Illusions collapse

US-Israeli flights of fancy for ruling Gaza have one-by-one flown away and compelled the Trump administration to revert to reality. The first to go is the US-Israel sponsored Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) which has halted operations and departed the strip when Donald Trump imposed a ceasefire after two years of conflict. Created in May 2025 to coordinate aid in areas controlled by the Israeli army, the GHF has been both controversial as an organisation and deadly for Palestinians. Some 2,615 Palestinians trying to access food were killed and more than 18,000 wounded in or around its distribution sites.

GHF hubs were “protected” by members of US anti-Muslim biker gangs hired for this purpose. One guard who was alarmed by their hostility reported that some of his colleagues delighted in shooting desperate Palestinians seeking food to feed their hungry families. The shooters reportedly chosen on successive days targets on the bodies of aid seekers, firing at legs, arms, chests, and heads.

On June 26, a month after the short-lived foundation began functioning, the US State Department belatedly declared that it had approved $30 million in funding and called the GHF, “the latest iteration of President Trump’s and Secretary [Marco] Rubio’s pursuit of peace in the region.” At that time, $7 million had already been dispatched to the GHF.

During the Oct.13 summit in Egypt’s Sharm al-Shaikh, held to mark Trump’s plan which he called “the greatest peace deal of the century,” he said hundreds of trucks carrying food, medical supplies and other essentials were entering Gaza. His brag has been confirmed by Israel which had previously limited and delayed the flow of aid into the strip.

The closure of the GHF was a defeat for both Trump and his pal Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who sought to control who received aid and prevent Hamas fighters from accessing food and medicine. The mandate of the GHF – from May 27 to mid-October was short – because it could not and did not replace the free flow of aid provided by UN and international agencies which had delivered aid at 400 sites until Israel imposed its blockade on March 2.

As soon as it opened four sites to serve 2.3 million Gazans, the GHF was condemned for operating outside the UN system, sidelining the agency responsible for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), and granting Israel oversight. The GHF sites did not operate together, did not remain open for extended periods (often for less than an hour) and did not issue operational schedules. The objective of the GHF was to force Palestinians to move into areas near GHF hubs, forcing the entire population to settle where the Israeli military was in control.

One hundred and sixty-nine independent agencies – including Save the Children, Oxfam, Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders – signed a joint demand for dismantling the GHF. Their statement, entitled “Gaza: Starvation or live fire – this is not a humanitarian response,” was published on July, 2025, by the UN. The statement said, “Today, Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families. The weeks following the launch of the Israeli distribution scheme have been some of the deadliest and most violent since October 2023.” Amnesty suggested that the GHF’s purpose is “to placate international concerns while constituting another tool of Israel’s genocide.” The GHF experiment wasted time, millions of dollars, and Palestinian lives and fooled no one. It was a fantasy invented by Israel and the US to protect Israel from the folly of killing Palestinians by mass starvation which had already created global outrage. GHF failed miserably.

Nevertheless, GHF sponsors persisted until Trump decided to put forward his peace plan. While ignoring the defeat delivered by the closure of the GHF, Trump reverted to the UN system of aid deliveries, called for an immediate ceasefire, the return of hostages, prisoner exchanges, Gaza’s demilitarization, the introduction of an international stabilization force, transitional governance by Palestinian technocrats under international supervision, large-scale recon-struction, and a “conditional pathway toward acceptance of Palestinian self-determination and recognition of Palestinian statehood.”

Trump’s plan secured support from many countries around the world, including France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Now it is up to Trump to ensure his plan is fully implemented by both sides. After the ceasefire was in place, the return of live Israeli and Palestinian captives was completed, and the handover began to both sides of retrieved bodies. These were the launch tasks. Now the hard part begins.

Hamas has resisted calls to lay down its weapons as it is in the process of tackling armed rivals and spoiler militias supported by Israel. It has been suggested that Hamas place heavy weapons under international control while its fighters retain side arms. The stabilisation force consisting of troops from Egypt (which will command), Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Azerbaijan must be formed and deployed. Egypt has announced that 15 Palestinian techno-crats acceptable to Israel have been selected to govern Gaza. As their names have not been given, uncertainty prevails. Palestinian critics of the Trump plan argue that Palestinians must be free to choose who will govern them and complain that the supervisory “Board of Peace” made up of top foreign figures smacks of colonialism. The US and its western allies have not pledged the $70 billion needed to rebuild Gaza although it is expected the Gulf states will be asked to accept this burden without guarantees that Israel will not renew its 18-year war on Gaza.

Photo: TNS