The Israeli narrative says its assault on Gaza started on Oct. 7, 2023, in response to the Hamas attack in southern Israel.
The Palestinian narrative says Israel’s assault against the entire population of Gaza began much earlier: in 1948 when Israel pushed hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees into Gaza; in 1967, when Israel formally occupied Gaza; and in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2021 and 2022, when it launched successive deadly operations killing thousands of Palestinian civilians.
There is no doubt, however, that the Israeli people suffered more on Oct. 7, 2023, and the Palestinian people suffered more in the 470 days since then than either had suffered before in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
According to Israel’s own count of the toll of that fateful day, in addition to the 240 soldiers and civilians who were taken hostage, 685 Israeli civilians, 71 foreigners and 373 members of the Israeli security forces were killed in the Hamas attack and Israel’s deadly response to it.
The United Nations refers to a toll of 47,000 Palestinians killed with 60 percent of them being women, children and older people. A recent Lancet study estimates that by the end of June 2024 alone, it is likelier that more than 64,000 Palestinians were killed by Israel.
While thousands of Israelis have been displaced from the kibbutzim near the southern and northern borders of Israel, two million Palestinians have been displaced, bombed and starved in Gaza with more than a thousand medical and humanitarian workers as well as more than 200 journalists killed in the same period.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) — the most essential humanitarian agency working tirelessly to save the people of Gaza from the rubble, the famine and now the winter — has also been blocked, bombed and soon to be banned by recent Israeli legislation that takes effect on Jan. 30. The UN reports 266 UNRWA staff among the tens of thousands of civilians killed by Israel and more than 200 UNRWA installations among the 150,000 structures destroyed or damaged by Israel in the past 15 months.
Among the most horrific horrors are those inflicted on the children of Gaza, with more than 17,000 killed and tens of thousands more injured, orphaned or buried under the rubble. UN Secretary-General António Guterres, having previously characterized Gaza as the “graveyard of children,” more recently described the situation as “appalling and apocalyptic,” noting that Gaza now has “the highest number of children amputees per capita anywhere in the world — many losing limbs and undergoing surgeries without even anaesthesia.”
It seems that it is Israel and its allies that have been morally anesthetized — chief among them the United States, which continues to deliver billions of dollars of lethal weapons, including 2,000-pound bombs, for use in the tiny and densely populated Strip in contravention of US laws, including the Leahy law, and international humanitarian law. President Joe Biden’s posture of inhumanity to and dehumanization of the Palestinian people has not only violated the binding obligation of the US and all other states to prevent genocide in Gaza as recently reminded by the International Court of Justice but has also shattered America’s standing across the world.
Rather than demanding an immediate ceasefire as the rest of the world has called for, the Biden administration has repeatedly covered up for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to accept any of the ceasefires negotiated by the international mediators. Even the families of the hostages have repeatedly accused Netanyahu of “sabotaging past efforts to reach a deal in order to preserve his coalition — ‘the most right-wing and religiously conservative in Israel’s history’ — and remain in power.”
President-elect Donald Trump’s warning earlier this month that there would be “all hell to pay” unless the hostages were freed by the time he took office — on Jan. 20 — seemed to be directed more at Hamas than at Israel, but through what The New York Times called “a remarkable collaboration between President Biden and Mr. Trump,” their teams worked together to bring the current ceasefire deal across the finish line one day before Trump’s second inauguration.
