Extermination in Gaza and the West Bank will persist, even if
a ceasefire deal is reached with Hamas.

Netanyahu has no contradiction about the ceasefire deal negotiation; instead, he is consistent in
defeating Hamas, dooming the two-state plan and taking control of Gaza.

Dr Pamelia Riviere

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday, August 21, 2025, that he
would resume indirect negotiations with Hamas to secure the release of remaining Israeli
hostages held in Gaza. However, Netanyahu emphasized that this would not stop Israel’s military
operation to capture Gaza City or the forced displacement of its nearly 1 million residents.There have been peace talks between Israel and Hamas, but key differences remain. While
Hamas has agreed to a proposal by mediators for a 60-day ceasefire in exchange for releasing
half of the remaining hostages, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apparently
rejected this, saying he has instructed negotiations to begin for the release of all remaining
hostages.

US journalist and author Jeremy Scahill states that if Israel rejects the latest offer to pause its war
on Gaza, it indicates that “it doesn’t want any deal.” Scahill, the co-founder of Drop Site News,
explains that Hamas has proposed significant concessions on key issues such as the number of
Palestinian prisoners to be released, Israeli withdrawal from the border with Egypt, and the so-
called GHF. Scahill was interviewed by Al Jazeera’s The Bottom Line with Steve Clemons.The UN declared a famine in Gaza
The United Nations has officially declared a famine in the Gaza Strip, where more than half a
million Palestinians face widespread starvation, destitution, and preventable deaths. The
declaration follows 22 months of nearly constant Israeli bombardment, along with repeated
forced displacement of Palestinians, severe restrictions on access to food, water, and medicine,
and the collapse of health, sanitation, and market systems. The U.N.’s top humanitarian official,

Tom Fletcher, spoke from Geneva earlier today. All UNSC members except the US condemn the
Gaza famine as man-made. All other members of the United Nations Security Council—apart
from the US—are calling for Israel to allow more aid into the Gaza Strip. During a session on
Wednesday, the CEO of Save the Children told the body that every decision-maker has a legal
and moral responsibility to act to stop the atrocities.

A UN classification system used to determine access to food has officially declared famine in
Gaza, stating that more than half a million Palestinians are experiencing catastrophic famine
conditions, which include starvation, destitution, and death. Top UN officials, several states, and
international organizations condemned Israel after a globally recognized UN monitor officially
declared famine in Gaza as a result of Israel’s policy of starvation, which could amount to war
crimes. The BBC reported that Gaza City is now facing a renewed Israeli offensive, with troops
operating on its outskirts as part of a plan to take control of the city.

Israel’s unrelenting attacks continued overnight, with at least 25 Palestinians killed since the
early hours of Friday. Among the dead are at least 12 civilians killed when Israel bombed a
school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood,” Democracy
Now!, reported.

On Friday, August 22, 2025, the Israeli army killed dozens more Palestinians across Gaza as it
keeps pushing civilians, doctors and journalists out of Gaza City in the north, blowing up its
neighbourhoods. Israeli soldiers initiated raids across the occupied West Bank, including in Jenin
and the al-Mughayyir village northeast of Ramallah, while settlers launched more armed attacks
on Palestinians.

Responding to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification’s official declaration of famine
in Gaza City today, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy, and
Campaigns, Erika Guevara Rosas, said that today’s famine declaration is “a scathing indictment
of the failure of states to press Israel into ending its genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip.” She
also said, “History will never forgive us for standing by as emaciated children die, while food
remains just miles away, yet blocked by Israel.” However, Israel’s Foreign Ministry has

dismissed the findings, claiming there is no famine in Gaza and that the findings are based on
“Hamas lies.”

“Parts of Gaza are officially experiencing a “man-made” famine, according to a Friday report by
a United Nations-backed initiative, which added that the situation is expected to worsen after
months of relentless conflict.” The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)
confirmed that famine has been identified in the Gaza Governorate, which includes Gaza City
and is now also the site of a significant new Israeli offensive. “As this Famine is entirely man-
made, it can be halted and reversed,” the report stated.
According to The Guardian’s report, “The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is
present and is rapidly spreading. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate,
at-scale response is needed.” The IPC called for an immediate ceasefire, emphasizing that
without a truce allowing humanitarian aid to reach everyone in the Gaza Strip, “avoidable deaths
will increase exponentially.”

UN chief António Guterres states that the crisis is a "failure of humanity itself" as he calls for
unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza. Shockingly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu claims the report is an "outright lie" and that Israel "has a policy of preventing
starvation."

Starving people are directly shot, every day, by GHF
During nearly two years of war in Gaza, Israel has at times restricted or cut off aid entry to the
devastated enclave. While some people have died from starvation and hunger, others have been
killed trying to access aid at distribution sites operated by the controversial US- and Israeli-
backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which was established to replace a UN system
that has faced longstanding criticism from Israel. The Coordination of Government Activities in
the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli agency responsible for distributing aid into Gaza, rejected
the IPC report before its release, stating it “relies on partial, biased data and superficial
information originating from Hamas,” CNN reported on August 22, 2025.

