President Trump has presented a new Gaza roadmap as a major step toward peace. Yet Palestinians continue to be killed and displaced, Israeli military control has expanded, reconstruction remains stalled, and developments in the West Bank are making a viable Palestinian future even more difficult to imagine.
President Donald Trump recently announced what he called a historic breakthrough toward the complete disarmament of Hamas and the eventual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
On paper, the new roadmap is ambitious. It calls for an end to military operations, the phased withdrawal of Israeli forces, the transfer of civilian governance to a Palestinian technocratic administration, the delivery of humanitarian aid, reconstruction, and a political path toward Palestinian self-determination and statehood.
On the ground, however, the declaration of progress has collided with a very different reality.
Only days after the announcement, Israeli attacks killed 18 Palestinians in one of the deadliest days since the October 2025 ceasefire. By August 3, Gaza health authorities reported that at least 1,230 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli attacks since that ceasefire was announced. Israeli authorities reported four soldiers killed during the same period. Israel says its continuing attacks target armed operatives and military infrastructure, while Hamas does not regularly disclose its own casualties. (Reuters)
The central question is therefore unavoidable:
Can an agreement credibly be called peace when civilians are still being killed, families remain unable to return home, and the territory under Israeli military control is expanding rather than shrinking?
What the New Roadmap Actually Promises
The 15-point roadmap released by Trump’s Board of Peace is intended to complete implementation of the broader 20-point Gaza plan endorsed in 2025.
Its opening principles call for an end to Gaza’s cycle of destruction, the complete Israeli withdrawal from the Strip, restored Palestinian civilian governance, reconstruction, economic recovery, and a credible political path toward self-determination and statehood.
Most importantly, the roadmap states that Israel must complete “without delay” its remaining commitments under the earlier Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, particularly the cessation of military operations. It also requires Palestinian factions to end their military operations.
The plan calls for Hamas and other armed groups to decommission and store their weapons under the authority of the Palestinian-led National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. An International Stabilization Force would monitor the ceasefire, protect humanitarian deliveries, support Palestinian police, and separate Israeli forces from Palestinian-administered areas. Israeli forces would then complete a phased withdrawal according to an agreed timetable. The text also includes a commitment that no one will be forced to leave Gaza. (Associated Press, full roadmap)
But the roadmap is not yet a completed peace agreement with a functioning implementation system.
At the time it was released, Hamas said it had accepted the framework, while Israel had not publicly endorsed the new roadmap. Israel insists there will be no further military withdrawal until Hamas fully disarms and its tunnels are destroyed. Hamas says it will place its weapons in storage only after Israel stops attacking Gaza, withdraws to the positions required under the earlier ceasefire, and increases aid. (Reuters)
Each side is therefore demanding that the other act first.
That sequencing dispute is not a minor technical disagreement. It is the central weakness of the entire process.
1. The Promised Cessation of Military Operations Has Not Occurred
The most direct contradiction is continued Israeli military activity.
The new roadmap explicitly requires the cessation of military operations. Yet Israeli strikes, shelling, gunfire, and ground movements have continued across Gaza.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 30 Palestinians were killed and 134 injured between July 22 and July 29 alone. By July 29, Gaza’s Ministry of Health had reported 1,209 deaths and 3,943 injuries since the October ceasefire announcement. OCHA also documented continuing military advances, shelter damage, and new displacement in northern Gaza.
The death toll then rose further. Reuters reported that Israeli attacks killed 18 Palestinians on August 2, including a couple and their child in a strike on a Gaza City apartment. Israel said it was targeting military operatives. Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, which have served as mediators, said the continuing attacks constituted a breach of the agreement and undermined implementation of its second phase. (Reuters)
Israel argues that Hamas is also violating the plan by rearming, recruiting fighters, and rebuilding tunnels. That allegation must be included in any credible analysis. Israel maintains that Gaza cannot become peaceful while Hamas retains military capacity. (Reuters)
But allegations against Hamas do not erase Israel’s separate commitment to halt operations. A ceasefire cannot depend on one party retaining an open-ended right to bomb while the other is expected to disarm first.
2. Israeli Withdrawal Has Been Replaced by Expanding Territorial Control
The October ceasefire initially permitted Israeli forces to retain control over approximately 53 percent of Gaza behind the so-called Yellow Line, with the expectation of additional withdrawal.
