Trump’s “final offer” for a Gaza ceasefire is less about peace and more about optics, casting Israel as cooperative, Hamas as defiant, and Iran as the hidden hand. But beneath the diplomatic theatrics, Gaza remains the real casualty , trapped in a score-old war. While regional powers play the long game, Gaza bleeds in silence.
When Donald Trump announced what he called a “final proposal” for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire with Israel said to have accepted and Hamas expected to follow the headlines were immediate. Mediated by Qatar and Egypt, the plan has been framed as a last chance for peace, with Trump’s familiar rhetoric of ultimatums and deals making a return. But the gloss of diplomacy hides deeper fault lines and distracts from the one party with no voice in these negotiations: the people of Gaza.
At first glance, Trump’s proposal may seem like a constructive step. But the framing “Israel has agreed, now Hamas must do its part” is performative. It casts Israel as the reasonable actor and places the onus of war’s continuation squarely on Hamas, sidestepping any reckoning with the blockade, settlements, and systematic dehumanization that define the broader context.
More crucially, this narrative again folds Hamas into Iran’s orbit “Iran-backed militants” , as if Gaza were just another proxy battleground in a wider regional game. The reality is far more detached. Iran’s investment in Hamas is pragmatic, not emotional. In the strategic pecking order of Tehran’s regional alliances, Hamas is expendable. Hezbollah, Assad, and even the Houthis carry more strategic weight. For all of Trump’s attempts to insert Iran into the Gaza script, Tehran is playing a different game cautious, calibrated, and increasingly quiet.
That silence is not weakness, but a strategic posture following recent escalations with Israel. Iran appears to be absorbing pressure while signaling strength through restraint letting its proxies speak, if needed, while it avoids a direct flashpoint. Afghanistan’s neutrality and Pakistan’s delicate balancing act further constrain Tehran’s room for maneuver. For Islamabad in particular, Iran’s measured behavior remains central, not for Gaza, but for energy routes, border security, and avoiding an uncontrollable regional spillover.
Which leaves Gaza battered, starving, trapped as the most vulnerable and voiceless actor in this spectacle.
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Ceasefires may come and go. Hostage swaps may headline the news. But the fundamental humanitarian crisis in Gaza is not being addressed only paused, delayed, or used as leverage. Trump’s “final offer” does not promise dignity, reconstruction, or a political horizon for Palestinians. It promises 60 days of silence, likely to be followed by more bombs.
For observers across the Global South, particularly in South Asia, the script is familiar: geopolitical bargaining that excludes the most affected. Iran can afford to wait. Israel has U.S. backing. The U.S. seeks optics, not outcomes. And Hamas politically hardened, militarily cornered is playing for survival.
But Gaza? Gaza bleeds.
Trump’s offer, then, is not a peace plan. It’s a pressure tactic calibrated for Western consumption, not regional resolution. Until the world stops treating Gaza as a pawn and starts treating it as a people, every “final offer” will ring hollow.
