Peace On Paper, Not On The Ground: Gaza Ceasefire Stalls

As the US and Iran try to turn their truce into long-term peace, CNN has spoken to residents of the Strip who say they are living in the ashes of what they see as another impotent US-led deal. Israel has barred foreign journalists from independently reporting in Gaza since the start of the war.

Last fall, Israel and Hamas signed a two-phase agreement after two years of bombing and siege in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel

More than eight months on, there is little sign of progress. Instead, Gazans face a “dangerous status quo,” Nikolay Mladenov, a former UN official tasked with implementing the deal, warned in May. On Thursday the Board of Peace created to advance the ceasefire plan in Gaza touted two days of “highly productive” meetings in Cyprus, but the path forward remains unclear.

Basketmouth Urges Nigerians Not To Die For Country

Officials have not yet set a timeline to bring in a Palestinian technocrat committee to take governance of the enclave from Hamas, and the international force that proposed security infrastructure is yet to materialize.

Israel has further entrenched its occupation of Gaza beyond the yellow line and continued to target Hamas members. Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the military to seize control of 70% of the enclave and suggested it could take even more. Meanwhile, Hamas has regrouped, refused to give up its weapons and extended its control in the enclave.

The most potent reminder of the bloodshed lies in the thousands of people buried under debris. Palestinian officials have recovered 784 bodies since the truce last October, the health ministry in Gaza said. However, at least 7,500 remain missing buried under the rubble, the Palestinian health ministry told CNN on June 28.

With no sign of a definitive ceasefire in Gaza, a new generation of Palestinians say they are psychologically scarred from the horrors of the present – and paralyzed by the task of building the future.

BY IROKO AYOMIDE AISHAT