EXPERT COMMENT
Plans for a post-war peace must be made now.
During his State of the Union address of 7 March, US President Joe Biden announced that a port will be constructed off the coast of Gaza to help deliver aid to Palestinian civilians. While an important humanitarian measure, it was mostly an acknowledgment of the failure to reach a ceasefire, and to convince Israel to allow sufficient humanitarian assistance in by land.
Only a fortnight ago, Biden had announced that a ceasefire deal would be reached by 4 March, with an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners expected. But despite weeks of painstaking Qatari, Egyptian and US mediation, a ceasefire was not agreed before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on 11 March.
The vast gaps between Hamas and Israel's positions risk a serious regional escalation, but negotiations are ongoing with new proposals for a shorter cessation of hostilities on the table.
Continuing hostilities make it far harder to address the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where the UN OCHA reports that at least 500,000 people are on the brink of famine, and over 30,000 have been killed in violence since 7 October, with around 72,000 people wounded and over 17,000 children now estimated to be orphaned or unaccompanied.
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