An investigation into leaked classified Israeli military data shows that five out of six Palestinians
killed in Gaza were civilians, not fighters. It is one of the highest death tolls recorded in modern
wars.
The recent Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling have targeted the Zeitoun and Sabra
neighbourhoods, just east of Gaza City. There have been relentless air strikes and shelling over
the past five days, with explosions ongoing. People report that the blasts continue unabated.
Zeitoun is being erased from the map. This reflects the situation in Rafah, parts of Khan Younis,
Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoon, where Israeli forces are focusing their operations. Houses,
schools, public facilities, and government buildings in Zeitoun are being destroyed.

According to the UN, since 27 May, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while trying to
obtain food; 859 near the GHF sites and 514 along the routes of food convoys. The death toll at
the food distribution site exceeded 1400 by August 22, 2025.
(Jerusalem, August 1, 2025) – Human Rights Watch stated today that Israeli forces at the
locations of a new US-backed aid distribution system in Gaza have routinely opened fire on
starving Palestinian civilians, actions that constitute serious violations of international law and
war crimes. “Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are
now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families,” said
Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch.
The US-backed IDF and GHF contractors developed a militarized aid distribution system that
has transformed aid deliveries from a safe food shelter into a deadly zone for the hungry.

Gaza City is once again under attack. Overnight airstrikes and a significant ground offensive
mark what Israel calls the “next phase” of its war against Hamas. Tanks are advancing, 60,000
reservists have been mobilized, and air raids continue to bombard neighbourhoods. But beyond
the battlefield, hospitals are overwhelmed, children are starving, and civilians face impossible
choices with no safe zones in sight.

Hamas claims to accept a ceasefire, but Israel rejects it. Protests are increasing inside Israel,
families of hostages are angry, and the world remains silent. The question is: even if Hamas fails
and Israel prevails, what happens next for Gaza? Trump has said he expects the war in Gaza to

end within two to three weeks, but the US president’s claim should be seen as wishful thinking.
It was noted that US officials have been suggesting for months that the war, which Washington
supports with military aid and funding, would conclude soon. In February 2024, then-
President Joe Biden said that a ceasefire deal was “close” and that he hoped it would be finalized
within days, according to CNN. However, the deal was never finalized.

Palestinians face death and displacement amid the horrific attack on Gaza
Israel has begun intensifying attacks on Gaza City, which it is planning to seize, forcibly
displacing close to one million people and carrying out the “systematic demolitions” of
Palestinian homes.
Eighty-three percent of those killed in Israel’s war on Gaza have been civilians, The Guardian
and Israeli news outlets +972 and Local Call have found, citing classified Israeli military
intelligence figures.
Hamad Hospital announced that it received the bodies of three individuals killed by Israeli
forces, along with 91 others who were injured while seeking aid, DAWN stated.

The Palestinian Interior Ministry has condemned Israel’s effort to take control of Gaza City as a
“death sentence” for the more than one million residents there. Protesters blocked routes in Tel
Aviv and held demonstrations in Jerusalem demanding a deal to secure the release of all captives
held in Gaza from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Protests erupted over the news of the
latest offensive, with many hostage families saying this only puts those still held in Gaza at
greater risk. However, Netanyahu is unwilling to end the war and bring back the hostages.
Netanyahu stated he will not accept any peace agreement that is not comprehensive. He said he
will negotiate as he has in the past, but this appears contradictory.
It is visible that Netanyahu wants to expand the assault in Gaza, which is controversial and
dangerous for the hostages. He considers that military pressure will help free the hostages by
forcing Hamas to release them. While he claims he will negotiate, he continues the assault on
civilians. Over the past two years, this has been consistent with Netanyahu’s approach. Hamas
shifted from seeking a permanent ceasefire to a 60-day truce; however, Hamas has always
demanded a permanent ceasefire, which Netanyahu has refused.

Israeli soldiers raid across the occupied West Bank, following violent settler attacks
According to Democracy Now, Israel’s government has given final approval to a settlement
project in the occupied West Bank that would effectively divide Palestinian territory into two,
undermining efforts to establish a future Palestinian state. The “E-1” settlement involves the
construction of approximately 3,400 new housing units. It would sever one of the few remaining
territorial links between major Palestinian cities, such as Ramallah in the northern West Bank,
and southern cities like Bethlehem. Al Jazeera also reported that on August 27, 2025, Israeli
forces continued a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, which had injured at least 80
Palestinians.
Approval of the E-1 settlement quickly triggered international outrage. The U.N. secretary-
general condemned the plan as an “existential threat to the two-State solution.” In contrast,
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy condemned it as “a flagrant breach of international
law.”
Guterres also condemned Israel’s escalation in Gaza City. He said, “I must reiterate that it is vital
to reach immediately a ceasefire in Gaza and the unconditional release of all hostages and to
avoid the massive death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would
inevitably cause.”

However, with the US providing full support—financial and military—for prolonging the Gaza
conflict, the question remains: Will Israel opt for a temporary deal or continue pursuing an
ongoing conflict and atrocity in Gaza and the West Bank?

Dr. Pamelia Riviere is a freelance writer and analyst.