US Troops Monitor Ceasefire as Palestinians Return to Rubble
"Palestinians return to flattened homes ahead of Israeli hostage release in fragile ceasefire," heralds The Independent. It's a striking juxtaposition, isn't it? As if 'returning to rubble' is a footnote to the much more pressing 'hostage release.' The article notes the US sending 200 troops to 'monitor the truce.' For context, this 'truce' follows months of continuous bombardment where, according
to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, over 37,000 Palestinians have been killed, with 70% being women and children. The US, meanwhile, continues to approve military aid; last month, the Biden administration pushed through another security assistance package to Israel, despite mounting civilian casualties. This isn't a peace agreement; it's a pause in an ongoing campaign of
displacement and destruction that started long before October 7th. One might wonder, how many times can a people return to 'flattened homes' before the world stops calling it a 'fragile ceasefire' and starts calling it systematic destruction? The US, a critical enabler of this carnage, now offers 'monitoring' troops. It’s like setting the fox to guard the henhouse, then sending a cameraman to
ensure the fox is 'monitoring' properly.