The 15 May killing of Hamas military leader Izz al-Din al-Haddad in yet another Zionist massacre in Rimal, Gaza City, only served to reinforce the bankruptcy of any imperialist-brokered ‘peace’ for the people of blockaded Gaza. In the following days, warplanes bombed Jabalia, Deir al-Balah and central Gaza, further trashing the Trump-sponsored ‘ceasefire’. The January announcement of a US imperialist ‘board of peace’ (BoP) for Gaza is a distant memory. Threatening total Palestinian disarmament, the struggle over the next phase of the ‘ceasefire’ is already testing the resolve of the resistance.
Thousands of Palestinians marched in the funeral of al-Haddad, his daughter, wife and other murdered civilians, chanting pro-resistance slogans and displaying an energy that transcended their starvation by the Zionist siege. The occupation has not complied with any of the terms of the US-led, Arab and Turkish-sponsored Sharm el-Sheikh agreement since its signing in October 2025. Instead, the Trump administration has given Israel a free pass for all of its crimes in the strip. With a potential Israeli election on the way, the escalation in Gaza is part of Netanyahu’s strategy to make up for the failure to achieve an Israeli victory and assuage the far right.
In the seven months since the ‘ceasefire’ began, Gaza health officials reported that more than 850 Palestinians had been killed and over 2,350 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza over the period. April 2026 witnessed 377 separate ceasefire violations by Israel, ranging from artillery shelling and gunfire to airstrikes and attacks on ambulances. Systematically demolished in the Zionist genocide, Gaza’s healthcare system requires $10bn in rebuilding costs, according to the World Health Organisation.
6 May reports revealed that occupation forces were pushing forward the ‘yellow line’ demarcating their deployment, to expand Israeli-controlled territory by up to 9%. The ‘line’ consists of a deep trench behind which all Palestinian towns are being bulldozed. Fascist West Bank settlers have been recruited as bulldozer operators to demolish all that remains. One told journalists that if Palestinians attempted to return, they would be ‘returning to nowhere. Tens of thousands of families are left without papers, without childhood photos, without ID cards, they remain with nothing. If they return, they will not know where their home is. All they will find is sand.’ Though resistance has halted the conquest of Gaza City and nearby neighbourhoods, Netanyahu boasted on 14 May, ‘Today we control… 60% [of Gaza]. Tomorrow, we shall see.’ Netanyahu now promises to conquer another 10%; tanks invaded the Salahiddin Road area on 29 May to enforce the threatened mass displacement.
Trump’s BoP figurehead Nickolay Mladenov said in April that aid was entering Gaza to the degree stipulated in the ‘ceasefire’ – an assertion rejected by Hamas leaders. Mladenov met Netanyahu in West Jerusalem on 5 May and claimed that the truce was ‘holding’. Citing continuous Israeli war crimes, resistance figures have pointed out that the regime is attempting to torpedo the next stage of negotiations.
Promoted by Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and other enemies of the liberation movement, the negotiations are another ‘sword and neck’ conver-sation designed to fail the Palestinian people. Hailing the role of these regional states, fellow BoP leader, British Labour war criminal Tony Blair labelled the next step the ‘demilitarisation’ stage. Hamas and the Palestinian liberation factions have repeatedly opposed plans for disarmament. The role of communists in Britain is to defend the resistance and smash the Labour government’s ongoing backing for the Zionist regime.
Louis Brehony
