March 3, 2025 - 10:30am
While the conflict in Ukraine has dominated the news cycle in the aftermath of the Oval Office confrontation between Presidents Trump and Zelensky, the war between Israel and Hamas is in danger of flaring up once again.
Over the weekend, Israel stopped all humanitarian aid and supplies from entering the Gaza Strip. This was apparently to pressure Hamas to continue with the scheduled release of hostages without Israeli withdrawal from key strategic positions, such as the Philadelphi Corridor on Gazaâs border with Egypt.
It has always been unlikely that the second phase of the ceasefire agreement signed back in January would take place, not least because of the military and political ramifications of the IDF leaving such locations. When the ceasefire was agreed, many of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuâs allies only reluctantly acquiesced to the first stage on the understanding that the troop withdrawal proposed in the second phase would not happen.
Netanyahuâs overriding priority has always been to maintain his coalition, or else ensure that he is in the best possible position for any subsequent election. As a result, he is now trying to negotiate or force a solution that would allow him to keep Israeli troops on the Egypt-Gaza border and still get the remaining 59 hostages, only 25 of whom are thought to remain alive, back to Israel.
Most Israelis want the government to prioritise returning the hostages, but Netanyahu long ago gave up governing in the name of the interests of all his citizens. Under pressure from the Right, it looks as though Bibi has decided to scupper the ceasefire, and is looking for any excuse to do so, ideally while Trump is distracted by Ukraine.
The recently-freed hostage Eli Sharabi, whose wife and children were killed on 7 October, last week gave an emotionally-charged interview discussing his time in captivity, and calling for the government to give absolute priority to recovering the remaining hostages.
In the interview, Sharabi spoke of serving as a father figure to some of the younger hostages, and recalled that when the former security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir made comments to Israeli media about withholding food from Palestinian prisoners, his Hamas captors would use that to justify not feeding them. When asked about this, Ben-Gvir refused to apologise and insisted he was âproudâ of his actions.
Since resigning from Netanyahuâs coalition at the start of the ceasefire, Ben-Gvir, leader of the Jewish Strength party, has used his time out of government to criticise the deal and call for a resumption of the war. His fellow far-Rightist Bezalel Smotrich has kept his Religious Zionist party in the coalition for now, and has vigorously approved of the decision to block all supplies from entering Gaza, but he has also made it clear that he cannot countenance a move to phase two and the troop withdrawals that would involve.
For the second time this year, Israelis are in the unusual position of relying on Trump to be the voice of reason and moderation. Only he can restrain Netanyahu; and assuming that Hamas does not accept Israeli demands to continue the hostage release without further troop withdrawals, only Trump can prevent a return to war.
Egypt has now proposed US troops taking over the Philadelphi Corridor, a suggestion that Israeli negotiators are discussing in Cairo. Given the Trump administrationâs aversion to boots on the ground or unnecessary entanglements, this seems unlikely.
Domestically, Netanyahu remains weak in the face of pressure from the Israeli Right. As for Hamas, it is reasonable to assume that it will not agree to unilaterally resume its part of the deal. With both sides reluctant to budge, the ceasefire is hanging by a thread.
David Swift is a historian and author. His next book, Scouse Republic, is available to pre-order now.
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SubscribeWhat threatens the ceasefire is the charade that Hamas is a serious entity.
I disagree, Hamas is quite serious about annihilating the Jewish population of Israel, no ifs nor buts. Netanyahu is within his rights to pressure them as much as possible. This is an existential war, a zero sum game.
Really? Kites and back yard rockets against drones and AI savagery?
Your use of the word âexistentialâ here is true. The people being ethically cleansed here are under existential threat.
The gaslighting by these Isreali bots in hilarious.
“Egypt has now proposed US troops taking over the Philadelphi Corridor”
No thank-you.
The author is putting the blame on Netanyahu. He seems to have forgotten that Hamas kidnapped (a generous description of their actions) and has kept hostage or murdered their victims. Ceasefire? No, it hasnât been a ceasefire except in the minds of those who love double-speak. It hasnât been a stand-off between criminals and the forces of law and order. As Hamas has demonstrated by its actions that any future âswapsâ will be of tortured corpses now is the time to take them out. Innocent bystanders? No, thereâs no innocence in electing and supporting a terrorist group, nor in cheering the parades of innocent kidnap victims and dead bodies. We all get the government we are prepared to live with, and we live well, poorly, or die by our choices.
Alright John! Captain Big Boulders wants more carnage and child death. Also wants the remaining hostages dead I guess. This whole moral preening about what side being civilised and the other not doesnât hold to reason, unless John, you are choosing to read and view things that back up your argument. The religious right in Israel, that has bibi by the boulders, are psychotic. l. Listen to them. Read what they are saying.and comment on it. And also John, may I recommend the âBibi filesâ documentary. Turns out, his wife Sara, has Bibiâs boulders in her v expensive purse.
Donât be so self-righteously silly! Of course Netanyahu does not want more deaths. What he wants is to erase Hamas from Gaza precisely so that his own country is not under constant attack from suicidal, murderous, fanatical terrorists; on other words, to SAVE the lives of his own citizens.
Whoâs being self righteously naive?
Bibi! Israel are stealing land in the West Bank. Agree or not? Bibi made sure Hamas got their funding so that he could separate them for the Palestinian authority in the West Bank.
True or not? Bibi is only about bibi. What would you do if you or ur parents or grandparents were relived of
Their land by a newly arrived settler community? What? Whoâs naive John?
All the tribes in that neighborhood are worse than dogs.
Nice way to talk about the jews there Mike?
