We must find a way to give peace a chance in Gaza

Editorial: With little end in sight to Israel’s retaliations for the 7 October attacks, the next six months appear just as gloomy for the Palestinians as the last. The West must exert maximum leverage to make Benjamin Netanyahu change his course now

A mother, displaced by the Israeli attacks, feeds her baby in Nuseirat, a refugee camp in Gaza (AP)

Six months after the atrocities committed by Hamas in southern Israel, it is right and proper to remember the victims of that terrorism. Some 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, and around 250 people were taken hostage. It stands as the worst antisemitic attack since the Holocaust, and as a continuing reminder that Hamas remains committed to the elimination of the state of Israel and the killing of Jews.

There is obviously much context to be added to that, but that ideology is one reason why a lasting peace has proved so elusive in the region. Even in recent weeks, Hamas has not proved wholly cooperative during attempts at peace talks brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.

It is, then, a moment for reflection and equally a moment to memorialise the more than 33,000 Palestinians, many of them children and babies who, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, have died in this conflict.