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UN Security Council Abandoned Palestinians. Humanity Must Refuse to Follow Suit.

As the new year approaches, Palestinians face new forms of colonization and new challenges to our rights and survival.

By Michel Moushabeck , Truthout January 1, 2026

Today we have a so-called ceasefire that is killing Palestinians on a daily basis. When it comes to Israel, the word “ceasefire” simply means that Palestinians are not allowed to retaliate against Israeli airstrikes, shelling, artillery, bombs, house demolitions, or suicide drones. In reality, Israel can fire all it wants and has been doing so since the minute the agreement took effect. According to President Donald Trump, “nothing is going to jeopardize” the ceasefire in Gaza.

The ceasefire, hailed as a success by the U.S. and the Western world, has done little to end the siege of Gaza and the deepening starvation and malnutrition of Palestinians, especially the children. And it is unlikely to usher in a pathway to freedom, equality, or self-determination for the Palestinian people in the foreseeable future.

The “ceasefire” is nothing but a cover for Israel’s genocidal practices, supported by the U.S. and Western nations, and disguised by mainstream media. It is a deceptive appearance and a ploy that deflects criticism, allows the continued supply of U.S. weapons to Israel, shields the Israeli regime from accountability,

disappears the Gaza genocide from the news, and enables Israel to continue the extermination and displacement of Palestinians.

Can We Stop Pretending There Is a Functioning “Ceasefire” in Gaza?

Since October 10, 2025, the day the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and the Israeli government went into effect, the Israeli military has killed nearly 400 Palestinians and injured over 1,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel is required to allow 600 trucks of aid and other goods into Gaza every day, but UN data show that Israel continues to block food aid, medical supplies, and tents in violation of the agreement.

Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, said in a statement on November 27: “The ceasefire risks creating a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal … the world must not be fooled. Israel’s genocide is not over.”

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the total death toll of Palestinians since October 7, 2023, is now 70,100, with 171,151 injured and many more buried under the rubble. The Israeli bombardment resulted in an estimated 50 million tons of rubble.

What the statistics don’t reflect are the number of people in Gaza that were killed by Israel not through bombs and airstrikes, but through indirect means: Palestinians killed because of lack of shelter after Israel destroyed their homes; because of the destruction of their water supplies and desalination plants, electricity supplies, and sanitation systems; because of the flattening of clinics and hospitals; and because of starvation and diseases.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said shelter materials for 1.3 million people and about 5,000 trucks of emergency supplies remain stalled outside Gaza as Israel continues to block all UNRWA-associated goods from entering.

The Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, who have endured 77 years of brutal Israeli military occupation and a system of apartheid that denies them their rights, are left with no choice other than to continue their struggle for liberation and against erasure and ethnic cleansing — including their right to armed resistance as recognized under international law.

UN Security Council Loses Sight of Its Mission and Betrays the Palestinians

On November 17, 2025, in an unexpected and disgraceful vote of 13-0 that is counter to the UN’s raison d’être — with two abstentions from Russia and China — the UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted Resolution 2803, which embraces Trump’s — or is it Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s? — “20-point peace plan,” effectively normalizing genocide, rewarding U.S. complicity, and establishing new colonial rule over the lives of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. It grants full control over Gaza to a U.S.-led “Board of Peace,” headed by Trump himself, that will oversee the administration and reconstruction of the Strip and establishes an “International Stabilization Force” in charge of security and disarming the resistance — not a UN peacekeeping force that will protect Palestinians.

Palestinians who have endured two years of genocide — and the total destruction of their homes and livelihoods — were not part of the negotiations and had no say in this matter. The plan — hatched by the Trump-Netanyahu team and legitimized by the UNSC — includes no mention of the genocide and does not call for accountability for the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed over the last two years. This plan, which whitewashes the genocide, will never be forgotten or forgiven by any Palestinian. It denies Palestinians their humanity, their right to self-determination, and does nothing to address their grievances or root causes of their struggle. It will simply prolong the illegal occupation and will not advance peace or stability in the region in any meaningful way.

Israel views the inclusion of language in the resolution about a “pathway to Palestinian statehood” as nonbinding. In fact, the day after the UNSC vote, Netanyahu publicly stated his strong opposition to a Palestinian state. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….https://truthout.org/articles/un-security-council-abandoned-palestinians-humanity-must-refuse-to-follow-suit/?utm_source=Truthout&utm_campaign=db602f5be8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_01_01_06_24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbb541a1db-db602f5be8-650192793

January 3, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | MIDDLE EAST, politics international