The real function of the so-called Board of Peace was not to stop the genocide, but to manage perceptions while it continues

A Palestinian boy stands by the rubble of a residential building targeted overnight by an Israeli strike in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on 24 May, 2026 (AFP)

 Eid in Gaza was another bloodbath. The ceasefire is a lie

Soumaya Ghannoushi

3 June 2026

 

Eid has just ended. Across much of the Muslim world, families gathered around tables, children wore new clothes, and homes echoed with laughter and celebration.

 

While communities elsewhere marked the occasion with joy and togetherness, Gaza endured another season of grief, displacement and death.

The images that emerged from Gaza during Eid al-Adha were not isolated tragedies. They were a glimpse into the reality that continues every day behind the convenient fiction that the war has somehow ended.

One image showed a mother, Hidayah, taking her daughters shopping for Eid clothes. The girls entered the shop while she remained outside. Moments later, an Israeli strike hit. They rushed back out in panic only to find their mother lying dead in the street, soaked in blood.

Another clip lasted only seconds. Amid the ruins of a building destroyed by an Israeli air strike, a man held the body of a small girl in his hands. Her body was shattered, charred and covered in blood. As he lifted her from the rubble, he screamed: "This is the first day of Eid!"

A third image showed tents burning in the darkness of an Eid night. Even the makeshift shelters of the displaced are not spared. It is no longer enough that Palestinians have been driven from their homes; even the scraps of canvas under which they seek refuge have become targets.

A meaningless ceasefire

These scenes were not anomalies. According to the United Nations and humanitarian organisations, more than 26 Palestinians, largely women and children, were killed during the first days of Eid alone. 

On the first day of Eid al-Adha, an Israeli strike in central Gaza City reportedly killed at least 10 people, including four girls, one boy and three women.

For the victims, the debate over whether there is a ceasefire is meaningless. They are dead either way.

That is the great deception at the heart of the current discourse on Gaza. 

The United Nations reports that Israeli forces have killed around 1000 Palestinians since the October ceasefire was announced, bringing the overall death toll since October 2023 to nearly 73,000. Thousands more are missing and presumed dead under the rubble.

The reality is stark. Palestinians largely adhered to the ceasefire. Israel did not. Yet, Western governments, media organisations and political establishments continue to speak as though a ceasefire exists. 

The new definition appears to be that Israel may continue carrying out air strikes, shooting civilians, demolishing homes and killing Palestinians on a near-daily basis, and the world will still describe the situation as a ceasefire. The moment a single bullet is fired from Gaza, however, headlines fill with accusations of violations and escalation.

This fiction serves an obvious purpose. It removes Gaza from the headlines, lowers public scrutiny and allows Israel to continue its assault while political leaders present themselves as peacemakers... READ MORE https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/gaza-eid-bloodbath-ceasefire-lie

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