The Plan has terrible provisions, for example creating a “Board of Peace” headed by Trump and Tony Blair, two imperialists most responsible for supporting Israel to the hilt through its genocidal attack of Gaza, and other provisions mentioned below. But it has also changed life on the ground in the short run in profound ways for Palestinians.
- The killings have dropped: during the period between October 7th and the Plan going into effect, an average of 3000 Palestinians were killed each month. In the months after the Plan went into effect, a little over 400 have been killed an average of less then 160 have been killed per month. Of course, this is not acceptable, but for the Palestinians in Gaza, it is roughly one twentieth the number killed. There are scattered reports of much smaller numbers of Israeli soldiers being killed, but it is hard to get clear numbers. In other words, the old pattern, Israel killing something like 10 times as many Palestinians, often portrayed as “reprisal” for Palestinians killing IDF soldiers – but at a far lower level.
- A prisoner exchange: 2000 Palestinians were released, in exchange for all but two of the remaining Israeli hostages Hamas took on October 7th (there is dispute over the remaining two, agreed to be dead, but unclear whether Hamas can find them after all the disruption). Most Palestinians are held without trial, for resisting Israeli oppression, or trying to return to their ancestral land. Some 250 of the Palestinians were serving life sentences. Of course, Israel held over 10,000 prisoners prior to this, and has a history of rearresting prisoners that it releases. This must be fought against.
- Israel has allowed a certain amount of reconstruction aid in as required by the Plan, and again it is better that some is getting in rather than none, but it is nowhere near enough. There have been torrential rains and flooding, and it has been cold in Gaza the few last weeks, and a still-hungry population is living in tents and under tarps. Projects have started to rebuild infrastructure, including the Gaza City sewage system, a water desalinization plant which can produce enough to supply a rebuilt hospital, a generator for a water well. It seems that this form of aid is in ones and twos, due to Israel's intransigence allowing trucks in [2].
- Shelter: estimates are that there are 1.9 million displaced people. Most of the structures they have fled from have been demolished, which means a massive need for new permanent shelter, and while that is built there is a fairly long-term need for temporary shelter. Here, tents and tarps and ropes are coming in, again in small numbers. Israel's stranglehold on aid getting in serves only to continue the miserable conditions. I have seen no references to aid materials for permanent shelter. Also, I have read that reconstruction aid is limited to “safe zones” under the implementation of the plan, which may signify zones behind the yellow line, a zone which Palestinians are currently (there are speculations that this will possibly become permanent) banned from.
- Medical Aid: there scant information on the medical aid that Israel has allowed in. But there are some indicators: for example, apparently UNICEF was treating children for malnutrition since before the Plan went into effect, and they report a drop by a third in the number of children treated for malnutrition [3]. Mothers are still giving birth to severely malnourished children. Some health clinics have been set up, to replace the near-total destruction which Israel healthcare infrastructure, but Israel has threatened to ban several of the aid agencies now operating, and this would cause the closure of one third of the health facilities that have been set up in the wake of the peace plan. UNWRA has drawn fire from zionist ideologues including Marco Rubio calling it a “subsidiary of Hamas”, although all objective observers say that UNWRA is a necessary and major part of the aid effort. [4].
In addition to ending the bombing and massing killing of Gazans, one of the most critical things the Plan addresses for the direct daily well-being of Gazans is the question of food. Gaza requires food aid and will for a long time, in part because as a provision of the Plan, Israel still occupies half or more of Gaza, behind the so-called Yellow Line, and this land constitutes most of the fertile land in Gaza. [5].
In recent (pre-Plan) history, the Gaza “Humanitarian” Foundation was placed in charge of food aid to Gaza. It operated 296 days, so the meals provided comes to about one meal per person every three days, distributing at only four sites around Gaza, forcing large numbers of hungry people to travel long distances for food. This created kill zones, with “security forces” shooting at and killing 3000 and wounding many more people gathering at distribution sites [6]. Not only that, they delivered mostly low-nutrient food which required water and fuel – which were in short supply – to prepare. In closing up shop, GHF declared they had showed “there’s a better way to deliver aid to Gazans”.
Now, under the peace plan, GHF's 4 distribution sites has been expanded to 213 kitchens around Gaza where food is prepared and distributed, suggesting that fuel and water are also being brought in, for the food preparation. And the average person now receives 5 meals a week, nowhere near enough, but over twice what they were getting. And what is the bottleneck to getting more food in? The Peace Plan specifies 600 truckloads of food a day be allowed in, but UN reports say that Israel allows only an average of 114 truckloads to get into Gaza. Not only this, but Israel has started banning or threatening to ban certain of the agencies supplying aid, which the leading agencies say would hamper their operations resulting in millions of dollars of food, medical and other aid waiting outside, which the aid agencies involved say will severely disrupt their operations. Five meals a week is a significant improvement over the GHF regime, and may end the Israel-made famine, but there is still starvation [7].
Summary
All of this shows that Israel's openly and proudly stated genocidal intent remains unchanged by their agreement to the Plan, which is unsurprising. Something more radical will have to change for that to end. But, important (but very limited) changes are being brought about by Plan.
Some leftists denounce the Peace Plan as “fascist”, or say it's nothing but an extension of imperialism, or pooh pooh it as nothing at all. Although it is true, it is an extension of imperialism, with its governing Board of Peace, its dictating who can and can't rule Gaza, its maintaining Israel's control over Gaza's borders, the continued occupation of 50% or more of Gaza, and that being the main agricultural land, all these are imperialist measures. But that is only a part of the story. The fact that deaths have dropped to one tenth of what they were over the previous two years is important. The fact the more food is being distributed, and at many more sites, is also critical. And the fact that some medical and reconstruction aid are getting in is significant.
Of course it is nowhere near enough in any of the categories. The 600 trucks of aid per day promised by the Peace Plan is a minimum, and the fact the only one quarter of that is actually being allowed in is unconscionable.
As everyone knew, and the UN finally recognized, Israel showed itself to be bent on genocide against the Palestinians. Their actions since the implementation of the Peace Plan show that this hasn't changed. And no simple Trump Plan will change it, the UN declaration of genocide hasn't, and won't change it. Continued worldwide mass pressure helped force the Peace Plan. It is still needed, to press for the Plan to be implemented in full as the minimum. The Palestinians need far more – food aid, medical aid, reconstruction aid, an end to the barriers and checkpoints and control over their borders, self-rule with democratic elections – than is envisioned in the Plan.
Footnotes:
[1] https://revcom.us/en/un-shamefully-rubb ... ling-spree and https://communistusa.org/two-years-into ... nal-peace/ and https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/1 ... u-o23.html
[2] https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/gaza-fa ... .500382735 and https://app.un2720.org/tracking/offloaded
[3] https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-says-t ... ter-truce/
[4] https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/12/1166622 and https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/un-g ... -sanctions
[5] https://english.palinfo.com/news/2025/12/04/352965/
[6] https://theintercept.com/2025/11/25/gaz ... loses-aid/
[7] https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/12/1166622. Regarding the term famine: https://apnews.com/article/mideast-gaza ... 2e320c19f8 and https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/explainer-what-famine and https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/08/1165702 and https://abcnews.go.com/International/fa ... =124843218