A ceasefire that brought welcome respite to war-torn Gaza has been broken. The truce marked a pause in Israel’s military assault on the strip, sparked by Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023. That attack and the subsequent war in Gaza have left at least 50,000 Palestinians and 1,600 Israelis dead. Gaza is in ruins, its 2.2 million surviving people enduring terrible poverty, hunger, disease, grief, uncertainty and fear. Though suffering far fewer casualties, Israelis remain traumatised by the shock of Hamas’s 7 October attack and the continuous anxiety of the hostages’ lengthy captivity. The war has also rocked much of the Middle East, as Iran itself and militant groups in the Tehran-backed “axis of resistance” fired at Israel on several fronts.
The now shattered ceasefire – part of a broader deal concluded on 19 January – came as a relief to everyone. Though Israel still made sporadic strikes, killing some 150 people, Palestinians in Gaza could at least begin to pick up the pieces of their lives. The sides exchanged captives, opening the possibility of an end to Israel’s hostage nightmare as well as the return of hundreds of nearly 10,000 Palestinians incarcerated by Israel, many on flimsy “security” pretexts. Discussions about what a peaceful dispensation for Gaza might look like gathered momentum. A plan formulated by Arab leaders on 4 March and welcomed by Britain, China, France, Germany and Italy, among dozens of other countries, suggested a path to a more lasting peace. The Houthis in Yemen, now the most potent of the “axis” groups, halted their attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes and Israel as the ceasefire took hold.
[The 18 March] bombardment was some of the most ferocious of the war to date.
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