It’s been a few weeks since the world was presented with the “Trump-Netanyahu 20-Point Peace Plan.” It was announced with grand promises of an immediate Gaza peace. The end to war, a flood of humanitarian aid, and a new future for Gaza. For a brief moment, a sliver of hope cut through the despair.
That hope is already gone.
The ink on the deal is barely dry, and its core tenets are being systematically violated. Exposing the plan for what many of us feared it was. A masterclass in political theatre, not a genuine roadmap to peace. The events of the past week have proven, yet again, that no lasting peace can ever happen until Palestine is freed.
A Ceasefire in Name Only
The very first phase of the deal was an “immediate end to war.” Yet, on the ground, Israel’s aggression continues, making a mockery of the term ‘ceasefire.’
According to multiple reports from international news agencies, Israeli forces have refused to pull back. They are citing vague “security needs.” This has led to several clashes with local resistance fighters in areas that were supposed to be safe zones. They have announced that they have ‘pulled back’, however, it remains to be seen if they actually will.
Worse still, the airstrikes have resumed. On Wednesday, an Israeli drone strike targeted a car in the Jabalia refugee camp, killing three people. Israel claimed they were “militant commanders,”. Eyewitness accounts reported by confirmed that one of the dead was a well-known local doctor. A party that wants peace would not commit such actions. It is the action of an occupier continuing its campaign of extrajudicial killings.
The Chokehold on Aid and the Fate of the Flotilla
A cornerstone of the deal was the promise of “full humanitarian aid” to enter Gaza. This has been a cruel lie. While a handful of trucks have been allowed through the Kerem Shalom crossing, it is a mere trickle, not the flood of aid needed to address a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
The most damning evidence of this bad faith came this week with the fate of the “Hope Flotilla.”
A convoy of five ships, organized by a coalition of international aid groups and carrying thousands of tons of medical supplies, baby formula, and construction materials, set sail from Cyprus. Their mission was to deliver aid directly, in the spirit of the peace agreement. They were met not with cooperation, but with hostility.
As confirmed by journalists on board, the Israeli Navy intercepted the flotilla in international waters. While avoiding the bloodshed of past flotilla incidents, the outcome was the same: the ships’ communication systems were jammed, they were boarded by Israeli commandos, and forcibly towed to the port of Ashdod. The international activists are currently being held for deportation, and the aid’s location is unknown.
This single act proves that the plan to keep Gaza an open-air prison remains firmly in place.
The Fundamental Flaw: Peace Without Justice
This is the hard truth that must be confronted: the deal was designed to fail because it was never about justice. It was an agreement designed to manage the occupation, not end it.
It focused on the symptoms—the existence of armed resistance in Gaza—while completely ignoring the disease: the brutal, decades-long military occupation, the illegal siege, and the denial of the most basic human rights to millions of Palestinians.
You cannot achieve peace by demanding the occupied surrender their right to resist while the occupier surrenders nothing. A peace that does not guarantee an independent and sovereign Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, is not peace. It is a blueprint for perpetual conflict.
The continued violence, the blocking of aid, and the interception of the flotilla are not signs of the deal “faltering.” They are signs of the deal working exactly as intended: to create an illusion of progress while cementing Israeli control.
Until the world, and nations like Pakistan, stop accepting these empty gestures and demand a solution rooted in international law and justice, this cycle will never end. Peace is not just the absence of war; it is the presence of justice. And for that to happen, From rives to the sea – Palestine must be free.