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The meaning of the term “ceasefire” should be self‑evident. Yet Israel’s strikes have killed scores of people in Lebanon since it agreed a truce with Hezbollah under pressure from the US, with the two sides trading fire. There was a strike on Beirut on Wednesday. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government would be delighted to resume war with Iran. But it is wary of Donald Trump’s wrath as he seeks an exit from the conflict.
In Gaza, the Israeli military has killed more than 800 people since the truce there was declared in October, striking almost every day. This, too, is not a true ceasefire but a de-escalation, however necessary. Lethal Israeli attacks on an engineer and drivers transporting water have intensified the water crisis that is fuelling the spread of infectious diseases; Médecins Sans Frontières has called the weaponisation of water supplies a campaign of collective punishment. Never mind the estimated $70bn cost of reconstruction; homes are still being flattened. Families in tents face a rat infestation. Essential medicines are unavailable. Hospitals and schools lie in ruins. An analysis of the war’s impact on education described children feeling “like the living dead”.
Israel agreed to end attacks, massively increase the aid allowed into the territory and withdraw its forces to within a “yellow line” – still accounting for 53% of the territory. Yet strikes have continued, aid flows yo-yo and essential items are blocked on the claim that they are “dual use”. The military has expanded its zone of control substantially – and the unmarked surrounding area in which Palestinians are considered legitimate targets. Israel’s Army Radio has said that military leaders are pushing to resume the war.
Yet far from pressing Mr Netanyahu’s government to uphold its phase one commitments, the US-led Board of Peace has made it clear that it will not hold Israel to them unless Hamas agrees to the phase two framework for disarmament set out by the panel, according to a document obtained by the Times of Israel. The newspaper reported that the letter from the high representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, and a senior US official, Aryeh Lightstone, says that if Hamas does not accept the plans, Israel will not be expected to stop attacks or allow in aid. It was sent to the Palestinian technocrats meant to run Gaza in Hamas’s stead. Israeli support for anti-Hamas armed militias in Gaza is, in any case, hardly conducive to disarmament.
The world has turned away from the horrors of the genocidal war unleashed following the Hamas atrocities of 7 October 2023. There is a bizarre and chilling contrast between Israel’s swift investigation and punishment of soldiers who showed disrespect to statues of Jesus in Lebanon and the lack of even basic accountability – never mind justice – when Palestinians are abused, killed or disappear. Where is the outrage?
Mr Trump is fixated only on Iran and its impact on his domestic support. He is unlikely to act on Gaza unless he thinks a renewed Israeli offensive could derail his attempts to find a way out of his conflict with Tehran. But Europe too has real leverage – yet it has failed to use it. As anger grows, governments must translate condemnation into action. Trade agreements should not survive the continued flouting of Israel’s commitments, never mind the threat of return to an unchecked campaign of annihilation.
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