EXPERT COMMENT
A ceasefire is urgently needed to curb a rising death toll, and bring the region back from the brink.
President Joe Biden refuses to publicly back a ceasefire to end Israel's bombardment of Gaza.
Without one, the United States will find its moral authority in the Middle East increasingly diminished, especially among its partners in the region and an Arab public that is mobilizing at levels not seen since the Arab Spring revolutions.
A prolonged fallout also brings the region closer to a broader conflagration, and threatens to undo significant advances in de-escalation that have taken place since 2020.
It is now the third week of Israel's daily bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in response to the Hamas attacks on 7 October in which over 1,400 people were killed and more than two hundred taken hostage.
A rising death toll of 7,000 in Gaza includes over 2,500 children, in addition to dozens of journalists, and aid workers. A convoy of twenty trucks brought in limited goods through Egypt, but Gaza remains cut off from electricity, fuel, and water.
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