While world capitals discuss US President Donald Trump’s “peace plan” and a “new phase” of security and political arrangements, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip remain trapped in destruction, displacement, fear and uncertainty.
Talk of Gaza’s future often appears detached from the tangible reality its people endure each day under Israeli bombardment.
An online campaign launched by activists in Gaza under the hashtag “They Lied to You” seeks to present the reality from the perspective of the Strip’s residents. Its organisers said the campaign aims to “break the illusion that the tragedy has ended”.
“How Will Gaza Be Rebuilt After Such Enormous Destruction?”
The British newspaper The Times published testimonies from Palestinians exposing the widening gap between political promises and the humanitarian reality on the ground.
Palestinian mother Reem Abu Jazar recounted how she lost her 10-year-old son, Walid, who had become responsible for supporting his family and bringing them food and water after his father was killed. Walid was later killed by shrapnel from an Israeli air strike while returning to the family’s tent with his sister.
In southern Gaza, displaced resident Doaa Basem, 26, said life had not changed despite repeated talk of peace.
Pharmacist Mohammed Suhail, 67, asked: “How will Gaza be rebuilt after such enormous destruction?”
Peace Without an Impact
Optimism spread after the Peace Council announced a road map for implementing the second phase of the agreement to end the war in Gaza. However, the Israeli military intensified its air strikes and artillery shelling across several parts of the Strip.
Since last Saturday, the attacks have killed 34 Palestinians and wounded another 134, including women and children.
Palestinian testimonies featured prominently in a Times report titled, “Trump Talks of Peace, but Words of Hope Ring Hollow in Gaza”. The report argued that the many plans and scenarios being proposed for Gaza’s future sometimes serve to distract attention from the severity of the daily suffering endured by its people.
The American magazine Newsweek, in a report titled, “Israel Was Given a Gaza Peace Plan. It Bombed the Strip the Next Day”, said the strikes that immediately followed the announcement had weakened hopes that the agreement would move from paper into reality.
Newsweek noted that the ceasefire agreement, which took effect in October 2025 under the sponsorship of the United States, Qatar, Egypt and Türkiye, had failed to bring Israeli attacks to a complete halt.
Israeli Attacks Continue
The magazine quoted Gaza Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal as saying that Israel was “intensifying its air strikes on the Gaza Strip at an unprecedented rate”.
Qatar, Egypt and Türkiye issued a joint statement calling on Israel to halt the bombardment and comply with its commitments under the ceasefire agreement.
In an effort to preserve the deal, the Peace Council’s High Representative for Gaza, Nikolay Mladenov, met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for an end to the military strikes.
According to Newsweek, Mladenov warned that the continuing attacks had killed civilians and destroyed medical supplies.
He said the attacks were undermining efforts to implement the next phase of the agreement, which is based on the disarmament of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, in exchange for an Israeli military withdrawal to what is known as the “Yellow Line”.
Israel, for its part, refuses to withdraw before Hamas is fully disarmed and its tunnel network dismantled. Hamas maintains that it will not surrender its weapons before Israeli forces withdraw.
Newsweek also quoted Yossi Mekelberg, a researcher at the British think tank Chatham House, as saying that any agreement would require “a minimum level of trust between the two sides”.
“If this phase of disarmament and withdrawal does not succeed, where do we go next?” he asked.
Between Despair and Hope
The Times reported that Gaza’s humanitarian conditions were becoming harsher with each passing day.
This week, the Strip witnessed a mass funeral for 112 members of the Abu Sharia and al-Hassayna families after their remains were recovered from beneath the rubble of three residential buildings in the al-Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City.
The buildings had been destroyed in an Israeli air strike in late 2023. Rescue crews were unable to reach the victims until months later because of the scale of the destruction.
The funeral stands as evidence that reconstruction remains far from becoming a reality.
According to the newspaper, most of Gaza’s population continues to live in tents or among the ruins of destroyed homes, relying on humanitarian assistance to secure the minimum amount of food and water needed for survival.
Rising temperatures, combined with shortages of water and medicine, are making daily life even more difficult for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians. Many have been forced to move repeatedly from one location to another since the war began.
For families who have lost their children and loved ones, for children who have known nothing beyond life in tents, and for civilians waiting desperately for the war to end, the prospects for peace are not measured by the number of statements or political agreements issued.
They are measured by whether those agreements can immediately and genuinely stop Israeli bombardment, return people to their homes and lands, and open the way to a dignified life.
