With President Donald Trump’s first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement taking effect, I feel like people are finally starting to realize how much damage was truly done to Palestine and its people.
The proposed ceasefire calls for an immediate halt to hostilities between Israel and Hamas, tied to a phased release of hostages and partial Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. It also includes the start of a demilitarization process and the introduction of an international force to oversee security and reconstruction.
But what breaks my heart the most is how quickly Israeli forces are starting to withdraw from the areas Trump designated in the ceasefire, as if the damage they have caused is done and they can simply walk away without paying for the destruction. Meanwhile, the people of Gaza are returning to nothing but piles of rubble and shattered memories.
I don’t have much hope that this ceasefire will last long. It doesn’t feel like it was that long ago, but this same conversation was being had in January. Even though there were talks of peace being negotiated between the United States, Qatar and Egypt, many people realized it was too unsafe for them to remain in Gaza due to the constant barrage of attacks.
With Israel beginning to act on the terms of this new ceasefire, it is estimated that more than 500,000 people have now returned to Gaza, but I can’t help but wonder what they’re even returning to. At the end of January, it was reported that nearly 70% of all structures in the strip have been destroyed or damaged, and an estimated 92% of all housing units are gone.
It’s hard to imagine coming home to nothing but concrete dust and collapsed buildings. And yet, this is their home. No one asked for it to be destroyed. The people of Gaza didn’t choose this war, but they’re the ones left to survive its aftermath.
This leaves me with a few questions that I fear will be left unanswered for some time.
For one, who is going to pay to rebuild everything Israel destroyed in the Gaza Strip? Gaza’s economy has been crushed, its infrastructure leveled and its people displaced.
Promises of international aid are already being made, but we’ve heard those promises before, and the funding rarely matches the scale of devastation. Second, how can we trust both sides to honor these vague, loosely worded terms? Especially with Hamas and Israel returning hostages on such a tight and sensitive deadline?
This phased release of hostages, both living and deceased, hinges on coordination and cooperation. The ceasefire agreement might look good on paper, but in reality, it’s built on unstable ground. And finally, what does any of this mean for Palestinians in the West Bank? Gaza has been in the headlines, but Israeli forces have occupied the West Bank for more than 50 years.
There is no sign that this ceasefire addresses the deep-rooted systemic injustices and violence happening there every day. If the ceasefire is only a pause in one part of Palestine while occupation continues in another, is that really even peace?
And maybe what hurts the most is knowing that Israel will likely walk away from all of this without ever facing real consequences.
Because, let’s be honest, what’s happened over the last two years isn’t just a “conflict.” It’s not a complicated disagreement or a tragic misunderstanding. It is a genocide, and there’s no dancing around that.
The mass killing of civilians, the deliberate destruction of homes, schools, hospitals and entire neighborhoods, the forced displacement of over a million people. It’s not accidental. It’s systematic. And yet, the world is still treating Israel like a misunderstood neighbor instead of an occupying power responsible for unspeakable violence.
What’s even more infuriating is how our government refuses to say it plainly. Leaders on both sides of the political spectrum, democrats and republicans alike, won’t even call this what it is.
Even our president is out here repeating that both Israel and Palestine are tired of the constant conflict on both sides, as if this war has ever been balanced, as if Hamas had tanks, fighter jets or the power to starve an entire population. It hasn’t. This war has been one-sided from the beginning, and the U.S. has helped fund it.
This is only phase one of the ceasefire, and maybe it will mark a turning point with the hostage returns going smoothly as intended. But no matter how this unfolds, justice can’t begin with silence.
Accountability matters. Recognition matters. And so does telling the truth about what’s happened because Gaza deserves more than just a pause in violence. This genocide must end. Not just because the world is watching, but because no people should ever have to beg for the right to live, to exist or to go home.