Netanyahu Agrees to ceasefire, Again. How Many 'First Phases'?
US President Donald Trump announced a 'first phase' Gaza ceasefire deal, facilitated by regional powers. This isn't the first 'first phase.' Netanyahu has a long history of agreeing to ceasefires that serve as operational pauses, only to resume later, often with increased intensity. Think back to 2014, when similar 'ceasefire' announcements peppered an offensive that killed over 2,200
Palestinians. Or 2021, when calls for de-escalation paved the way for more demolitions and displacements. The media frames these as breakthroughs, but how many 'first phases' does a besieged population endure before it's just part of the siege? One might wonder how many political careers are built on brokering these 'deals' while the conditions on the ground for Palestinians remain fundamentally
unchanged. The real question isn't 'what we know about the new Gaza deal,' but rather, 'what have we forgotten about the last dozen Gaza deals?'