Ceasefire talks flounder as Israel intensifies control over Gaza; resistance persists and global coalition rises

14 July 2025 | 09:05 CAT
3-minute read

As the world awaits a ceasefire in Gaza, hope continues to fade as negotiations remain stalled due to Israel’s refusal to concede on two major points: a full military withdrawal and the method of aid distribution.

On this week’s Palestine Report on Radio Islam International, Moulana Ebrahim Moosa unpacked the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza.

The ongoing ceasefire negotiations are floundering, mainly because of Israeli intransigence and the use of talks as a political smokescreen.

“The massacres in Gaza over the past few days coinciding with these negotiations have been absolutely horrific,” he said, noting that Netanyahu’s recent visit to the United States appears to have aligned with this strategy of delay. “Clearly these negotiations also seem to be part of a time-buying mechanism.”

One of the most contentious issues in the stalled talks is the distribution of humanitarian aid. Israel has demanded that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a group Palestinians view with deep suspicion, be the primary distributor of food and supplies.

Moulana Moosa warned that this move would effectively consolidate Israeli control over aid and forcibly push Palestinians into an isolated zone in southern Gaza. “Through the GHF, the Israelis are able to push Palestinians into Rafah, into this so-called humanitarian city, which is an oxymoron, which is in fact a concentration camp,” he said.

Israel’s plans, revealed in published maps, also indicate a military presence in large parts of Gaza, including a proposed buffer zone that would consume significant agricultural land. This would prevent residents from returning home and make them entirely dependent on aid — a dependency Israel appears to be engineering.

Despite Israel’s claims of weakening Hamas, evidence from the ground tells a different story. A recent operation by Hamas fighters in Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunus, captured international attention and disrupted Israel’s military narrative. In the operation, fighters targeted an Israeli bulldozer, causing an Israeli soldier to flee and drop his weapon — all captured on Hamas-released video that contradicted official Israeli reports.

The Israeli military claimed that they had foiled a kidnapping attempt, but the video showed no such struggle, raising internal questions about the army’s transparency and battlefield readiness.

Moulana Moosa noted that such operations not only reveal the resilience of the Palestinian resistance but also highlight Israel’s growing vulnerabilities. “The Israelis are now using civilian engineering equipment… instead of military grade bulldozers,” he pointed out, attributing this to equipment shortages caused by months of intense operations.

Hamas, meanwhile, has made it clear that they are actively considering further attempts to capture Israeli soldiers in order to strengthen their negotiating position.

Amid the chaos, a glimmer of hope is emerging — not in Gaza, but in Bogotá, Colombia, where a coalition of 20 states will gather for an emergency summit this week. The meeting, hosted by the Hague-based group co-chaired by South Africa and Colombia, aims to implement concrete legal, diplomatic and economic measures against Israel.

Founded in January 2025, the Hague group’s mandate is to hold Israel accountable under international law. The group has grown from eight founding members to include countries such as China, Brazil, Turkey, Qatar, Spain, and Ireland — all of whom have taken varying forms of independent action against Israeli aggression.

“This particular group was founded… with the stated goal of holding Israel accountable under international law,” Moulana Moosa explained. “They hope to introduce concrete legal, diplomatic and economic measures that can, they say, urgently halt Israel’s destruction of the Palestinians.”

He praised South Africa’s ongoing involvement, suggesting it reflects a deeper, sustained commitment beyond its high-profile ICJ case against Israel.

“It’s positive that South Africa is still… being part of other initiatives to continue to pressure the end of the genocide,” he added.

As of mid-July 2025, more than 37 000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel’s military campaign in Gaza began in October 2023, according to Gaza health authorities. Over 1,7 million people remain displaced, many of them crammed into unsafe tent cities in southern Gaza. Israel’s persistent military presence in Rafah and its control over aid distribution have drawn accusations of deliberate ethnic cleansing and starvation tactics from human rights groups.

Listen to the Palestine Report on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Junaid Kharsany.