At a time when the world leans towards peace, Israel appears to row against the current with its determination to fully occupy Gaza, showing apparent disregard for the significant global efforts to establish a lasting, comprehensive, and just peace. It confirms that the peace the world aspires to is not the peace Israel wants, which is a peace that serves only its interests and does not achieve any peace for the Palestinians to live in security and peace as they should.

The current Israeli government clearly wants to prolong the war as much as possible, regardless of whether the hostages are freed or not. That issue has become marginal and a pretext for them. Even the Israelis themselves no longer believe them, especially the families of the hostages who demonstrate daily to reach a solution to bring their loved ones home, but to no avail. The Israeli government’s plans go beyond the return of hostages to occupying more Palestinian territories and killing as many Palestinian civilians as possible by all means. The death of many of them from starvation, most of whom are children, is clear evidence of the results of these Israeli plans, which amount to a war crime added to other equally heinous crimes that continue.

While Saudi Arabia and France led the two-state solution conference at the United Nations, gaining unprecedented global support in a serious and earnest attempt to establish peace and stability, Israel continues in its arrogance and stubbornness as if it does not concern them. This is a strategic mistake based on temporary gains on the ground, which cannot last for several reasons, first internally within Israel, as the Israeli public will not continue to support the current government policies that heavily drain the economy alongside the cost of war. Secondly, the growing global awareness strongly condemns the Israeli government’s actions that violate human rights sought by the world. In the medium and long term, the Israeli government will not be able to withstand all these internal and external pressures.