[A Palestinian man is homeless in Gaza. Photo Credit to Pixabay]

On September 29, 2025, the United States announced a new U.S.-brokered peace initiative led by President Donald Trump in collaboration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

This plan seeks to achieve an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, the demilitarization of Gaza, and the launch of major reconstruction efforts. 

Although this proposal still relies on Hamas’ official response, it has garnered global support. 

With the second anniversary of the Gaza War approaching on October 7, the initiative comes at a critical moment.

The conflict first began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen launched an attack on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and capturing about 250 others.

Many of those abducted were taken back to Gaza, where they have remained at the center of global negotiations and public attention. 

Sky News described the hostages as “the most central issue of the renewed conflict.”

Israel quickly retaliated by sending in a raid of the Israel Defence Force troops into the Gaza Strip. 

According to humanitarian group Anera, the first ceasefire and prisoner exchange occurred in November 2023. 

Yet, despite early hopes, the truce collapsed, and from December 2023 to early 2025, Israel intensified its ground operations.

Hospitals were destroyed, and mass displacement followed, aggravating the humanitarian crisis.

After the conflict escalated, between February 2025 to April 2025, airstrikes, bombings, and attacks on aid convoys multiplied. 

Aid workers and civilians were among the casualties, while accusations of genocide echoed worldwide.

In recent months from May 2025 to September 2025, several U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposals emerged, and Israel allowed limited humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

Despite these small signs toward peace, fighting continues, and civilian suffering remains acute.

The United Nations estimates that by September 2025, between 49,800 and 53,000 Palestinians have been killed along with thousands of Israelis, though exact figures remain uncertain.

Many of the dead are women and children, and numerous civilians have been killed outside active combat zones.

Al Jazeera reports that repeated hospital bombings and continuous destruction have made medical treatment nearly impossible.

Displacement in Gaza has reached critical levels, with about 1.8 million people forced from their homes.

Many now face severe shortages of food, water, and medicine.

The conflict has inflicted deep psychological scars, especially among children, and continues to raise human rights concerns.

The United Nations has called for interventions and for ceasefire, with international courts pursue investigations into alleged war crimes and genocide allegations. 

The United States has also offered peace plans and partial truce agreements. 

As global leaders deliberate, the September 29 proposal stands as a test of whether lasting peace can finally be achieved after two years of unrelenting warfare.