around 60 percent of the Strip and that his objective is to raise that figure to 70 percent. At the same time, his defence minister, Israel Yisrael Katz, continues to promote what he calls the "voluntary emigration" of Palestinians from Gaza. History is full of occupations that discovered the usefulness of describing forced displacement as voluntary. The irony is hard to miss. The very ceasefire agreement celebrated by Washington promised redevelopment for the benefit of Gaza's people. Yet, Israeli leaders openly discuss expanding their control over the territory while encouraging the departure of its population. And the response from the Board of Peace? Quite literally, no comment. The reaction from Western capitals was scarcely more meaningful: carefully worded statements of concern, ritual warnings, expressions of regret and appeals for restraint. The familiar vocabulary of governments determined to appear troubled while changing nothing. Arab and Muslim capitals, meanwhile, offered little beyond silence. The consequences are entirely predictable. Impunity breeds escalation. The absence of consequences breeds arrogance. After nearly three years of facing no meaningful cost for its actions, Israel has grown steadily more aggressive, more belligerent and more openly dismissive of international law. That is why Gaza remains the issue. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Because what happens in Gaza never stays in Gaza. The methods perfected there spread elsewhere. The precedents established there are applied elsewhere. The impunity granted there is carried elsewhere. Endless impunity Look at Lebanon. Entire towns reduced to rubble, mass displacement, journalists targeted and medical facilities attacked. Increasingly, it is difficult to distinguish between images from southern Lebanon and images from Khan Younis. From Nakba to genocide: A Gaza grandmother’s lifetime of loss and resilience Read More » The same patterns recur, the same justifications are invoked, and the same international silence follows. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than the targeting of healthcare workers. In Gaza, more than 1,700 medical personnel have reportedly been killed, representing roughly 80 health worker deaths per 100,000 people. By comparison, estimates from Ukraine suggest between 280 and 450 healthcare workers have been killed during the war there, equating to fewer than one death per 100,000 population. The destruction of Gaza's health sector has therefore reached a scale that stands virtually without precedent in modern warfare. The same pattern is now visible in Lebanon. According to the World Health Organization, attacks on healthcare facilities and medical personnel have killed scores of health workers there as well. The message is unmistakable: a world that tolerated the assault on hospitals, ambulances and medical staff in Gaza should not be surprised when those practices spread beyond Gaza. Nor should anyone imagine that Israeli ambitions stop at Gaza, Lebanon or even Iran. This AI-supported, American-equipped and diplomatically protected regime has demonstrated few visible limits to its aggression. The same logic that devastated Gaza was later applied in Lebanon. The same arguments used to justify attacks in Lebanon were then deployed against Syria and Iran. Each escalation is presented as exceptional. Each war is described as necessary. Each new target is portrayed as an existential threat. Yet the list of enemies continues to grow. The latest illustration came from Jonathan Pollard, the former American intelligence analyst imprisoned for spying on behalf of Israel, who recently suggested that the confrontation with Iran should be viewed as merely a prelude to future confrontations with Turkey and Egypt. The irony is extraordinary. Turkey and Egypt are not countries at war with Israel. Both maintain official relations with it. They, alongside Qatar, were the principal mediators of the Gaza ceasefire negotiations. Yet, even this appears insufficient protection from being discussed as future targets. Gaza is the issue Whether Pollard speaks for the Israeli government is ultimately beside the point. What matters is that such ideas are increasingly voiced openly within Israeli political and strategic discourse. Gaza is not merely a humanitarian catastrophe. It is the place where all limits were removed They reveal a mindset shaped by impunity: the belief that military force can be applied indefinitely against an ever-expanding list of adversaries without meaningful consequences. Because Gaza is not merely a humanitarian catastrophe. It is the place where all limits were removed. The destruction of entire neighbourhoods, the targeting of hospitals, the killing of medical workers, the displacement of civilians, the normalisation of collective punishment and the open discussion of population transfer were all tested there in full view of the world. The lesson Israel appears to have drawn was not that such actions would provoke consequences. The lesson was that they would not. This is why every discussion about Lebanon ultimately leads back to Gaza. Every debate about regional escalation leads back to Gaza. Every conversation about international law, accountability and the future of the Middle East leads back to Gaza. Because Gaza is not one issue among many. Gaza is the issue. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye. Israel's genocide in Gaza What began in Gaza has spread to Lebanon. This is the price of Israel's impunity Opinion Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:29 Update Date Override 0