US and Arab media reports have converged on the common elements of the deal that took effect on Jan. 19, 2025. From A-Z, they are:
A three-phase deal mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US
Both sides are to cease military operations initially for six weeks, during which Hamas will release 33 hostages and Israel will release 100 Palestinian detainees
Crossing at Rafah to open on Day 7 of Phase 1, allowing for medical and other evacuations
Delivery of a minimum of 60,000 temporary homes and 200,000 tents to Gaza also in Phase 1
Entry of 600 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza will resume daily
Freedom of movement for displaced Palestinians across Gaza, including northern Gaza on Day 7
Garnering adequate international humanitarian assistance for recovery and reconstruction efforts
Hostages and detainees to be released in Phase 1 will be mainly women, children and elderly
Israeli forces to immediately withdraw from Gaza’s population centers; reduce their presence in the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt; begin a phased withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor; and ultimately, to completely withdraw from Gaza in Phase 3
Jump-start rehabilitation of electricity, water, sanitation, telecommunications and roads in Gaza to facilitate recovery and reconstruction efforts
Keep fuel flowing to Gaza during all three phases for operating the power plant, debris-removal equipment and the rehabilitation and operation of hospitals, health centers and bakeries
Lift the blockade, including opening all border crossings and allowing unrestricted movement of people and goods in Phase 3
Military sites and installations to be completely dismantled
Negotiations for Phase 2 exchange of hostages, mostly male soldiers, and Palestinian detainees to begin on Day 16 of Phase 1
Other details of Phases 2 and 3 are to be negotiated during Phase 1
Phase 3, if reached, would declare a “permanent cessation of hostilities” with full withdrawal of Israeli forces and final exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees
Questions loom whether Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will resume Israeli bombardment of Gaza at the end of Phase 1 as his Security Minister Ben Gvir’s resignation implies
Regional states support Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s proposal that the Palestinian Authority “assume full responsibilities” in Gaza with UN and other international backing
Securing the release of Marwan Barghouti — the most prominent of the more than 10,000 Palestinians held by Israel — is a primary Palestinian objective
The Prime Minister of Qatar, a lead mediator, said the current ceasefire framework was actually agreed on in December 2023, and he condemned the loss of life of the subsequent 13 months
United States President Biden boasts that the ceasefire deal is largely the same one he put forth in May 2024, which was endorsed by the UN Security Council in June
Very publicly, Ben Gvir says “he repeatedly foiled” past hostage deals, upsetting the hostage families and vindicating those who claimed Netanyahu “failed to make a deal for political reasons”
Whether or not the deal includes a temporary suspension of Israeli air activity for military and reconnaissance purposes over Gaza is not clear, but if so, it seems to be for 10-12 hours a day
X-factor provided by President Trump “who put the heat on Netanyahu” on Gaza while reportedly offering him concessions regarding the West Bank, such as revocation of the sanctions on the settlers and possibly Israeli annexation
Yemen’s Houthis are expected to stop their attacks on ships in the Red Sea as long as the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire holds, but they have vowed to resume attacks if Israel violates the agreement
Zillions of dollars and at least three to five years will be required to remove the 50 million tons of rubble and rebuild homes, hospitals and schools after Israel destroyed 70 percent of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure
The odds weigh against the ceasefire holding beyond Phase 1. Let us hope that it endures; that those who work for peace are more successful than those who plot for war; that those who believe in the equal rights of all people to life, dignity and self-determination are more compelling than those who seek to dehumanize and to destroy.
It is expected that the incoming American administration will feed the Israeli war machine even more than the outgoing one.
In his farewell address, President George Washington warned against “antipathies against particular Nations” as well as against “passionate attachment of one Nation for another,” which, he argued, would lead to “unnecessary war” and “concessions, which could arouse the ill-will of other countries expecting fair treatment.”
Let us hope that Trump heeds Washington’s warning and upholds the equal rights of all people and the equal obligations of all nations.
This is an opinion essay.
We welcome your comments on this article. What are your thoughts on the A-Z analysis?
Related Posts
Mona Ali Khalil is an internationally recognized public international lawyer with 30 years of UN and other experience, including as a former senior legal officer in the UN and the IAEA, with expertise in peacekeeping, peace enforcement, disarmament and counterterrorism. She holds a B.A. and an M.A. in international relations from Harvard University and a master’s in foreign service and a J.D. from Georgetown University. She is the founder and director of MAK LAW INTERNATIONAL and an affiliate of the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict. She has co-authored several publications, including Empowering the UN Security Council: Reforms to Address Modern Threats, the UN Security Council Conflict Management Handbook and Protection of Civilians.
![[Re]Group - A Playbook for Turbulent Times -Subscribe Now](https://passblue.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/re-group_unf2026_square_600.500@2x.webp)
Mona thank you for a well elaborated article. I would like to say that what George Washington said in his farewell speech is valid not only for Donald Trump but for all leaders of our nations because the support of the Israel’s war on Gaza was not only from Biden, but also leaders of Germany, France, United Kingdom and Canada meanwhile all of them are behind Ukraine against Russia. As long as equality, human rights and justice are not our basic values, we will continue to be living in a JUNGLE not a humanity!