Israel has intensified its attacks on the Gaza Strip over the past week, killing at least four Palestinians in the last 24 hours, including a 40-year-old woman in Khan Younis, amid daily violations of the October 'ceasefire'. Local medics and health officials report more than 25 Palestinians have been killed in the past week alone, bringing the death toll since the ceasefire to over 800. The enclave has been devastated by more than two years of genocidal war, which has killed over 72,500 Palestinians.
The rising attacks come as the new US-backed governance structures appear to have been sidelined. The Israeli military has intensified its targeting of Palestinian police officers, recently acknowledging the killing of six officers it claimed were involved in planning imminent strikes, but providing no proof. Palestinian analysts argue the targeted strikes are part of a broader strategy to maintain a state of war and undermine the US-brokered agreement.
Ahmed al-Tanani, a political analyst in Gaza, said Israel is targeting police forces to eradicate any possibility of restoring stability and push the enclave into internal chaos. 'It wants to make it an unlivable environment, forcing residents to seek displacement, which serves the strategic goal of this war,' al-Tanani said. Simultaneously, Israeli forces are advancing further into western Gaza and expanding the 'yellow line' delineating areas under Israeli military control, now controlling approximately 60% of the enclave.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel was supposed to withdraw its troops from Gaza by the end of phase one, but it has refused to do so. The military escalation coincides with the effective paralysis of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a body of Palestinian technocrats established under US President Donald Trump's 'Board of Peace'. While Washington framed the 12-member NCAG as a roadmap for 'reconstruction and prosperity', analyst Iyad al-Qarra argued that the committee has been 'emptied of its role' and isolated in Cairo by Israel.
Academic and Israeli affairs expert Mohanad Mustafa noted that the ceasefire was initially forced upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the US. Now, Israel is deliberately blocking the entry of the NCAG to prevent the return of any political or civil life to Gaza, aiming to maintain a status quo of indefinite military occupation. The 'Board of Peace' is chaired by Trump and features pro-Israel US figures like Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and Marco Rubio.
Adolfo Franco, a Republican strategic analyst in Washington, defended the Israeli military's actions, stating that Israel has paused its implementation of the ceasefire because Hamas refuses to disarm. Hamas has said it would not disarm until Israeli forces are no longer occupying Palestinian territory. Palestinians maintain that Israel has manipulated the agreement since day one, with only 150-190 aid trucks entering daily instead of the stipulated 600.
Al-Qarra argued that Israel has successfully used Trump's overarching peace narrative as a cover to continue its military operations while demanding 'disarmament' – a condition he described as 'a vague and unrealistic excuse'. Meanwhile, al-Tanani revealed that Nickolay Mladenov, the representative linking the NCAG to the Board of Peace, privately acknowledges Israel's daily violations and manipulation of aid during meetings with Palestinian factions, despite publicly adhering to US and Israeli narratives.
Critics have previously described the overarching US-led structure as a 'corporate takeover' that reduces Palestinians to municipal workers with zero political agency. With Israeli militias allegedly operating on the ground and international stabilization forces failing to deploy as planned, confidence in the newly established administrative councils has evaporated among the Palestinian public. As Israeli forces maintain their grip on the territory, the prospect of an independent, functional administration in Gaza appears increasingly remote. 'We have returned back to square one, unfortunately,' al-Qarra concluded.
Source: www.aljazeera.com