Israel faces a stark choice. So do its allies. International condemnation pushed Israel into allowing a trickle of aid into Gaza. But it remains utterly insufficient, and Palestinians are still starving to death. Israel has killed more than 62,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Israel’s former intelligence chief Aharon Haliva, in charge when the Hamas atrocities of 2023 took place, was recently recorded saying that “For every person on October 7, 50 Palestinians must die. It doesn’t matter now if they are children.” That isn’t merely vengeful and obscene, it explicitly describes a war crime.

The death toll is likely to soar again. The defence minister, Israel Katz, has authorised plans for the call up of 60,000 soldiers to seize and occupy Gaza City – forcing out hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and bringing further catastrophe to exhausted, desperate and traumatised civilians. Yet Benjamin Netanyahu has an alternative: agree to a ceasefire proposal, already accepted by Hamas, and reportedly “almost identical” to an earlier plan presented by the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, which Israel accepted.

An........

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