Israel’s confession of Killings of Palestinians! All talk of peace is just a lie in Gaza (War in the name of ceasefire, The Board of Peace is a Shield for Israel)
By: Dr. Mohammad Ajmal
Assistant Professor at Centre of Arabic and African Studies
School of Language, JNU, New Delhi
The Israeli military has acknowledged for the first time that nearly 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza war. Israel has previously cast doubt on figures released by the Gaza health ministry, which regularly publishes the names and ages of those killed. The total death toll has now surpassed 72,419, according to the agency, including more than 480 killed in Israeli strikes since a US-brokered ceasefire in October 2025.
The United Nations has long accepted the Gaza health ministry’s figures as accurate, while Israel has objected that the agency is run by Hamas and therefore cannot be trusted. The health ministry says thousands are still buried under the rubble of destroyed cities. The majority of the dead are women and children. On the other hand, when the Israeli military was asked for a formal comment on this, it said, “The published details do not reflect official military statistics and any reports in this regard will only be issued through official sources.”
According to the IDF, this number includes only those killed directly in military action, while missing people buried under rubble, deaths from hunger or disease are not included. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 71,667 Palestinians have been martyred in Israeli attacks so far, of whom more than 90 percent have been identified by name and ID number. If the Israeli military had clearly acknowledged that thousands of unarmed Palestinians had been killed in the blood and dust, it would have been necessary to indict Israel for serious violations of human rights under international law and the Geneva Convention and to bring Israel to justice.
Despite this, the process of accusing the innocent is going on. Killing 70,000 people by bombing them is not a trivial act. Even animals have rights in Western countries and the United States. Killing animals without justification, torturing them, or depriving them of food, water, and medical care is a serious crime, punishable by heavy fines and even imprisonment. But if Israel kills more than 70,000 people, displaces 2.2 million Muslims in Gaza, sets them on fire, imposes famine on them, and makes it impossible for them to access food, bringing millions to the brink of death, this is not a crime. It is called the Right of Self-Defense, rubbish!
Despite Israel’s admission of its brutality and ruthlessness, US President Donald Trump is still standing by his support for Israel. He insists that Hamas will have to surrender anyway. He has been misled to the point of believing that Hamas is going to disarm. The way US President Donald Trump is openly and brazenly protecting the Zionist interests, cannot be considered compatible with his desire for peace in the world. This is blatant hypocrisy and anti-Muslim.
The US President is trying to ensure the defense and security of Israel at any cost. He can go to any extent for this. He is trying his best to disarm Hamas by any means. According to a report, Donald Trump said that “I believe that Hamas is going to lay down arms soon. Hamas has no choice but to lay down arms, even if they hand over their AK-47 rifles”. Meanwhile, US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz also revealed that an international program will be introduced to disarm Hamas, in which those who lay down arms will be given money, jobs and amnesty.
According to Times of Israel, this plan, which will give fighters the opportunity to lay down their arms and receive financial benefits and live like ordinary citizens, has been under consideration for several months. This is a situation that is not difficult to imagine that justice, fairness, truth, and moral codes, international laws, and the human rights charter are no longer important to the United States, whose stick is driven by the principle of its buffalo, and the tragedy is that the international community, which never tires of upholding human rights, is also not ready to be touched by the killing of innocents.
The European Parliament and the US are ready to declare unarmed Palestinians, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards of Iran as terrorists, but they are not ready to declare Israel a terrorist state and implement the decision against Israel by the International Court of Justice. The United Nations and the international community should take notice of the war crimes that Israel has admitted to. After admitting to killing innocent people on such a large scale, Israel has now lost the legal justification for the so-called right of self-defense. It should now be completely declared an aggressor state. Based on this admission, the International Court of Justice should immediately hold a trial against Israel and the countries supporting Israel and supplying it with weapons should also be charged with aiding and abetting war crimes.
