The relentless anguish of Palestinians, the colossal magnitude of the calamity in Gaza, is beyond anything seen in history. Living conditions are deplorable. Hospitals are destroyed. Food is scant. Clean drinking water is nonexistent. Public health is shattered to pieces. Malnutrition, vaccine-preventable diseases and infections are rampant.
Children, women and the elderly are deeply traumatised and need urgent medical, humanitarian and psychological assistance. Despite that, the international community has failed Gaza. Let us hope that the ceasefire will pave the way towards a sustainable peace and security in the region and wider world.
Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob
London
• Your article (16 January) poses the question of who deserves the credit for the Gaza ceasefire deal. Given there are suggestions that both Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right partners will renege as soon as the first hostages are released, it’s clearly a transactional Trumpian deal. The Palestinians recognise this but, as usual, they have no say in their own future. It suits the Israelis to act as though all Palestinians are members of Hamas, and it suits Hamas to pretend they are acting in the Palestinians’ interests.
Michael Peel
London
• The euphoria greeting the Hamas-Israeli ceasefire deal is premature and misplaced. Hamas will continue to misgovern Gaza, released prisoners will spill more blood and the two racist fanatics in the Israeli cabinet will continue their Islamophobic actions. Nonetheless, Joe Biden and Donald Trump both deserve credit for combining to free hostages and stop Israeli bombings.
Andrew M Rosemarine
Former research fellow of the Harry S Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Jerusalem
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