A Ceasefire in Name Only
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Current Issue
A Day for Gaza
/ February 3, 2026
A Ceasefire in Name Only
The language of ceasefire has been repurposed in Gaza: It no longer describes a pause in violence but rather a mechanism for managing it.
Mohammed R. Mhawish
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A Palestinian girl carries a gallon of drinking water she filled from a water truck in Khan Younis. Palestinians in Gaza are suffering from a severe water crisis due to the destruction of water wells by Israeli air strikes.(Abed Rahim Khatib / picture alliance via Getty Images)
This piece is part of A Day for Gaza, an initiative in which The Nation has turned over its website exclusively to voices from the Gaza Strip. You can find all of the work in the series here.
What do you call a ceasefire agreement under which people keep dying? That is the question the people of Gaza have been asking themselves for the past few months.
In October, Hamas and Israel signed a peace deal supposedly intended to stop two years of slaughter in Gaza. Since then, more than 420 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire—an average of about four people a day—in what international mediators continue to describe as a successful de-escalation. The distance between that official narrative and the facts on the ground reveals how the language of ceasefire has been repurposed: It no longer describes a pause in violence but rather a mechanism for managing it, sanitizing ongoing military force under the guise of restraint.
Those killed—many of them women and children—have been routinely described as threats, trespassers, or collateral casualties of the enforcement of the ceasefire. This has included families attempting to return to their homes, only to find their neighborhoods designated as off-limits beyond an ever-shifting “yellow line” drawn by Israel. Palestinian health officials have documented more than a thousand Israeli violations since the ceasefire took effect, including air strikes, artillery fire, and fatal shootings. The ceasefire has thus functioned precisely as intended: a framework for killing and controlling Palestinians at a slower, more diplomatically acceptable pace.
A Day for Gaza
A Ceasefire in Name Only
Mohammed R. Mhawish
The Gaza Street That Refuses to Die
Ali Skaik
A Catalog of Gaza’s Loss
Deema Hattab
My Sister’s Death Still Echoes Inside Me
Asmaa Dwaima
What Gaza’s Photographers Have Seen
Huda Skaik
How to Survive in a House Without Walls
Rasha Abou Jalal
What Edward Said Teaches Us About Gaza
Alaa Alqaisi
What Happens to the Educators When the Schools Have Been Destroyed?
Ismail Nofal
At the Doorstep of Tomorrow
Engy Abdelal
“We Have Covered Events No Human Can Bear”
Ola …
Notice what's missing.
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A Ceasefire in Name Only
Magazine
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Current Issue
A Day for Gaza
/ February 3, 2026
A Ceasefire in Name Only
The language of ceasefire has been repurposed in Gaza: It no longer describes a pause in violence but rather a mechanism for managing it.
Mohammed R. Mhawish
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Edit
Ad Policy
A Palestinian girl carries a gallon of drinking water she filled from a water truck in Khan Younis. Palestinians in Gaza are suffering from a severe water crisis due to the destruction of water wells by Israeli air strikes.(Abed Rahim Khatib / picture alliance via Getty Images)
This piece is part of A Day for Gaza, an initiative in which The Nation has turned over its website exclusively to voices from the Gaza Strip. You can find all of the work in the series here.
What do you call a ceasefire agreement under which people keep dying? That is the question the people of Gaza have been asking themselves for the past few months.
In October, Hamas and Israel signed a peace deal supposedly intended to stop two years of slaughter in Gaza. Since then, more than 420 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire—an average of about four people a day—in what international mediators continue to describe as a successful de-escalation. The distance between that official narrative and the facts on the ground reveals how the language of ceasefire has been repurposed: It no longer describes a pause in violence but rather a mechanism for managing it, sanitizing ongoing military force under the guise of restraint.
Those killed—many of them women and children—have been routinely described as threats, trespassers, or collateral casualties of the enforcement of the ceasefire. This has included families attempting to return to their homes, only to find their neighborhoods designated as off-limits beyond an ever-shifting “yellow line” drawn by Israel. Palestinian health officials have documented more than a thousand Israeli violations since the ceasefire took effect, including air strikes, artillery fire, and fatal shootings. The ceasefire has thus functioned precisely as intended: a framework for killing and controlling Palestinians at a slower, more diplomatically acceptable pace.
A Day for Gaza
A Ceasefire in Name Only
Mohammed R. Mhawish
The Gaza Street That Refuses to Die
Ali Skaik
A Catalog of Gaza’s Loss
Deema Hattab
My Sister’s Death Still Echoes Inside Me
Asmaa Dwaima
What Gaza’s Photographers Have Seen
Huda Skaik
How to Survive in a House Without Walls
Rasha Abou Jalal
What Edward Said Teaches Us About Gaza
Alaa Alqaisi
What Happens to the Educators When the Schools Have Been Destroyed?
Ismail Nofal
At the Doorstep of Tomorrow
Engy Abdelal
“We Have Covered Events No Human Can Bear”
Ola …
A Ceasefire in Name Only
Notice what's missing.
Log In
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A Ceasefire in Name Only
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Search
Subscribe
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Magazine
Latest
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Politics
World
Economy
Culture
Books & the Arts
The Nation
About
Events
Contact Us
Advertise
Current Issue
A Day for Gaza
/ February 3, 2026
A Ceasefire in Name Only
The language of ceasefire has been repurposed in Gaza: It no longer describes a pause in violence but rather a mechanism for managing it.
Mohammed R. Mhawish
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Edit
Ad Policy
A Palestinian girl carries a gallon of drinking water she filled from a water truck in Khan Younis. Palestinians in Gaza are suffering from a severe water crisis due to the destruction of water wells by Israeli air strikes.(Abed Rahim Khatib / picture alliance via Getty Images)
This piece is part of A Day for Gaza, an initiative in which The Nation has turned over its website exclusively to voices from the Gaza Strip. You can find all of the work in the series here.
What do you call a ceasefire agreement under which people keep dying? That is the question the people of Gaza have been asking themselves for the past few months.
In October, Hamas and Israel signed a peace deal supposedly intended to stop two years of slaughter in Gaza. Since then, more than 420 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire—an average of about four people a day—in what international mediators continue to describe as a successful de-escalation. The distance between that official narrative and the facts on the ground reveals how the language of ceasefire has been repurposed: It no longer describes a pause in violence but rather a mechanism for managing it, sanitizing ongoing military force under the guise of restraint.
Those killed—many of them women and children—have been routinely described as threats, trespassers, or collateral casualties of the enforcement of the ceasefire. This has included families attempting to return to their homes, only to find their neighborhoods designated as off-limits beyond an ever-shifting “yellow line” drawn by Israel. Palestinian health officials have documented more than a thousand Israeli violations since the ceasefire took effect, including air strikes, artillery fire, and fatal shootings. The ceasefire has thus functioned precisely as intended: a framework for killing and controlling Palestinians at a slower, more diplomatically acceptable pace.
A Day for Gaza
A Ceasefire in Name Only
Mohammed R. Mhawish
The Gaza Street That Refuses to Die
Ali Skaik
A Catalog of Gaza’s Loss
Deema Hattab
My Sister’s Death Still Echoes Inside Me
Asmaa Dwaima
What Gaza’s Photographers Have Seen
Huda Skaik
How to Survive in a House Without Walls
Rasha Abou Jalal
What Edward Said Teaches Us About Gaza
Alaa Alqaisi
What Happens to the Educators When the Schools Have Been Destroyed?
Ismail Nofal
At the Doorstep of Tomorrow
Engy Abdelal
“We Have Covered Events No Human Can Bear”
Ola …
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