Israel’s New Airstrikes Reveal Netanyahu’s Lack of a Plan to End the Gaza Genocide
A fragile ceasefire unravels as strikes resume, exposing the absence of a coherent exit strategy for Gaza and the humanitarian costs of a pause that was never meant to be permanent.
When Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal earlier this month, it was presented to the world as a long-awaited breakthrough — a chance to end nearly two years of unrelenting bloodshed and bring humanitarian relief to Gaza’s decimated population. For a brief moment, there was cautious optimism that the guns might finally fall silent and that diplomacy could succeed where bombs had failed.
Yet, less than three weeks later, that fragile hope has shattered. Israeli airstrikes have resumed under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s orders, killing civilians and undermining the very essence of the ceasefire deal. The return to violence exposes a deeper truth: Israel’s leadership, under Netanyahu, never truly had a plan to end the Gaza genocide — only a strategy to pause, regroup, and continue it under different terms.
A Ceasefire Built on Fragile Foundations
The ceasefire agreement, announced with great fanfare, was structured in three phases. In its first phase, Hamas was to release hostages, Israel was to halt its offensive, and humanitarian aid was to flood into Gaza. Later stages would include Israeli troop withdrawals, further prisoner exchanges, and a roadmap for Gaza’s reconstruction and security.
On paper, it looked like progress. Hostages were freed. Israeli prisoners were released. Aid trucks began to cross the border. But the deeper political foundations of the deal were unstable from the start. Netanyahu and his far-right coalition never clearly committed to ending the war. Instead, their language remained focused on “total victory” and “eliminating Hamas,” goals that directly contradicted the notion of peace.
This ambiguity — peace in words, war in intent — is what doomed the ceasefire from its first day.
Netanyahu’s Calculated Escalation
The latest airstrikes, justified by Israel as a response to Hamas “violations,” marked the unraveling of the ceasefire. Netanyahu claimed Hamas had broken the truce by attacking Israeli troops and mishandling the return of hostages’ remains. Whether those claims hold up under scrutiny or not, the response — waves of Israeli airstrikes across Gaza — was both disproportionate and politically calculated.
The Israeli government knows that each new strike erodes the possibility of long-term stability, but Netanyahu’s calculus is driven less by peace and more by survival. Domestically, his leadership is under immense pressure. His corruption trial continues, protests against his government have reignited, and his coalition partners from the far-right demand a hardline stance. In that context, resuming attacks on Gaza is not just military policy — it is political self-preservation.
For Netanyahu, peace is risky. War, however, has become his brand.
No Exit Strategy, No Vision
The ceasefire deal revealed what observers have long suspected: Israel has no real exit strategy for Gaza. The government continues to define success only in military terms — the destruction of Hamas — while offering no viable vision for what comes after. Even now, Israel maintains a de facto occupation over large parts of Gaza, with little indication that it plans to withdraw or allow meaningful self-governance.
The humanitarian dimension of the deal, which was supposed to bring “full aid” to Gaza, has also faltered. Bureaucratic restrictions and security screenings have slowed the flow of food, water, and medical supplies. Many aid organizations have accused Israel of using humanitarian relief as a bargaining chip rather than a moral obligation. The result is a ceasefire in name only — one that allows the siege to continue under the illusion of peace.
This is not a peace process. It is a controlled pause in a long war of attrition.
The Human Cost of Political Cynicism
For civilians in Gaza, the resumption of Israeli strikes has been catastrophic. Entire neighborhoods remain in ruins. Thousands of families who briefly returned home during the ceasefire are once again on the move, seeking safety in a landscape that offers none. Hospitals are overwhelmed, doctors are exhausted, and humanitarian agencies warn that food insecurity has reached unprecedented levels.
Nearly two years into the conflict, the death toll in Gaza has surpassed tens of thousands, with countless others missing or buried under rubble. The ceasefire was supposed to be a turning point — a chance for children to sleep without fear, for families to reunite, for aid to reach those who need it most. Instead, Gaza finds itself trapped in the same cycle: ceasefire, violation, retaliation, escalation.
