Gaza:
Trump Talks Peace While His Ally Netanyahu Exterminates People

Jul 21, 2025

This article is translated from the July 18 issue #2972 of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the paper of the revolutionary workers group of that name active in France.

Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas to try to reach a truce in Gaza began on July 6 in Qatar’s capital Doha. “We’re going to get that straightened out over the next week,” Trump declared a week later.

True to character, Trump boasts while the war continues, and famine worsens in Gaza. The prospect was floated of a 60-day ceasefire to allow an exchange of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, as in the two earlier agreements. But any conclusive agreement has been blocked by Netanyahu’s stubbornness and his refusal to even consider ending Israel’s military occupation of the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Israel’s defense minister proposed to erect a so-called “humanitarian city” in southern Gaza on top of the rubble of the former city of Rafah, which was completely razed by bombs and bulldozers. This site would hold the entire civilian population of Gaza, more than two million people. It would be a gigantic concentration camp controlled by the Israeli army.

Netanyahu’s administration has not officially endorsed the scheme, but it’s supported by the Israeli far right, whose platform is centered on expelling Palestinians from Gaza. The mere fact that a senior minister was able to voice this proposal speaks volumes about the outlook of Israel’s leaders.

While diplomats chatter in Doha, bombings continue in Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians every day. Humanitarian aid has been blocked from entering since early March. Famine is worsening and killing many people, especially the most vulnerable. Around 50 children have died of hunger since March. According to UNICEF, more than 5,000 children between 6 months and 5 years old were treated for acute malnutrition in May alone.

On the Israeli side, the death toll also rises, although by less. Since October 2023, 450 soldiers have been killed—with suicides mounting—and armed combat continues in the ruins of Gaza. Clearly, Hamas has not been eradicated, despite Netanyahu’s claims.

In the context of this military stalemate, opposition is beginning to emerge among the Israeli population. At the funeral of a soldier killed on July 7, a friend eulogized, “You were a brave soldier in a war with no goal.” Thousands of Israelis demonstrated again on July 12 in Tel Aviv to criticize the government’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire allowing the return of hostages. But some protestors also denounced “genocide … an hour’s drive away.”

The only hope for breaking the current impasse would be a mobilization of Israel’s population against its own government. Still, no true peace can come from negotiations done under the leadership of the great powers like the U.S. that pit the peoples of the Middle East against each other. The great powers uphold the Israeli state as the policeman of imperialist order.