Listen to yourself.
You sound like Cromwell talking about the Irish.
Flynn.
The author doesn’t mention, and doesn’t know, what Hamas is demanding in return for freeing all the hostages. The “price” is probably such – complete retreat from Gaza, international guarantees for its ability to rebuild Gaza under its control, freeing thousands more (all?) terrorists from Israeli jails – that no Israeli leader could pay it. Under the circumstances, Netanyahu taking advantage of a new administration that isn’t as fixated as the previous one on providing Gaza (Hamas) with all the supplies it needs, thereby robbing Israel of a much needed pressure lever on Hamas, makes perfect sense. The threat of a return to war as an additional means to pressure Hamas is equally necessary and Trump, who, if he understands anything, it is pressure levers, is not the one who will undercut Israel on this.
Regarding the morality of using such levers: please consider that the UN has stopped providing humanitarian aid to 21 million Yemenites (10 times more than the Gaza population) because 24 aid workers were taken hostage in Yemen (10 times less than the hostages taken to Gaza on 10/7) – and nobody screams “genocide”, nobody demonstrates, it is not even discussed … the hypocrisy stinks to high heaven.
Finally, the author quoting former minister Ben Gvir, who really is a disgrace and a moron, is just a distraction, and neither adds nor detracts from the argument.
“Regarding the morality of using such levers: please consider that the UN has stopped providing humanitarian aid to 21 million Yemenites (10 times more than the Gaza population) because 24 aid workers were taken hostage in Yemen (10 times less than the hostages taken to Gaza on 10/7) â and nobody screams âgenocideâ, nobody demonstrates, it is not even discussed ⊠the hypocrisy stinks to high heaven.”
Thank you for pointing this out. I never knew that the UN had acted thus! Disgusting!
I will never understand this emphasis on Netanyahu when it comes to the hostages. He is an elected politician in a democratic country that upholds Western ideals and whether I like him or not he acts in what he thinks are the best interests of Israel as a whole. He could have had the hostages home straight away goes the storyline (missing out that what that entailed was – never attacking Hamas in Gaza simply to wait another day for a greater attack on the ground plus more rocket barrages etc). Amazingly he may sometimes make wrong decisions but he is held accountable by the electorate and the Knesset. Hamas meanwhile are restrained by what – violent anti semitic jihadi passages in the Muslim holy books? There is no equivalency….if my son or wife or daughter was taken hostage I’d be screaming blue murder but that doesn’t mean it should be done AT ANY COST!
KId dressed in fatigues and Islamist headband just like his criminal parents. AKA abusing children. You got it backwards. The barbaric displays of the tormented hostages, the duplicity and the criminality of hamas as always threatens the cease fire and threatens the lives of Gazan civilians such as the small abused Arab child. The outrage of the smug superiority complex and Jew Hate derangement of the British media, the film industry, your theater, your fine arts….and so on. This includes your Jewish citizens in these professions witness last year’s Oscar “asajew” miserable speech.
What on Earth makes anyone imagine that Hamas will ever turn over all the hostages? This romantic fantasizing about these beasts is beyond grotesque. They must be destroyed.
Meanwhile, the Palestinians of Gaza don’t have a friend left in the world. The complaints of the Twitter/X types all over the West will all be forgotten like George Floyd. And rightly so. Many of the murders of Oct. 7 were committed by un-affiliated civilians, not part of any group, who rushed in en masse for the chance to rape and murder. Now is the time to drive them out of Gaza. All of them. They’re too violent and just too stupid to tolerate any longer.
It would be nice if Benjamin Netanyahu had a plan for ending the war besides forcing the Palestinians to leave Gaza and the West Bank and making Israel extend from the river to the sea. Israel refuses to stop settlements in the West Bank and its occupation of Palestinian territory has been barbaric and oppressive.
The Palestinians have not helped their cause, true, and their babarism exceeds Israel’s. But it is a shame that Israel chooses not to find a way to peace but instead chooses to destroy and to slaughter.
“is a shame that Israel chooses not to find a way to peace but instead chooses to destroy and to slaughter.” lolol
Let’s just stick to this century and leave out all the other peace offers the Palestinians have rejected:
2000: Barak/Clinton peace offer, rejected.
2001: Barakâs offer at Taba, rejected.
2005: Sharon’s peace gesture, withdrawal from Gaza, rejected.
2008: Olmert/Bush peace offer, rejected. Olmert was prepared to give up territory in the West Bank, and allow some refugees to reclaim land. He was even willing to relinquish control of Jerusalemâs Old City to an international committee as part of recognizing Palestine as a sovereign state.
2014: Kerry’s Contour-for-Peace, rejected.
The Palestinians have never ever wanted peace, they have had the same single goal for the past 75 years: destruction of the hated Zionist entity. How are you supposed to make peace with people whose only interest is in murdering you?
What threatens the ceasefire is Hamas, and the 53 innocent civilian hostages they hold (half of whom they have murdered), and the vicious attack on October 7th.
Bot
Not.
This is a mediocre article by a mediocre and biased author. I feel dumber for having read it.
Dumber Because you didnât understand it maybe?
You’re funny, Martin.
NOTE TO DONALD:
I have a suggestion for bringing permanent peace and instant prosperity to Gaza.
USA to pull out of the United Nations and boot it out of New York/USA. A reconstituted UN to set up its HQ in Gaza. With its vast expenditure, large number of fat-cat employees and luxurious existence, Gaza’s economic woes would vanish overnight and the UN would be right there on the spot to overse peace in the Middle East.
After all, isn’t peace what the UN was always meant to deliver and maintain from its inception?