The Israeli military’s admission that the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza war is around 71,000 is the truth that the world already knew after a long period of denial. These are the same figures that the Gaza Health Ministry has consistently presented and which Israel has rejected for years as “unreliable,” but the United Nations and international aid agencies have been declaring them reliable from the beginning. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the number of martyrs has reached 71,667 and more than 90 percent of them have been identified by name and ID number. The question is, when there are identities, bodies, and families, what more evidence does the world need?
Despite this admission, the ground reality is that the rain of fire and shading blood on Gaza has not stopped, and the ceasefire violations are continuing for the 125thday. On 4th February morning, two Palestinian civilians were killed and several others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on the Maghazi camp in central Gaza. The attack was not on a military installation, but on a besieged camp where life is already difficult. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s statements that “Hamas is going to surrender soon” seem to be a diversion from the real human tragedy. No solid evidence was presented in support of this statement made during a cabinet meeting at the White House.
Although Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff supported this claim, he remained silent about the timing and method. US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz also spoke of an international program to disarm Hamas, which includes a plan to provide money, jobs and amnesty to those who surrender. All of these claims, repeated daily by Trump, but the real and bitter question is whether the humanity buried under the rubble of Gaza is also part of any global plan?
Are the ten thousand Palestinians, whose bodies have not been recovered till now, listed somewhere in any peace formula, any diplomatic draft or any international conscience or the priorities of the so-called Islamic countries? On the other hand, the revelations of Brigadier Raed al-Dahshan, head of the Civil Defense in Gaza, expose an aspect of this war that the international media rarely talks about. According to him, the bodies of approximately ten thousand bodies buried under the rubble in Gaza could not be recovered due to the lack of modern equipment and heavy machinery.
This is not just a management failure, but an organized crime. Israel’s ban on the entry of heavy machinery, bulldozers and rescue equipment has turned this human tragedy into a years-long ordeal, and the world is just mute spectator. According to Raed al-Dahshan, if the necessary resources are provided, the process of exhuming the bodies could be completed in three months, but under current conditions, the task could stretch to ten years or more. This means that thousands of families will be deprived of the right to bury their loved ones.
It is also a bitter reality that even before the war; Gaza’s Civil Defense was operating at only forty-five percent capacity, mainly due to the seventeen-year siege and the lack of modern equipment. The recent war has further devastated this institution. The Gaza Civil Defense has lost eighty-five percent of its equipment and is now operating at only five to seven percent capacity. In a densely populated area like Gaza, where there was a fleet of modern fire engines and ambulances before the war, today only one fire engine, one rescue vehicle and one ambulance remain. Rescue workers are often forced to remove debris by hand; they hear the cries of people buried under the rubble but are unable to save them.
This is not a scene from a Hollywood movie, but a living reality of the 21st century. The human cost of this war has not only been paid by ordinary citizens, but also by civil defense personnel. So far, one hundred and forty-two personnel have been killed, the majority of whom were specialists with fifteen to thirty years of experience. Three hundred and fifty-two personnel have been seriously injured, many with permanent disabilities. Despite the fact that civil defense personnel are considered protected under the Geneva Conventions, wear fluorocarbon uniforms and is in advance contact with international organizations.
All seventeen Civil Defense centers in Gaza have been completely destroyed. Five major centers in Gaza City have been reduced to rubble. Activities in Rafah have been almost suspended due to the evacuation of the population, and they have been integrated into Khan Yunis and the central areas. In these circumstances, the partial opening of Rafah crossing by Israel from February 1, the only land route closed for two years, does not end the siege that has turned Gaza into an open prison.
The real tragedy of Gaza today is not just the number of killings, but the people and their dignity that have been buried under the rubble. The mothers who will spend years waiting for the bodies of their children, the fathers who will identify the bones with the help of identification marks, and the children who are forced to live in unsafe buildings and tents. In such a situation, this is a moment of concern for the international community.
Is the confession of more than72 thousand Palestinians enough? Are ten thousand bodies buried under the rubble not enough to shake any conscience? When the ceasefire moves from mere paper statements to a practical reality, when aid agencies are allowed to operate freely, and when there will be an accountability for this genocide?
