Israel is not 'testing' its ceasefires. It's violating them

Israel is not 'testing' its ceasefires. It's violating them Barry Malone As the Israeli military ignores deals in Gaza and Lebanon and continues its industrial-scale killing, the western media turns a blind eye A mourner carries the shrouded body of an infant killed in an overnight Israeli air strike at al-Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, on 2 August 2026 (Omar al-Qattaa/AFP) How many people do you need to kill before you’ve violated a ceasefire? One, surely. But what about two? 10? 100? Or how about more than 1,200? That’s how many Palestinians Israel has killed in Gaza since agreeing to an ostensible ceasefire with Hamas in October. Israel has also continued to pummel southern Lebanon, despite a “ceasefire” there. But the western media appears to see no violations at all. Instead, it sees ceasefires that are “fragile”, “tested”, “strained” or “shaky”. Given that news reporting is supposed to rely on precision and accuracy, you’d imagine organisations such as the BBC, Reuters, the Associated Press and CNN have read the terms of the deal that was signed between Israel and Hamas in Egypt. It’s unequivocal, and there really isn’t much room for interpretation. There were conditions that needed to be fulfilled within the first 72 hours before the truce could take effect, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces to agreed lines within Gaza, and the return by Hamas of all remaining Israeli hostages, living or dead. Once the prerequisites were met, which they were, the text said that “all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment and targeting operations will be suspended”. Snuffed out It’s worth pausing on those words: “all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment and targeting operations will be suspended”. Now square that with more than 1,000 dead Palestinians. Square it with the fact that many were women and children. Square it with the Israeli attack on southern Lebanon that killed school principal Esperanza Ghandour, her mother, a domestic worker and a Syrian labourer as they travelled together in a car. Square it with the eight people killed at a Palestinian funeral last month. And dare try to square it with the Israeli attack on Gaza that killed Firas al-Masri; his wife, Salsabeel; and ​their three daughters and son. None of these firmly established truths seem to stop international journalists from abandoning their duty to call things what they are They were snuffed out by an occupying force as they slept in their family home, a place that is supposed to be one of love, safety and security. I could not find a single report in the western media that described the massacre of the Masri household as a ceasefire violation. That’s a pattern across similar atrocities. Israel said it was targeting a Hamas member without, as usual, providing evidence. But let’s assume for illustrative purposes that Firas al-Masri was in Hamas. After all, since the bogus October