Hamas and Netanyahu don't want this savage war to end

Why, after 18 months, is there still a war raging in Gaza? The answer is, in my opinion, because the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, needs to perpetuate the war for political reasons and Hamas cannot conceivably agree to end the war if it means relinquishing power or residual power. Neither side seems to want the war to end. It is as simple and as tragic as that.

- ALON PINKAS

Meanwhile, the one actor that could change this calculus – the United States – is effectively not in the game for now.

US president Donald Trump is unilaterally imposing broad and exorbitantly high tariffs on dozens of countries, pushing perilously closer to a fully fledged trade war with China; generating financial market turmoil; threatening Denmark – one of the 12 original founders of Nato – over his fixation of acquiring Greenland; and demeaning, threatening and imposing harsh tariffs on Canada.

With all of this – plus the abject failure of Trump’s attempts (I would call them pseudo-negotiations) to reach a ceasefire in the Ukraine-Russia war – it is perhaps all too easy to forget there’s still a war going on in Gaza. And now comes a new version of an old idea: a ceasefire and hostage deal.

The Israeli proposal, submitted to Egyptian mediators, includes several key points: a 45-day ceasefire that would commence with the release of Idan Alexander, an abducted Israeli soldier with dual American citizenship. This would be followed by the release of 10 live Israeli hostages in three stages. In exchange, 120 Palestinians serving life sentences for direct involvement and execution of terror acts – and the additional release of “hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees”.