Each round of violence erodes not only the physical infrastructure of Gaza but the moral foundation of the international order that allows it to happen.
The Illusion of Control
Netanyahu’s defenders argue that Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas, and that any peace must begin with the disarmament of the group. But this framing ignores the deeper reality that Israel’s policies — the blockade, the occupation, the expansion of settlements — have systematically created the conditions in which Hamas thrives.
Even if Hamas were dismantled tomorrow, Gaza would remain under siege, its economy strangled and its people displaced. Without addressing those root causes, any talk of “security” is hollow. Peace built on domination is not peace at all — it is containment.
The latest airstrikes show that Israel’s strategy in Gaza is not to achieve peace but to maintain control, using military force as the default tool of governance. The ceasefire, then, was never a step toward ending the genocide — it was a means to reframe it.
International Silence and Complicity
The international response has been predictably muted. Western governments continue to express “concern” over civilian deaths while reaffirming Israel’s right to defend itself. The United States, which helped broker the ceasefire, has urged restraint but stopped short of condemning the renewed airstrikes. In practice, this amounts to a green light for continued violence.
Arab nations, too, remain divided. Some quietly support Israel’s campaign against Hamas; others are too consumed by their own domestic crises to intervene meaningfully. The result is a geopolitical vacuum — one in which Gaza’s civilians are left without protection, and Netanyahu faces no real consequences for violating the spirit of the ceasefire.
The absence of accountability has become the enabler of genocide.
The Leadership Void
What this moment exposes most starkly is not just the failure of diplomacy, but the failure of leadership. A true leader would recognize that perpetual war cannot guarantee security — that the only path forward lies in political negotiation, humanitarian repair, and moral accountability. Netanyahu has chosen the opposite path: one of defiance, vengeance, and endless militarization.
His inability or unwillingness to articulate a post-war vision for Gaza is not just a strategic oversight; it is a moral abdication. It leaves Israel trapped in a cycle of violence that corrodes its democracy and isolates it from the global community. It leaves Palestinians trapped under bombardment, with no pathway to justice or peace.
Netanyahu has mastered the politics of survival, but not the art of leadership. And as long as he remains in power, Israel’s policies will continue to reflect his cynicism.
What a Real Plan Would Look Like
Ending the Gaza genocide requires more than a ceasefire. It requires a fundamental shift in priorities — from military domination to human restoration. A genuine plan for peace would include three immediate steps:
A complete Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza’s populated areas with international guarantees for security and accountability.
A full-scale humanitarian surge, led by independent organizations, to rebuild Gaza’s hospitals, schools, and infrastructure without political manipulation.
A political framework for Palestinian self-determination, including elections, governance reform, and international oversight to prevent future cycles of retaliation.
Without these steps, any truce will remain a temporary pause between airstrikes.
The Road Ahead
History will remember this ceasefire not as the beginning of peace but as a missed opportunity. It could have been the moment when Israel chose reconciliation over revenge, when the world demanded justice instead of issuing statements of concern. Instead, it became another reminder that power, when unchecked, perpetuates atrocity.
The world is watching Gaza burn again, and Netanyahu’s government continues to justify the flames as self-defense. But self-defense cannot explain starvation. It cannot explain the bombing of refugee camps or the killing of children. It cannot justify a genocide carried out in the name of security.
As airstrikes thunder once more across Gaza, one thing is unmistakably clear: Israel’s leadership has no plan to end the genocide — only to prolong it. And until that changes, peace will remain the one casualty this war cannot afford to lose.
The aid Palestinians could have used was of weapons. That’s it. If any cease fire was going to actually occur it would have been through assisting them in protecting themselves against this genocide. All Netanyahu and Trump have shown the world is that in order to survive against monsters like them one must never give up their weapons.
Personally I think it’s far more nefarious than that.