Netanyahu blocks Gaza rebuilding to protect his own power
By Aoife Gallagher · Reporting from Dublin ·
As Donald Trump’s peace plan stalls, Benjamin Netanyahu uses military control to keep Gaza in frozen misery while Washington shields him from international justice.
The permanent occupation masked as peace
A year into Donald Trump’s peace plan, the tents in Gaza are still tattered. The sewage still overflows. Hundreds of thousands of people squat amid rodents and disease. Most homes, schools, and mosques remain rubble. As reported by The Washington Post, this frozen misery is not an accidental delay. It is the deliberate product of a ceasefire that is no ceasefire at all.
The Guardian reports that the overall death toll has risen in the last year. The Israeli military controls parts of Gaza. Palestinians who approach the yellow line dividing the zones are shot dead. International aid workers warn that restrictions slow preparations for cold weather. Yet Israeli authorities insist trucks enter each day. One international aid worker in Amman, Jordan, spoke to The Guardian. “People aren’t hungry any more but they are still malnourished,” they said. “Our local staff are telling us that this is just the next stage of the conflict.” Saleh Kilani captured the despair with quiet dread. “My biggest fear is that this situation will continue,” he said. “We are living through a period that can be described as neither war nor peace.”
This is the classic architecture of Disengagement from Gaza. In 2005, Israel withdrew its ground forces and dismantled its settlements. Yet it kept exclusive control over airspace, territorial waters, and borders. By retaining external control, the state preserved an effective occupation without the costs of direct administration. The mechanism remains identical today. Unilateral security measures and border controls sustain an occupying power's grip. This remains true even when a formal peace plan is announced.
The double standard of the big capitals
The strongest opposing case for this arrangement comes from the diplomats in Washington and Jerusalem. Their advocates argue that the security architecture must remain rigid. They note Hamas remains committed to Israel's destruction. They point to low-intensity clashes and the slow pace of disarmament. They warn against lifting security barriers prematurely. From this perspective, the military presence is a necessary shield against terror. The diplomatic stalls merely reflect the prudent caution of leaders.
This defense collapses the moment one maps the leverage and looks at who pays. Hamas has announced the resignation of its civil administration. Its popular support has slumped. Yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu uses incomplete disarmament as a permanent veto over reconstruction. The Board of Peace was established under Trump and led by Washington. Its official World Bank account sits empty while millions pour into unmonitored channels. Meanwhile, MS NOW reports that the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. The charges include war crimes and starvation as a method of warfare. How did Washington respond to a court attempting to enforce international law? By sanctioning ICC personnel and protecting its right-wing ally from accountability. The big capitals decide the rules, but the periphery pays in blood and rubble.
The verdict on frozen misery
The historical pattern tells us that interim arrangements are made permanent when the powerful find advantage in delay. To believe this time is different is foolish. A client state will not surrender military dominance just because a foreign president signed a paper. Netanyahu has no domestic political incentive to permit the rebuilding of Gaza. A rebuilt Palestinian territory disrupts his coalition's security doctrine.
Benjamin Netanyahu will continue to exploit the low-intensity violence along the yellow line. He will stall reconstruction indefinitely, trading civilian survival for his own political survival. Small nations and stateless peoples survive only when rules protect them from the unchecked will of the strong. The United States sanctions the judges of the International Criminal Court to shield a prime minister. This signals that international law is optional for friends of power. Gaza remains in ruins not because peace is impossible. It remains in ruins because the man standing in the way has never paid a price.