Joe Biden insisted it was “time for this war to end and the day after to begin” as he promoted a three-phase peace deal. Hours later, Benjamin Netanyahu shot it down as a “non-starter”. One week on, an agreement looks as remote as ever.
More than 36,700 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, says its health ministry. More Israeli hostages seized in the murderous raid by Hamas on 7 October have died. On Thursday Israel bombed a UN school in central Gaza, killing at least 33 of the thousands of displaced people sheltering there, including 12 women and children, according to witnesses and hospital records. The Israel Defense Forces said it was a “precise” strike on Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters using it as a base. What is clear is that the IDF is fighting in places where it was supposed to have eliminated Hamas, while civilians are forced to return to those areas by the assault on Rafah.
The Israeli government has said that this conflict will last into 2025. Some in Israel can see how disastrous this is. Benny Gantz, Mr Netanyahu’s political rival and member of his war cabinet, set a deadline of Saturday for the prime minister to offer a credible plan for the day after the war ends. It has not materialised. Mr Gantz is expected to announce his resignation. But Mr Netanyahu can stumble on without him, while he could not survive without far-right coalition partners Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said they’d quit if there was a deal before Hamas was destroyed.
Qatar has reportedly threatened to expel Hamas representatives unless they accept the proposal, under pressure from the US. But the militants will be reluctant to hand over hostages in exchange for only a temporary ceasefire unless they desperately need time to regroup. So far, that does not appear to be the case; it is Palestinian civilians who have borne the brunt.
Israel is reducing its international standing by the day. Spain said on Thursday that it would ask to join South Africa’s international court of justice case alleging genocide. A growing number of countries are recognising a Palestinian state; Britain may become one of them, with the Labour manifesto reportedly pledging recognition of Palestine “before the end of any peace process” alongside a “safe and secure Israel”.
But Israel’s actions are also dragging down its ally and chief armourer, the US. Mr Biden suggested this week that there was “every reason” for people to think Mr Netanyahu was prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation. Yet, again, the US president has failed to follow words with deeds. He declared that an invasion of Rafah would be a “red line”; now his administration plays semantic games over what constitutes a major ground operation as the Israeli assault gains strength. The US priority – avoiding a wider conflagration – is once again looking shaky. Strikes by Hezbollah from Lebanon on northern Israel are escalating, with Mr Netanyahu threatening an “extremely powerful” response.
While Mr Netanyahu hopes a Trump victory will throw him a political lifeline, people on the ground are dying. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization reported this week that more than a million people – half the population of Gaza – are expected to face death and starvation by mid-July. As bleak as the prospects for a deal appear, fatalism cannot triumph. The push for a ceasefire and hostage release must intensify.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
