By Shahid Shah

 I have read many absurd statements in my years covering conflict and diplomacy. But the recent post from the self-anointed "Board of Peace" may be the most brazen collection of fabrications I have ever seen.

Let me be direct: The Board of Peace is lying to you. And they are counting on your short memory and the world's distracted attention to get away with it.

Their statement, published on X late Thursday, claims that since the ceasefire last October, food aid is reaching three times more people in Gaza. They claim that Hamas's theft of aid has dropped from 90% to less than 1%. They claim that the United Nations reports nutrition has "improved dramatically."

Every single one of these claims is a lie.

I have spoken to aid workers, journalists, and medical personnel who have been in and out of Gaza over the past seven months. The picture they describe is not one of improvement; it is one of systematic starvation.

Israel continues to violate the ceasefire that was supposed to stop the killing. Since October, Israeli forces have killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. These are not combatants caught in crossfire. These are civilians -- women, children, farmers, fishermen, and aid seekers -- shot by snipers, killed in drone strikes, or left to bleed to death because ambulances cannot reach them.

And the food? What food? Israel continues to halt the entry of food, water, and medicine at every turn. The crossings at Kerem Shalom and Rafah are opened just enough to create a photo opportunity, then slammed shut again. The World Food Programme has documented that more than half of all aid convoys are either denied entry or delayed indefinitely.

The United Nations has said no such thing about nutrition improving "dramatically." In fact, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warned just weeks ago that famine conditions persist across northern Gaza. One in three children under two is acutely malnourished. Mothers are feeding their babies water mixed with crushed biscuit crumbs because formula does not exist.

That is the truth. The Board of Peace's version is a fantasy designed to justify continued inaction.

Who Is the Board of Peace?

Let us also ask an obvious question: Who are these people? The Board of Peace has no official standing, no elected mandate, and no accountability. They operate in the shadows while claiming to speak for the world.

What we do know is that their talking points align perfectly with the Trump administration's rejected plan for Gaza to disarm Hamas, a plan that Muslim countries have already thrown into the trash bin where it belongs.

That plan, unveiled earlier this year, demanded that Hamas disarm and surrender governance while offering Palestinians nothing in return except more occupation, more blockade, and more Israeli control over their borders, airspace, and water. Egypt rejected it. Jordan rejected it. Turkiye, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan all rejected it.

The Board of Peace is not a neutral humanitarian body. They are a propaganda front. And their "ceasefire" is a joke.

Here is the other inconvenient truth that the Board of Peace does not want you to remember: President Trump is now fully consumed by his war with Iran. He has forgotten Gaza. He has forgotten the Palestinians. He was never their friend, and he is not their savior now.

Trump's administration has been Israel's most enthusiastic cheerleader throughout this genocide. They have vetoed ceasefire resolutions at the UN. They have rushed weapons to Israel while children starve. They have blocked every meaningful attempt at accountability.

Now that Trump is busy bombing Iran and fighting a naval war in the Persian Gulf, he has left Gaza to rot. The Board of Peace is simply doing clean-up duty, sweeping the bodies under the rug and telling you everything is fine.

The Board of Peace also attacked the Global Sumud Flotilla, calling it "performative love-boat activism" by people who "know nothing of and care even less for the condition of Gazans."

Let me remind you what happened to that flotilla. Israeli warships attacked civilian vessels in international waters. They illegally detained humanitarian activists. Eleven nations -- including Turkiye, Brazil, South Africa, and my own country Pakistan -- condemned the assault in the strongest possible terms.

Calling that "performative" is obscene. The flotilla was a peaceful attempt to break an illegal blockade. The only violence came from Israel. The only lawbreaking came from Israel. And the Board of Peace is cheering them on.

The Board of Peace wants you to believe that the only obstacle to peace is Hamas and its weapons. They want you to pressure Hamas to "decommission" and "transition to a new government" that would presumably be friendly to Israel and the United States.

This is nonsense. The occupation is the obstacle. The blockade is the obstacle. The daily humiliation, the land theft, the extrajudicial killings, the collective punishment of two million people, these are the obstacles.

No amount of Hamas disarmament will change that. And every day that the world pretends otherwise, more Palestinian children die.

I do not expect the Board of Peace to admit they are lying. That is not how propaganda works. But I do expect journalists, diplomats, and ordinary citizens to demand better than this.

Demand evidence for their claims. Demand names and accountability for their board. Demand to know why they are attacking humanitarian activists while defending a government that bombs hospitals and shoots aid seekers.

And most of all, demand an end to the silence. Every day that the world looks away, Israel kills more Palestinians and blocks more food. The Board of Peace wants you to believe the war is over. It is not. It has never stopped. They are just hoping you stop paying attention.

Do not let them.

Shahid Shah is a columnist and political commentator based in Middle East. He writes on geopolitics, conflict, and human rights.