Conflict without end The urge to annihilate the Hamas monster now risks feeding it

When will it end? Some ask that question in despair, willing an end to the pictures of crushed buildings and destroyed lives, the succession of bleak images that come out of Gaza every day. 

- Jonathan Freedland

Some asked the question to exert pressure when the UN security council was debating a call for a ceasefi re last week. Others wonder if the answer rests on Washington, detecting a new urgency in secretary of state Antony Blinken’s repeated call for Israel to close the “gap” between its declared intention to protect civilians and “ the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground ”.

Put the question to senior military figures, Israeli and American, as I did last week, and you hear a variety of responses. Some predict an end to the intensity of bombardment in days, others in weeks. But the more fruitful question might not be when, but why. Why is the fighting still going on more than two months after the 7 October massacre of 1,200 Israelis by Hamas? As those demanding a ceasefi re might put it, surely Israel has hit back hard enough now? Surely it has made its point?

In searching for an answer, a helpful place to start might be the area that is among the most painful. For many weeks, campaigners have urged the UN and others to pay attention to the now extensively documented evidence of sexual violence perpetrated by the men of Hamas on 7 October. The bodies of dead Israeli women and girls told a harrowing story, now supplemented by testimony from those who lived through those events.