Israel intensifies Gaza bombing as supposed ceasefire approaches

Racist Ben Gvir, who has boasted of repeatedly sabotaging peace deals, demands help to scupper ‘new’ one that could have been in place a year ago and saved thousands of lives

As the supposed, Trump-brokered ceasefire in Israel’s genocide in Gaza inches – maybe – closer, Israel has intensified its bombing in Gaza, killing and maiming hundreds more refugees in tents, including at least 62 dead – and the extremist fringe of the extremist Israeli government is frothing at the mouth and trying, again, to sabotage any prospect of peace.

Security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has repeatedly boasted of sabotaging previous deals, and has now demanded help from his fellow extremist Bezalel Smotrich – who has openly called for the complete ‘cleansing’ of Gaza – to scupper the deal that Trump is reportedly forcing PM Benjamin Netanyahu to agree.

Israeli pundits, meanwhile, are furiously decrying even the idea of a deal, complaining that it would undo the ‘progress’ of Israel’s destruction and occupation of Gaza – yet despite the regime’s history of sabotaging and avoiding peace, the BBC is reporting that ‘Israel and Gaza’ are making a ‘final push’ for a ceasefire and neither UK PM Keir Starmer nor Foreign Secretary David Lammy have so much as mentioned the prospect.

Netanyahu’s office has this afternoon denied that Hamas has given its agreement to the deal and the impact of the extremists’ rabid response is yet to play out, at least publicly – but there are two realities that are indisputable. The first is that, as author Assal Rad has pointed out, the same deal could have been in place a year ago and saved hundreds of thousands of lives:

The deal supposedly on the table is said to be identical to previous deals agreed and then sabotaged by Israel.

And the second fact is that even if a deal is, as some are claiming, to be announced tonight, Israel’s view of ceasefires does not mean ceasing its attacks – as it showed in the case of Lebanon and it sees even notional deals only as a means of gaining breathing space or room for other manoeuvres. Netanyahu has even said that he will not accept a ceasefire deal that prevents Israel attacking Gaza.

The world prays for good news, but the saturation of one side with bad actors and eager mass murderers means real peace for Gaza will only come if Israel has no other option.

SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount as it has to be entered by us). Alternatively, if you prefer to make a one-off or recurring donation by simple card payment, please use the form below:

Thanks for your solidarity so Skwawkbox can keep doing its job of inconveniencing the right and helping to build the left!

If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.