"It is difficult, in good conscience, to fully celebrate the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas when so many civilians have died in the conflict over the past two years. The horror of October 7, when Hamas slaughtered more than 1,100 Israelis and took several hundred hostages, led to what has been rightly characterized as a genocide: a total war against the people of Gaza, one that has killed more than 67,000 and immiserated almost every living Palestinian."
"In January, as he was leaving the White House, Biden brokered a brief ceasefire agreement as part of a hostages-for-prisoners exchange, but it was barely able to hold. Netanyahu did not want to stop the war. As long as Israel blasted Gaza away, Netanyahu could forestall long-running corruption charges and freeze out his political rivals. He could be a wartime kingpin, Israel's eternal strongman, and keep granting himself new political life."
More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed and Gaza reduced to smoldering rubble following a two-year campaign that began after October 7, when Hamas killed over 1,100 Israelis and seized hostages. The campaign is characterized as a genocide and has left almost every Palestinian impoverished and devastated. A cease-fire was reached, but the catastrophe in Gaza remains. President Donald Trump is accused of bearing responsibility for the bloodshed while using transactional diplomacy to secure Israeli compliance. Joe Biden earlier brokered a brief hostages-for-prisoners cease-fire that failed to hold. Netanyahu prolonged the war to evade corruption charges and consolidate political power.
Read at Intelligencer
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