THE decision taken by Hamas to relinquish governance of Gaza appears to be designed to put the onus on the US and Israel to take the peace process forward. Having ruled the Strip for about two decades, the Palestinian group announced on Monday that it was ready to hand over governance duties to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, the technocratic body set up under Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.

As per a Hamas spokesman, the move is supposed to “remove any pretexts for the [Israeli] occupation” which, he rightly said, “continues its … war of extermination”. Since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025, Gaza has hardly turned into a cradle of peace. Over 1,000 people have been murdered by Israel, including children, during what is supposed to be a truce. Since the Zionist state commenced its genocidal attacks on the Strip after the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas operation, over 73,000 people have been butchered, with nearly 2m displaced and denied adequate shelter, food and healthcare.

Israel has called the Hamas move a “trick”. In fact, there are signs that Tel Aviv may resume its slaughter in Gaza using Hamas’s refusal to surrender its arms as a pretext and accusing the Palestinian group of not honouring its commitments. Yet it appears that only the Palestinian side is expected to honour the deal; Israel can violate it at will. This is evident in its continued killing of non-combatants. Moreover, Israel has actually solidified its occupation of Gaza; according to one statistic, the Zionist state controls around 70pc of the Strip.

Tel Aviv’s friends issue stern warnings to its adversaries to honour their commitments. But Israel is allowed to break the rules in order to ‘defend’ itself, even if this ‘self-defence’ entails the butchery of innocent children, the elderly and the sick. If this hypocrisy continues, the next cycle of violence in Gaza may be just round the corner.

The Gaza genocide is a blot on the conscience of humanity. Thanks to the support of its Western backers, Israel has literally gotten away with murder in the occupied territories. If the creators of the BoP want Hamas to give up its weapons, they should plainly tell Israel that it must end its occupation forthwith. However, it seems that Tel Aviv has no intention of doing any such thing. It fact, it has vowed to hold on to grabbed Arab land in Lebanon and Syria as well. There should be no ambiguity: the international community must tell Israel to vacate all occupied Arab land immediately. Tel Aviv’s sophistry — accusing others of violating covenants, while respecting no law itself — should be called out, while the people of Gaza must not be left to face Israel’s blood-drenched forays again and again.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2026