Trump Ceasefire Continues to Hold in Gaza Despite Bibi Efforts to Blow It Up

Nov. 12—The ceasefire between Israeli military units and Hamas in Gaza, put in place over a month ago as part of the Trump Peace Plan that has seen Hamas release all living hostages and nearly all of the remains of dead hostages, in exchange for the massive release of Israeli-held Palestinian prisoners and detainees, remains in effect despite the efforts of the Butcher of Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, to blow it up.

The British-led NATO propaganda machine has tried to ridicule the ceasefire by reporting that more than 250 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed by the Israelis since the ceasefire went into effect. But almost all the dead were killed in Israeli airstrikes in response to two incidents that Israelis claimed Hamas fighters fired on the IDF, killing soldiers. Hamas has claimed that it had nothing to do with the incidents, both of which occurred in the Rafah area where the Hamas leadership has little or no control over what dissident fighters might do.

Israel has offered no proof that the attacks were organized by Hamas. In fact, internal investigations by the IDF seem to indicate that the IDF soldiers were killed in response to their efforts to kill alleged Hamas fighters who were trapped in tunnels that the IDF had ordered dismantled.

U.S. Envoys Confront Netanyahu Over Retaliation

After the first incident last month, President Donald Trump dispatched his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, along with his son-in-law Jared Kushner, to tell Netanyahu that while the IDF had the right to respond to attacks on its forces, which had withdrawn to designated areas, any additional responses, such as airstrikes, had to be approved by the U.S.—either by Trump and his team directly, or through the U.S. CENTCOM base in Israel that had been established to monitor the ceasefire and to move forward with plans to set up an International Security Force to police Gaza and disarm Hamas as part of the next phase of the Trump Plan.

In what sources say was a shouting match between Witkoff and Netanyahu about Israel's sovereign rights, the Special Envoy told him that he had no right to slaughter innocent women and children by the scores in response to an alleged attack by Hamas that killed a soldier. "I will not let you destroy what my President worked so hard to create," he is said to have told Bibi. Witkoff also told the Israelis and later the press that he believed the incident was not organized or directed by Hamas, and that he had spoken to the Hamas leadership about it.

Other sources had been warning that Netanyahu may use Israeli assets in the area to pose as Hamas to "stage" such incidents.

Rubio’s Misstep Opens Door to Escalation

Problems arose when Trump recalled Witkoff to have him work on the proposed summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was replaced in the area by the bungling fool, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who, while talking about Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas, failed to talk about "commensurate response." Bibi, sources report, seeing his opening, moved to create a new incident.

He dispatched IDF engineering crews to dismantle more tunnels in Gaza, knowing full well that Hamas fighters were trapped in those tunnels. One of the crews was then fired upon by fighters bursting from the tunnels, and a firefight ensued in which two IDF soldiers were killed. Bibi then informed the White House of his planned "massive retaliation response," sources report. He did not speak to Trump, who was on his way to Asia for meetings. Instead, he sought out Rubio, who once again did not mention the word "commensurate" and green-lighted the proposed massive response, which wound up killing more than 100 Palestinians, including more than 40 children.

Hamas again said that no ordered attack had taken place and that the IDF actions on the tunnels had produced the resultant firefight. Hamas also warned that more than 200 fighters remained in the tunnels and asked those overseeing the ceasefire that they be allowed to leave the tunnels and the IDF-controlled zone peacefully. The Israelis would not agree to the request.

Kushner Returns to Reinforce Ceasefire Terms

This time, Hamas reached out to Witkoff through intermediaries. As a result, Trump two days ago dispatched Kushner to the region to meet with CENTCOM and the Israelis on the tunnel question, and another issue brought up by Hamas and the Arab mediators—Israel is continuing to slow the flow of much-needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, including what Israel terms dual-use supplies such as tents and other shelters and various medical supplies, including hypodermic needles. Sources close to the White House say that the U.S. is demanding that the Israelis end such blockages immediately.

In addition, CENTCOM is working on a plan for the U.S. to build more than 25,000 emergency shelter units, which would ease the suffering of people without shelter, with the onset of colder weather.

Kushner met with Netanyahu Sept. 11 to demand that he allow the Hamas fighters to leave the tunnels and avoid a potentially bloody—and unnecessary—incident, and to immediately open the border crossings to allow blocked aid to flow. A source reported that this was not made as a "request," but a demand, and that the Israeli leader was told that there would be consequences if he failed to act.

U.S. Asserts Control Over Peace Plan Implementation

Kushner also expressed alarm about the failure of the Israeli government to curb violence directed against Palestinians by its settlers on the West Bank. He repeated that Israel will not be allowed to annex all or part of the West Bank, nor would Trump allow any Israeli settlements in Gaza. He expressed confidence that all phases of the Trump Peace Plan would be implemented, including some that Bibi does not support, such as the involvement of the Palestinian Authority in the future governance of Gaza.

Sources report that Kushner told the Israelis and CENTCOM that reports in Reuters, the British propaganda machine, that the Trump plan could not be implemented and that people had to accept the idea that Gaza might be partitioned into one zone partially or fully controlled by Hamas and another controlled by the IDF as "fake news" and totally false.

These sources say that to move the peace process forward, the U.S. and CENTCOM are taking effective control of policing the ceasefire, and the Israelis will play a diminished role in this. They say that the U.S. will soon make an effort to kick-start movement to implement the next phase of the peace plan. While acknowledging difficulties in putting together the ISF, these are not insurmountable, and they express confidence that people will see movement toward that end "very soon."

"The President is absolutely fully engaged in this and intends to see his Plan carried through to the end," said one source. "If this were not the case, the Israelis would have already blown things up and we would be back to the slaughter. This is bad news for Bibi."