How to get to a ceasefire in Gaza? For Israelis, the answer is clear: Hamas has to release its hostages. For the Palestinian militant group, Israel has to let fuel and basic necessities in. It is up to the belligerents in a war where an estimated one third of buildings in the north of the Strip have either been destroyed or damaged, with even more in Gaza City itself.
All the international community can do is answer the United Nations' call to raise funds and prepare vital necessities for Gaza. We talk about the humanitarian conference hosted by France this Thursday and whether more can be done to spare civilian lives.
To ask about a ceasefire is to ask, at this rate of killing and destruction, how long this war can last...and what's the plan for the day after? For a political settlement, there needs to be political will. The alternative is total destruction or a permanent state of war, scenarios that surely only suit the most radical elements on both sides.
Produced by Charles Wente, François Picard, Imen Mellaz and Meiqi An
