Months into the US-Israel 'ceasefire', Gaza remains a scene of chaos and terror
Submitted by
Ghada Ageel
on
Wed, 04/29/2026 - 16:19
A child is killed on his way to a wedding, while those who survive face blocked crossings and collapsing hospitals as Israel's death reign continues with American backing
Mourners weep beside the body of a child at a hospital in Gaza City after Israeli artillery struck homes near Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, killing a woman and her two children, on 25 April 2026 (Omar al-Qattaa/AFP)
Off
The bomb struck the busy market area of al-Nafaq Street in broad daylight.
Along that same street, three-year-old Yahya al-Malahi was leaving a relative's home with his father, dressed in new clothes for a wedding they were about to attend. They had been visiting to help prepare for the celebration. Moments later, a missile targeted a nearby police vehicle. Yahya was killed instantly.
The bombing stands as yet another reminder that the United States, once seen as a beacon of hope and humanity, is today one of the most untrustworthy nations on earth. For those who need evidence, one need look no further than Gaza.
In the aftermath of the attack, dust-covered vendors emerged from the smoke, scrambling to salvage what they could of their goods. Others ran towards the wounded, pulling bodies, some lifeless and others still breathing, from the wreckage. Nearby taxis screeched to a halt as passengers, many of them women, fled in panic.
It was a scene of chaos and terror, laying bare the total devaluation of Palestinian lives and echoing what the United Nations High Commissioner has described as "continuing disregard for Palestinian lives, enabled by sweeping impunity".
The people who live, walk and work along al-Nafaq, like the two million Palestinians confined to Gaza's concentration camp, have been subjected to countless, relentless attacks by the Israeli air force. This persists despite the ceasefire entered into last October, underscoring how little it has altered the conditions of daily life.
Footage of the aftermath shows Yahya's father, kneeling with his back to a wall, cradling the small body of his only son
Footage of the aftermath shows Yahya's father, kneeling with his back to a wall, cradling the small body of his only son.
The child's blood soaks his new clothes and drips onto the ground as he cries out in anguish: "Alhamdulillah, (thank God) ya Allah, compensate us with something good. Oh God, compensate us with something good." He repeats the supplication again and again, as if the words themselves might hold him together.
Beside him, a man in a white shirt stained with blood tries to offer comfort, but there are no words. He looks at the child, touches his lifeless body, already stained with blood, sits down, stands again, kisses the father's head, then sits once more, horror rendering him restless. Yahya's father whispers in an attempt to calm him: "It's okay… it's okay… May God compensate us, Abu Ayman."
The strike killed four others and injured nine, some of them critically.
No ceasefire
Al-Nafaq Street bisects the neighbourhoods of al-Tuffah (Apple) and al-Zeitoun (Olive) in the heart of Gaza City. Drive further north, past Sheikh Radwan, and one enters Jabalia, once home to the most densely packed refugee camp in the world. Today, it is also home to a massive number of displaced people.
Nearby, 14-year-old Ahmed Halawa was shot by the Israeli occupation army. His body was rushed to Al-Shifa Hospital, where he was declared dead. Family members gathered in grief to say their farewells.
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Later that same day, on 14 April, an air strike hit near a cafe in the al-Shati (Beach) Camp in western Gaza City, killing at least five people and injuring several others.
The strike also targeted a large power generator supplying electricity to most of western Gaza City. Now al-Shati is in darkness. My sister-in-law lives there; despite persistent calls, we cannot reach her.
Since the so-called ceasefire took effect, Israel has continued to kill systematically and relentlessly. More than 800 Palestinians have been killed in roughly six months under "ceasefire" conditions.
In April alone, the pattern is unmistakable: seven killed on 6 April, including the driver transporting World Health Organisation workers; 10 on 7 April; 11 on 11 April; one on 12 April; three on 13 April; and 11 more on 14 April. In just the first two weeks of the month, 50 Palestinians were killed.
What is called a ceasefire has become something else entirely: a normalisation of continuous, genocidal violence against defenceless civilians. Over the past seven months, and particularly as attention shifted to the aggression against Iran and Lebanon, Israel's genocide has entered its quieter phase: less visible, but no less deadly.
But death in Gaza does not always arrive in a single moment. Survival beyond the initial strike does not mean safety.
Rogue power
On 11 April, in Deir al-Balah refugee camp in central Gaza, kidney dialysis patients gathered in front of al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, protesting for the most basic right: the right to health and to survive. They called for the full opening of the Rafah crossing so they could travel abroad for life-saving treatment that is no longer available inside Gaza.
Their protest exposes another dimension of the broken ceasefire: the deliberate production of conditions in which life itself becomes impossible.
Under its terms, the Rafah crossing was to be opened to allow thousands of patients and wounded - an estimated 17,000 people - to access urgent medical care. Yet in practice, Israel permits only 15 to 25 patients to cross per day. At this rate, it would take nearly three years to grant these patients access to the care they need - time they simply do not have.
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On 12 April, Dr Atef al-Hout, the general manager of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, issued a desperate appeal after a major generator malfunctioned. The failure forced the hospital to reduce the number of operating rooms and shut down air conditioning in critical units, including those caring for premature infants. Dr al-Hout stated that such a crisis is a direct consequence of the ongoing blockade, which prevents the entry of spare parts, fuel and essential materials needed for basic maintenance and survival.
Addressing this escalating medical catastrophe, Dr Mustafa Barghouthi, Palestinian physician and secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative, notes that Israel, the occupying power, continues to severely restrict the entry of humanitarian aid. Since the beginning of the genocide, "not a single medical device has entered Gaza" for more than two and a half years.
The ceasefire agreement stipulated that 600 trucks per day would enter Gaza. Even under these conditions, Palestinians in Gaza would not have been able to meet their basic needs since achieving this would have required at least 1,000 trucks. But Israel has stopped around 80 percent of the promised 600 trucks, meaning Gaza is receiving roughly 200 trucks per day - only 20 percent of the 1,000 trucks that experts say is the bare minimum needed for survival.
From My Lai to Montgomery to Guantanamo, the US has always been a cruel imperial power marked by profound violence and contradiction - at home and abroad.
Yet it has also offered a scintilla of hope by projecting a certain promise: an idea of itself grounded in constitutional rights and universal human dignity. At its founding, it was animated by a declared commitment to human rights, even as that promise was repeatedly undermined by practices such as slavery, segregation and ongoing racial and colonial violence.
The United States has therefore oscillated between its noblest aspirations and its darkest actions. However, in the cases of Gaza, Iran and Lebanon, US support for Israel reveals a further consolidation of its most destructive impulses. It is these impulses that led Harvard professor Stephen M Walt to describe the US as a rogue state.
However, these are not abstract geopolitical debates. They are written into bodies and lives like Yahya and Ahmed in Gaza, whose short lives ended in the rubble of an air strike, and into countless innocent people in Lebanon and Iran whose lives are cut short by aggression enabled, armed, or even led by the US.
It is in this light that history shall remember its reign.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
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