As shaky Israel-Iran truce holds, what next for Gaza?

With Benjamin Netanyahu offering up the idea of a 'dramatic expansion' of peace deals, Bel Trew looks at what a pause in fighting might look like - and asks how long it would last

- Bel Trew

In the wake of Donald Trump’s extraordinary outburst of profanity outside the White House, a fragile US-brokered truce between Israel and Iran appears to be tentatively holding.

In recent days, this has been accompanied by a flurry of messaging from Israel, in a brief but emphatic video on Thursday.

Benjamin Netanyahu, in a brief but emphatic video on Thursday, insisted that after Israel achieved “a great victory” over its staunch foe, a new opportunity had opened up for a “dramatic expansion of peace agreements”.

“There is a window of opportunity here that must not be wasted. We must not waste even a single day,” he said with emphasis.

For the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza facing starvation and slaughter, the hope is that this new climate of negotiations might herald the end of 20 months of Israel’s unprecedented bombardment, which has reduced the 25-mile-long strip to ashen rubble and claimed more than 56,000 lives, according to local officials.

Senior Palestinian health workers told The Independent that without a ceasefire and the immediate delivery of desperately needed aid, they were “scared we are teetering on the very edge”.

“We are so tired – we can’t keep going,” said Yosef AbuRresh, Gaza’s deputy health minister, outlining how half of the essential drugs list is missing and that none of the 38 hospitals in Gaza is fully functioning. “Don’t rely on our resilience. We are no longer able to continue as health staff,” he added.