Mourners pray next to the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Jan. 15. Photo: AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana

“Every human being has value. And the value of every human being is what God has put within them when He made them after His own image and likeness. So, as they were minimizing Palestinian life, in the night He was showing me:

‘With every life that they take, that they have diminished, they have diminished the value of their lives in My Sight.’ … But the God that I represent? He wants you to know that He is come to set all the rulers down. He has come to take over the rule of America, of the world, as only God should do.”

—The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, “What Does Allah, The Great Mahdi And The Great Messiah Have To Say About The War In The Middle East?” Saviours’ Day 2024, Detroit, Mich.

Plenty of analysis and reporting came after President Joe Biden told the world Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire agreement.

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“Today, after many months of intensive diplomacy by the United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage deal.

This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity,” the outgoing American president said, in January 15 remarks.

The ceasefire agreement is supposed to unfold in distinct phases and phase one was scheduled to begin Jan. 19. “The three-phase ceasefire deal promises the release of dozens of hostages held by militants in Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and it will allow hundreds of thousands of people displaced in Gaza to return to what remains of their homes. It also will flood desperately needed humanitarian aid into a territory ravaged by 15 months of war,” reported the Associated Press.

A six-week cessation of devastating Israeli bombings and assaults as well as Hamas attacks is to be followed by additional negotiations to end the conflict. “The second and most difficult phase would include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza.

The third phase calls for the start of a major reconstruction of Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding from devastation caused by the war,” said the Associated Press.

Alongside Israel’s vow to destroy Hamas and the assassination of many of its leaders, there are serious questions and unknowns: Who will rule Gaza? Will Israel withdraw fully?

What about Mr. Netanyahu and his former defense minister facing International Criminal Court warrants charging crimes against humanity and charges of genocide filed against Israel in the International Court of Justice by South Africa?

While the outcome of the ceasefire is unknown, there are things we do know about the misery inflicted on and the loss of Palestinian lives. The Lancet medical journal recently reported some 60,000 Gazans dead. A majority of Palestinians in Gaza are displaced, starvation looms, and children are freezing to death.

Israel also bombed Syria after the fall of leader Bashar al-Assad, and conducted a deadly, terrorist campaign in Lebanon and Syria using exploding pagers and two-way radios. Zionist desires to expand the settler state and remake the Middle East are still on the table.

Many Israelis have gleefully spoken of taking Gaza outright as they exterminate Palestinians. All the while, backed by U.S. diplomatic cover, money and weapons, Israel has been allowed to move unchecked.

Israel has destroyed and targeted schools and hospitals in Gaza. Israel has killed and abducted doctors and medical personnel trying to save suffering people.

Israeli Defense Forces have been accused of intentionally shooting Palestinian children in the head. Israel has regularly failed to open up Gaza to aid after promising to do so and even bombed aid workers trying to feed the hungry.

These atrocities happened while so-called peace talks were underway and claims to be close to reaching an agreement were often announced. Yet, peace never arrived.

You hear of the suffering and pain of Zionists, who tearfully tell their stories on mainstream media while the voices of Palestinians and Palestinian groups are blunted or shut out altogether.

A conflict the U.S. media calls a “war” is hardly that. With Biden administration backing, we have seen a year of outright slaughter, a slaughter that primarily takes the lives of women and children.

“U.S. spending on Israel’s military operations and related U.S. operations in the region total at least $22.76 billion and counting. This estimate is conservative; while it includes approved security assistance funding since October 7, 2023.

Supplemental funding for regional operations, and an estimated additional cost of operations, it does not include any other economic costs,” said Brown University’s Costs of War project, in a report made public on the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7.

The human cost is worst: Bodies buried under tons of rubble, the rape of Palestinians—male and female—as well as disappearances in the thousands. We’re talking men, women and children.

When mainstream media and politicians try to fake sympathy for the deaths of Palestinians, they repeat the Big Lie: Hamas is responsible for the deaths in Gaza because war followed their attacks. Israel is responsible for its slaughter. Israel could have stopped the slaughter at any time.

We don’t know how things will turn out, but can there really be peace or is this a lull before a devastating and destructive storm?