French President Emmanuel Macron did not mince his words on Wednesday, when he described Israel’s resumption of its war in Gaza “a dramatic step backwards”. In January, Israel and Hamas agreed a temporary truce while proceeding with the exchange of hostages and detainees and, eventually, talks to build out a longer-term peace. That agreement was brokered with the help of US President Donald Trump even before he entered office – a remarkable demonstration of the sway he apparently held over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But this month, Israel withdrew from that agreement unilaterally, returning to demands for Hamas to release all of the Israeli hostages it holds immediately and unconditionally. In the meantime, Israel has illegally cut the Palestinian enclave off from aid, water and electricity, and conducted air strikes that killed 400 people, including a Bulgarian UN worker.
Hamas’s decision to continue holding Israeli and foreign hostages – most of them civilians – is an egregious war crime. The January truce agreement and the sporadic talks held since, through the diligent efforts of not only the US but Egypt, Qatar and other Arab states, were a way of gaining their freedom. Israel’s decision to use that war crime as a pretext for further criminality, with no proposed off-ramp for peace talks, only imperils innocent Palestinians and Israelis further by subjecting them to more time under Israeli bombardment and raising the hostages' value as bargaining chips for an increasingly desperate Hamas. And that is to say nothing of continuing bloodshed that has already cost nearly 50,000 Palestinian lives. It is becoming difficult to square Mr Netanyahu’s claims that freeing the hostages is his greatest priority with the growing certainty that his actions undermine that goal.
They also undermine the efforts of Israel’s allies. In the politics of America’s governing Republican party, even the slightest public criticism of Israel is nearly impossible. It is hardly a surprise, therefore, that the Trump administration in its rhetoric has both ingratiated Israel and openly insulted Palestinians. It has also enabled Israeli atrocities by increasing financial assistance to the country.
But Mr Trump’s team has, behind the scenes, engaged in very real efforts to carve a path back towards a ceasefire. US officials have even been engaged directly in talks with Hamas and become increasingly open to Arab allies’ peace proposals. Washington is motivated, in part, by the fact that one of the remaining hostages is an American, but also by Mr Trump wanting to seal his presidential legacy as a peacemaker. It should take seriously the latest proposal put forward by Egypt, and endorsed by Arab states, for Hamas to release six more hostages in exchange for an end to the blockade and a return to peace talks.
The US should also come to grips with what many American officials have undoubtedly realised by now in private – that Mr Netanyahu’s government does not appear to value Washington’s interests to the degree that Washington values Israel’s. Israel has ample opportunity right now to de-escalate, not just with Palestinians but with all its neighbours, and achieve the regional peace for which Mr Trump has long advocated. Instead, it has worked only to expand its war by reigniting conflict in Gaza, conducting more assaults in the West Bank, capturing territory in Syria and failing to adhere to an agreed withdrawal of its soldiers from Lebanon. There are many directions in which to step forward but, to echo Mr Macron, Israel is choosing only to step back into chaos.