Instead, the area under Israeli control has expanded.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces now hold between 60 and 70 percent of Gaza. Reuters reported that Israeli forces had occupied and depopulated roughly two-thirds of the enclave, leaving nearly all of Gaza’s population of more than two million people confined to a narrow coastal area, much of it composed of tents and damaged buildings. (Reuters)
This is not simply a delay in withdrawal. It is movement in the opposite direction.
The United Nations and humanitarian organizations warned in July that Israeli-controlled areas had continued expanding since the ceasefire. Between October 10, 2025, and early April 2026, the UN verified the killing of 196 Palestinians, including 43 children and 18 women, in Israeli attacks near military deployment areas. Many were reportedly killed in places without clear physical demarcation.
A withdrawal agreement has little meaning if the line from which withdrawal is supposed to occur keeps moving deeper into Palestinian territory.
3. Palestinians Are Still Being Displaced
The roadmap includes a commitment that no one will be forced to leave Gaza. Yet families continue to be displaced by military operations, evacuation orders, the shifting Yellow Line, and damage to shelters.
Residents told Reuters that recent Israeli expansion forced people to flee from at least five areas across Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, and Khan Younis. OCHA separately reported that 30 families were ordered to leave an area near the Yellow Line in eastern Gaza City on July 20. (Reuters)
On July 25 alone, military activity and shelter damage temporarily displaced families at multiple sites in Beit Lahia, Jabalia, Gaza Port, and surrounding areas. At one Jabalia site, approximately 137 families sought temporary refuge with relatives, friends, or in open areas. (OCHA)
One Palestinian woman profiled by OCHA had already been displaced more than 17 times.
This repeated movement cannot be dismissed as a temporary inconvenience. It means families cannot rebuild homes, children cannot return to stable education, hospitals cannot plan services, and communities cannot begin meaningful recovery.
4. Humanitarian Relief Remains Far Below What Peace Requires
The agreement promises protected humanitarian access and the delivery of essential supplies. Yet Gaza remains dependent on an unstable aid system that has not restored the basic conditions necessary for civilian life.
As of late July, 67 percent of Gaza’s population continued to face high levels of acute food insecurity. OCHA warned that declining aid coverage since February risked reversing the limited improvements achieved after the ceasefire. Gaza also faced shortages of insulin, dialysis supplies, cardiac catheterization materials, diagnostic equipment, cooking gas, and other essentials. (OCHA)
The new roadmap assigns the proposed International Stabilization Force responsibility for protecting humanitarian deliveries. But that force is not yet fully deployed, the Palestinian administrative committee remains outside Gaza, and there is no clear timetable showing when these institutions will become operational. (Reuters)
A humanitarian guarantee that depends upon institutions that do not yet function is not a guarantee for the families who need food and medicine today.
5. Civilian and Medical Infrastructure Remains Exposed
On August 1, an Israeli strike destroyed two warehouses used by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to store medicine. Two other medical warehouses and the hospital’s outpatient clinic were also reportedly damaged.
The hospital said the facilities contained supplies used for dialysis patients, wound care, and routine medical treatment. The Israeli military said it had targeted a Hamas weapons site near the hospital, but Reuters reported that it did not publicly provide evidence supporting the claim. Footage showed medical supplies scattered near the strike site and tents sheltering displaced families nearby. (Reuters)
Hospitals and civilian facilities are protected under international humanitarian law, although that protection can be lost if they are used for military purposes. The central problem is the absence of transparent, independent verification.
Israel makes military-use claims. Palestinian authorities deny them. Civilians lose access to medicine while no trusted enforcement body establishes the facts or imposes consequences.
6. Reconstruction Exists Primarily as a Promise
The roadmap calls for Gaza’s reconstruction according to a plan and timetable overseen by the Board of Peace and the Palestinian technocratic administration.
Yet large-scale reconstruction has not begun, and even the governing and security bodies expected to supervise it have not assumed their full responsibilities inside Gaza.
This creates a fundamental contradiction: Hamas is expected to surrender its weapons to an administrative authority that is not yet fully functioning, Israel is expected to withdraw behind a stabilization force that is not yet fully deployed, and Palestinians are told reconstruction is coming while attacks and displacement continue.
