Gaza cannot afford more ceasefire stalemate

Smoke rises and rubble falls following an Israeli strike in Gaza city on Sunday. Despite months of mediation involving key Middle East countries and the US, the violence continues. AP

Yesterday’s reports from Palestinian media that at least 30 people in Gaza were killed by Israeli gunfire at an aid distribution point only underlines the dire consequences that confront the enclave’s suffering civilian population in the absence of a ceasefire.

The day before, it appeared that Gaza’s deadly stalemate was set to continue. US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Saturday that Hamas’s response to a Washington-backed ceasefire plan for Gaza was “totally unacceptable”. In doing so, the stage is set for further conflict in which it has been long apparent there are no winners.

Since Israel resumed military operations on March 18 after the end of a two-month truce brokered by mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar, the suffering inflicted on the Palestinian territory is almost without compare in modern times. In its response to the Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people on October 7, 2023, the Israeli military has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians and injured more than twice that number. Much of the enclave lies in ruins amid critical shortages of food, medicine and water caused by a months-long Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid.

Israeli soldiers kills dozens of Palestinians as they gathered for aid

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Such unacceptable death and destruction would ordinarily lead to frantic negotiations to try and bring the bloodshed to a close. And yet, despite month upon month of mediation involving key Middle East countries and the US, the violence continues. In Gaza, Palestinian civilians are literally caught in the crossfire between an Israeli military guided by politicians that have made no secret of wanting to ethnically cleanse the territory of its inhabitants and Hamas, an organisation that recklessly attacked Israel with no defensive strategy or capability that could protect Gaza’s people from collective punishment.

The fact that what is being discussed is essentially a time-limited ceasefire, rather than a settlement, shows how entrenched the war has become. Continuing disputes over the duration of the proposed truce, when and how the remaining Israeli hostages should be released, and the mechanics of getting essential aid into Gaza combine to delay a deal that could save lives and provide an important break in the conflict. This latter point is essential for ending Gaza’s default setting of punishing violence and displacement.

The fact that what is being discussed is essentially a time-limited ceasefire, rather than a settlement, shows how entrenched the war has become

Frustration at this continuing failure to strike a deal is palpable. Late last month, Gaza truce talks in Doha collapsed with sources telling The National that Israel’s three-man delegation appeared to have had no mandate to negotiate and spent more time in their hotel rooms than at the negotiating table or with the mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar. Compounding such failures to strike a deal is the availability of realistic and practical alternatives to war without end. An Egyptian plan was adopted in March at the Arab Summit in Cairo; this proposed a five-year timetable for reconstruction and governance with Palestinian participation. Politically, the Arab Peace Initiative, a seven-point proposal for a comprehensive political settlement to the conflict, remains on the table, despite being fatefully rejected by Israel.

Events are in flux, and it is to be hoped that a compromise is reached. However, what is clear is that although neither Hamas nor Israel can continue in this vein indefinitely, it is 2.3 million Gazans who cannot wait for this Gordian knot of negotiation tactics and strategies to be untangled.