Despite the brutal terrorism that Israel launched on October 7, 2023 in the besieged coastal region of Gaza, which resulted in the exterminating of more than seventy thousand innocent and guiltless Palestinians, the Israeli bombing is still continue in the rumbled Gaza. The agreement that was reached under the mediation of Qatar, Turkey and Egypt under the leadership of US President Donald Trump has been scattered, Hamas has implemented the issues that were agreed upon by the parties regarding the ceasefire, but from the first day of the agreement, Israel has proven by its behavior that it is not ready for a ceasefire in any way.
Under the agreement, Hamas released all Israeli prisoners, both living and dead, but Israel not only kept bombing Gaza, but also erected obstacles to the entry of trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel’s audacity can be gauged from the fact those four months after the peace agreement, the Rafah crossing has been opened for limited movement. Israel is openly violating the agreement and unfortunately the mediator countries of the agreement are not ready to express any kind of response to this situation, which is why Israel’s brutal action is still ensuing.
Just few days ago, Israel carried out airstrikes in Gaza City and Khan Yunis, killing 31 Palestinians, including 6 children, and injuring many others. The Israeli army claimed that the Israeli planes carried out this attack to target senior leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and weapons depots; however, no solid evidence was presented in favor of these claims. The tragic situation is that since the ceasefire agreement was signed, Israel has violated the agreement more than 1,300 times.
As a result of these violations, at least 750 Palestinians have been killed and 1,805 have been injured. Ironically, despite all this, no country, international organization, or even the mediators of the agreement, including Donald Trump, have been able to condemn Israel. According to the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, after the ceasefire agreement reached in last October, the United States has approved the sale of $6.5 billion in military equipment to Israel.
The US Department of Defense says that the United States will provide Israel with $6.5 billion in military equipment. The military equipment provided by the United States to Israel includes $3.8 billion in Apache helicopters and $1.98 billion in light vehicles. Israel will also be provided with other military equipment, including power packs and logistical support for the Nemr armored personnel carrier. The permanence of the ceasefire agreement can be clearly seen from this behavior of the United States.
After the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which began in January last, the US President is reiterating his determination that Gaza will be cleared of weapons and Hamas will be completely disarmed. The question is what is the legal and moral justification for disarming only one party to the agreement with the military support of Israeli aggression? The type of weapons, tanks and combat vehicles that the US is providing to Israel are a clear expression of the fact that the US President only wants to unilaterally disarm Hamas.
Peace in Gaza and the base off-board are just a show and an attempt to throw dust in the eyes of the world. Peace in Gaza cannot be established in any way with this approach. The only way to establish peace in the region is to stop Israel from aggression, but the US President is not willing to do this. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem is right to say that despite the agreement, the attack is an insult to the mediators of the peace agreement, the guarantors of Israel and all parties involved in the Gaza Peace Board.
It is time for the mediator countries to break free from US pressure and openly expose this hypocrisy and double standards and make it clear to Trump that if they want to establish real peace in Gaza, they must immediately stop the military aid and military equipment provided to Israel.
The mediator countries should also make it clear to the US that due to its double standards; the role of the mediators is also being criticized. In such a situation, if the ceasefire agreement is sabotaged, they will not support the US in any way and will take all possible measures to protect the Palestinians from Israeli aggression. If such measures are not taken, the implementation of the second phase of the peace agreement will not be possible.
According to the latest reports, the leadership of Hamas has declared that resistance is our constitutional right, and there is no question of being unarmed. Hamas has further demanded that the so called Board of Peace lift the siege of Gaza and said that there will be no political agreement until the Israeli aggression ends. The leadership also has said that it is ready to hand over the civilians to the Administrative Committee, that bargaining over Palestinian rights in the name of reconstruction is not acceptable, and that Israel is using the Board of Peace as a shield to occupy Gaza.