A peace plan cannot be judged only by the institutions it promises to create. It must be judged by whether Palestinians can safely return home, receive medical care, access food and water, and rebuild without fearing that the next military operation will destroy that progress.
The West Bank: Outside the Ceasefire, but Central to the Question of Peace
The West Bank is not technically governed by the Gaza ceasefire’s military provisions. Israeli actions there should therefore not automatically be described as violations of the Gaza ceasefire itself.
They do, however, directly contradict the roadmap’s stated objective of creating a credible political path toward Palestinian self-determination and statehood.
In July, Israel’s security cabinet approved 1.3 billion shekels, approximately $434 million, to establish 34 new settlements in the occupied West Bank. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the decision would bring the number of settlements established during his four-year tenure to 103. He openly described the expansion as a way of “killing the idea” of a Palestinian state. Most countries and UN bodies consider the settlements illegal under international law, a position Israel disputes. (Reuters)
At the same time, the humanitarian pressure on Palestinian communities has intensified.
By early July:
- OCHA had documented more than 1,200 settler attacks resulting in casualties or property damage across more than 240 Palestinian communities in 2026.
- More than 3,200 Palestinians had been displaced by settler attacks and demolitions for lacking Israeli-issued permits.
- Displacement averaged more than 17 Palestinians per day, nearly double the daily average during the preceding three years.
- More than 1,500 children had been displaced, while 16 Palestinian children had been killed and 187 injured by Israeli forces or settlers.
- More than 33,000 Palestinians remained displaced from Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps and surrounding areas following Israeli military operations. (OCHA)
By the end of July, OCHA reported that July had tied March as the deadliest month for Palestinians in settler-related incidents since October 2023. In one week alone, more than 40 settler attacks caused casualties or property damage and displaced at least 20 Palestinian families. (OCHA)
The message is difficult to reconcile: Palestinians are being told that a political process may eventually lead toward statehood while the land on which that state would exist is being divided by new settlements, roads, military zones, demolitions, and forced displacement.
The Accountability Gap
The deepest weakness in the Gaza roadmap is not the absence of promises. It is the absence of consequences.
The proposed International Verification Committee is supposed to certify whether the parties have fulfilled their commitments. The stabilization force is supposed to monitor the ceasefire and protect aid. The Palestinian administrative committee is supposed to govern Gaza and supervise the weapons process.
But these bodies are not yet fully operational.
In the meantime, Israel can argue that military operations are necessary because Hamas has not disarmed. Hamas can argue that it cannot disarm because Israel has not stopped attacking or withdrawn. Each party uses the other’s alleged noncompliance to postpone its own obligations.
That is not implementation. It is a circular veto.
For the roadmap to become more than a diplomatic announcement, its guarantors must establish:
- A public implementation timeline for both Israeli withdrawal and Palestinian disarmament.
- Independent verification of alleged violations by all parties.
- Clear geographic boundaries that cannot be shifted unilaterally.
- Immediate and measurable humanitarian-access requirements.
- Protection for civilians, medical facilities, humanitarian personnel, and infrastructure.
- Consequences when either party violates the agreement.
- A reconstruction process controlled by Palestinian civilian needs rather than military considerations.
- A political framework that addresses settlement expansion and displacement in the West Bank.
Peace Must Be Measured by Palestinian Life
The release of hostages, the cessation of hostilities, Palestinian civilian governance, reconstruction, and a political path toward statehood are all necessary goals.
But peace cannot be measured by the number of plans announced, boards established, or diplomatic ceremonies held.
It must be measured by conditions on the ground.
Are Palestinians still being killed?
Can families return home without encountering new military lines?
Is food entering at the scale required?
Can hospitals protect their medicine and treat patients?
Has Israeli military control decreased?
Has reconstruction begun?
Is Palestinian land in the West Bank being preserved for a viable political future?
At present, the answer to each of these questions remains deeply troubling.
President Trump may have announced a roadmap toward peace. But until attacks stop, military control recedes, humanitarian relief reaches everyone in need, displaced families can return, and Palestinian political rights are protected in both Gaza and the West Bank, peace will remain what it has too often been for Palestinians:
a promise written on paper while war continues on the ground.
