{"id":59444,"date":"2026-05-21T05:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=59444"},"modified":"2026-05-21T05:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:24:16","slug":"trumps-board-of-peace-has-only-brought-more-death-and-suffering-to-gaza-says-rights-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/21\/trumps-board-of-peace-has-only-brought-more-death-and-suffering-to-gaza-says-rights-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s \u2018Board of Peace\u2019 Has Only Brought More Death and Suffering to Gaza, Says Rights Group"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six months in, US President Donald Trump\u2019s so-called \u201cBoard of Peace\u201d has failed to deliver on its promise<\/a> of a \u201csecure and prosperous future\u201d for Palestinians in Gaza, who are still being killed, maimed, and deprived of food and other crucial supplies by Israel\u2019s ongoing genocide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe humanitarian infrastructure sustaining life in Gaza remains in peril over six months after the ceasefire agreement in October 2025,\u201d Human Rights Watch said<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Board of Peace prepares to brief the United Nations Security Council on May 21 on its newly-issued six-month progress report, Israeli authorities are undermining humanitarian lifelines,\u201d HRW continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cContinuing Israeli attacks have killed<\/a> at least 856 Palestinians<\/a> and wounded 2,463 others, according to Gaza Health Ministry,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAid volumes remain far below required levels and critical humanitarian access routes have been repeatedly obstructed, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),\u201d HRW noted.<\/p>\n

HRW continued:<\/p>\n

In its May 15 report, the Board of Peace said that aid distributed by UN agencies and partners increased by over 70% during the reporting period compared to pre-ceasefire levels, and that \u201cbasic food needs have been stabilized for the first time since 2023.\u201d The Board\u2019s headline figures leave out that aid volumes have fallen since early 2026, have not recovered to where they were before the US and Israel-Iran war began in late February, and have never reached the minimum the UN says is needed. Four UN agencies warned<\/a> in December 2025 that famine, pushed back only weeks earlier through the ceasefire, could rapidly return without sustained access and supplies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe plan was supposed to bring relief. Instead, Palestinians in Gaza are still hungry, still cannot reach medical care, and civilians are still being killed,\u201d HRW Middle East deputy director Adam Coogle said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cWhatever the Board of Peace tells the Security Council, that is what life looks like six months in.\u201d<\/p>\n

HRW said that while \u201ccommercial trucks have started entering Gaza again in larger numbers,\u201d total aid deliveries \u2013 which were dramatically curtailed following the launch of the illegal US-Israeli war of choice on Iran \u2013 are \u201cfar short of what Gaza\u2019s population needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, \u201cnone of Gaza\u2019s 37 hospitals were fully operational, and only 19 were even partially functioning, according to OCHA<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOver 43,000 people have suffered life-changing injuries, 1 in 4 of them children<\/a>, and more than 50,000 need long-term rehabilitation care, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates<\/a>,\u201d HRW said. \u201cNo rehabilitation facility is fully running. Israeli delays in approving specialized surgical equipment are limiting complex care, and at least 46% of essential medicines are out of stock, according to WHO<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the Gaza Health Ministry<\/a>, more than 1,400 patients have died waiting for medical evacuation since the Rafah crossing was seized in May 2024, and over 18,500 patients, including 4,000 children, still await evacuation<\/a>,\u201c the publication reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsraeli restrictions on bringing in generators, engine oil, and spare parts are causing breakdowns across healthcare, sanitation, debris removal, and humanitarian work,\u201d HRW said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRodents and insects are spreading across displacement camps, and skin infections and other diseases are on the rise, OCHA reported<\/a>,\u201d the publication noted. \u201cUN agencies and aid groups working on water and sanitation warn<\/a> that severe shortages of lubricant oil and spare parts are causing generators to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israeli forces are still killing and wounding humanitarian workers in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of late April, OCHA had recorded<\/a> the killing of at least 593 aid workers in Gaza since October 2023, including 8 since the ceasefire,\u201d HRW said.<\/p>\n

Funding pledges have also fallen far short of what\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the Board of Peace\u2019s inaugural meeting in February, 10 Board member states and observers pledged<\/a> a total of $17 billion for reconstruction against UN estimates of $70 billion needed,\u201d HRW said. \u201cAs of April, the Board had received less than $1 billion of the pledged amount, with only three contributors having delivered funds, according to Reuters<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the Board of Peace briefs the Security Council, members should weigh what they hear against what UN agencies are reporting from the ground,\u201d Coogle said. \u201cNo spin can hide the fact that aid is not entering at the needed scale, patients do not have access to adequate medical care, and crossings to Gaza remain limited.\u201d<\/p>\n

The HRW report came a day after the UN Human Rights Office urged<\/a> Israel to prevent further \u201cacts of genocide\u201d in Gaza, while raising concerns about escalating \u201cethnic cleansing\u201d in the illegally occupied West Bank of Palestine.<\/p>\n

A panel of UN human rights experts found<\/a> last year that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. South Africa<\/a> filed a genocide case<\/a> against Israel at the International Court of Justice that\u2019s now backed by nearly 20 nations.<\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted<\/a> by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder and forced starvation. The ICC is also reportedly<\/a> seeking to arrest Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over the illegal settler colonization and ethnic cleansing of the West Bank.<\/p>\n

More than 250,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded in Gaza since the Hamas-led attack of October 2023. Nearly all of the coastal strip\u2019s approximately 2.1 million people have also been forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened during that period. Through it all, the Biden and Trump administrations have provided Israel with more than $20 billion<\/a> in armed aid and diplomatic cover, including vetoes<\/a> of several UN Security Council ceasefire resolutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six months in, US President Donald Trump\u2019s so-called \u201cBoard of Peace\u201d has failed to deliver on its promise of a \u201csecure and prosperous future\u201d for Palestinians in Gaza, who are still being killed, maimed, and deprived of food and other crucial supplies by Israel\u2019s ongoing genocide. \u201cThe humanitarian infrastructure sustaining life in Gaza remains in 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plan was supposed to bring relief. Instead, Palestinians in Gaza are still hungry, still cannot reach medical care, and civilians are still being killed.\u201d"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/372"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59444"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59448,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59444\/revisions\/59448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59444"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=59444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}