The brittle truce in Gaza has raised hopes that the unimaginable suffering of its children, women and men may finally come to an end. But many in Israel still seem to thirst for retribution, led by Prime Minister Benyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu’s messianic coalition that dreams of a Biblical Israel, preferably devoid of Palestinians.
US President Donald Trump has staked his personal and America’s reputation by pledging to the entire world at an international Peace Summit in Egypt that the perpetual war between Israelis and Palestinians has ended for all time. On 13 October 2025, he even became the first US President to address a joint session of Israel’s Knesset (Parliament) to drive home that point.
But weeks later, the first humanitarian steps of an arduous peace process have yet to advance. Conditions have not improved much for Gazans despite visits by Trump’s best diplomatic storm troopers and the stationing of 200 American soldiers and senior staff to supervise aid delivery and monitor truce violations.
The wily Netanyahu has skirted peace with the Palestinians for more than 30 years. Now, he seems joined at the hip with bigoted cabinet ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir who openly argue that the only good Palestinians are dead ones or those expelled to other countries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi avoided the summit because Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a favoured guest, was there. Typically, he pushed to stand at Trump’s side in full view of television cameras. When invited to say a few words, he spoke with such sycophantic fervour that the President praised his sincerity.
Disappointment has been heart-breaking for those across the world who sought an end to the deaths of starving children. Instead of at least 600 trucks fully loaded with relief aid entering the Strip each day as stipulated in Trump’s 20-point peace plan, barely 1,000 had arrived over more than a week.
The factsheet is shocking. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reports that more than 170,000 people have injuries in Gaza, including more than 5,000 amputees and 3,600 people with major burns. At least 42,000 people have injuries that require long-term rehabilitation. There are no fully functioning hospitals in Gaza, and only 14 out of 36 are functioning at all. There are critical shortages of essential medicines, equipment and health workers. Every month, 4,000 women give birth in unsafe conditions and hunger and disease still put children’s lives at risk. The destruction has also been psychological. An estimated one million people need access to mental health care. Providing emergency medical aid will cost $45 million while the total costs for rebuilding Gaza’s health system will be at least $7 billion.
Alarmed at the slow pace of aid delivery and to hold together the ceasefire, US Vice-President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Israel in quick succession. Netanyahu seemed unmoved, illustrating the long learning curve ahead for the American team on the difficult art of BIBI-sitting. That is the tongue-in-cheek descriptor given by Israeli media to the toil of keeping Bibi in check.
Within days of the truce, Gaza suffered renewed Israeli airstrikes that killed dozens of Palestinians. Israel said they were responding to a Hamas attack on its soldiers but video evidence indicated that the soldiers were killed by an Israeli explosive device detonated by a bulldozer they were using to clear rubble.
Vance said the US is not looking to ‘monitor a toddler’ in Israel and views the country as an important partner, not a ‘vassal state’. Yet, Trump, who has already taken a victory lap over the Gaza peace plan, is nervous that the process could fall apart.
Modi has stayed at arm’s length so far, partly because of Trump’s sudden embrace of Pakistani Field Marshall Asim Munir and Shehbaz Sharif. But Trump may not be able to find a way out of Netanyahu’s Gaza maze without Indian help. Modi is probably the only world leader who has steadfastly stood by Netanyahu. So, Modi may be the only leader Netanyahu could trust to send teams to monitor aid distribution in a fair-minded way and help him to repair some of the reputational damage he has inflicted upon himself, his country and all the world’s Jewish people through his allegedly genocidal treatment of Gaza’s people.