THE new year has not brought much hope for an end to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, which has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians since it began in October 2023. The Zionist regime has intensified its bombing of the enclave, targeting what remains of health facilities in Gaza and killing dozens more amid a renewed push for a ceasefire.
Months of negotiations have failed to end the war and there is little expectation that the new round of talks, brokered by Egypt and Qatar, will be successful. While Hamas has said it is committed to reaching an agreement, a key obstacle to a possible agreement has been Israel’s reluctance to a lasting ceasefire.
The increase in Israeli airstrikes has only brought more death and misery to the hapless population of Gaza. The incessant bombings have worsened living conditions in the territory, leaving more than a million people homeless. Without shelter or medical facilities, children freeze to death in the biting cold; The Israeli attack has restricted the entry of humanitarian aid, including blankets and tents.
The war, backed and financed by the outgoing Joe Biden administration in the United States, has left some 18,000 children dead. According to UN data, Israeli bombings have destroyed or damaged more than 90 percent of homes in Gaza. Sustained attacks on hospitals and medical workers have brought the enclave’s health system to the brink of total collapse, according to a recent report by the UN human rights office, which “catalogues the siege and attacks on hospitals and their immediate grounds with explosives.” arms”. The attacks have killed hundreds of medical workers and damaged lifesaving equipment. He says 80 percent of Gaza’s healthcare system has been destroyed. Many preventable deaths have occurred due to lack of care, including those of mothers and newborns.
For the next US administration, there is no concept of a two-state solution.
The report says the attacks could “constitute war crimes.” But Israel continues its atrocities thanks to the support of the United States and the inaction of the international community. According to UN human rights experts, the siege “appears to be aimed at permanently displacing the local population as a precursor to the annexation of Gaza, in a further violation of international law.” Israel has also extended its war to the occupied West Bank.
The escalation comes as a new administration is about to take power in the United States. It is not that the Biden administration has become less supportive of Israel’s war of aggression, but incoming President Donald Trump is likely to give carte blanche to the right-wing government in Tel Aviv.
While Trump has promised to bring peace to the Middle East, many analysts believe his return to the White House will only bring more death and destruction to Gaza. He has repeatedly declared his full support for Israel. During a speech at a Republican Jewish convention in 2023, he said he would “defend our friend and ally in the State of Israel like no one has ever done.”
In his first term as president, Trump had recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a departure from Washington’s original position that had opposed the city as Israel’s capital. His administration had also declared settlements in the West Bank legal.
Furthermore, his hand-picked cabinet is filled with staunch supporters of the Zionist regime, some of whom have publicly called for the complete destruction of the Palestinian resistance.
Last year, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Senator Marco Rubio, stated that he opposed a ceasefire in Gaza and believed Israel should destroy “all elements of Hamas.” “These people are vicious animals who committed horrible crimes,” he said.
Trump’s nominee for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, wants the next administration to “let Israel finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza. An even more fanatical supporter of Zionist expansionism is Trump’s chosen US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas who has consistently backed Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and has described a two-state solution in Palestine as “irrational.” and unviable.” ”.
Meanwhile, Trump chose Congresswoman Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to the UN, calling her a “cesspool of anti-Semitism.” The views of some other nominated members of the incoming Trump administration on the Palestinian issue are no less scathing.
It is not surprising that the installation of such a supportive administration in Washington has given an enormous impetus to the Zionist regime to intensify its air and ground attacks on the occupied territory. The close alignment with the incoming US administration appears to have amplified Israel’s sense of impunity, making it more difficult to pressure the Zionist regime to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza and stop its oppression in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has made clear that it will only accept a ceasefire agreement that guarantees it maintains its military control of Gaza as it does in the West Bank. Palestinian resistance groups have said they are committed to accepting a ceasefire and have even approved a list of 34 hostages to be exchanged in a possible deal. But they have also reiterated that any agreement depends on a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire. Given Israel’s intransigence, there is no hope of any progress.
There is also no chance that the incoming Trump administration will pressure Israel to make concessions. According to some analysts, Trump will most likely allow Israel to annex the West Bank if he ends the Gaza war. For the next US administration, there is no concept of a two-state solution with a separate Palestinian state.
Trump will most likely build on his 2020 “peace plan,” which would legitimize Israeli annexation and Palestinian subjugation. With his cabinet packed with radical pro-Israel elements, it is difficult to imagine that the incoming president will be willing to meet Palestinian demands. There is no hope for peace in the region as long as Israel continues its genocidal war with the support of the United States.
The writer is an author and journalist.
zhussain100@yahoo.com
UNKNOWN: @hidhussain
Published in Amanecer, January 8, 2025.
