Time has run out for Gaza and for all those forced to endure the apocalyptic hell that is the remains of the besieged Strip.
The only way to save the lives of the remaining Palestinian civilians as well as the hostages and captives held by Hamas militants is an immediate ceasefire. Followed by unfettered access to massive amounts of aid.
But from multiple conversations with foreign diplomats, sources close to all sides and people on the ground, it seems there are only two ways to get there.
First, is a powerful enough rebellion from within Israel, where near-daily protests are taking place against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to expand operations and pursue a boots-on-the-ground occupation of Gaza City.
Second would be if US President Donald Trump, Israel’s greatest ally and largest provider of weapons, decides to intervene.
Which, so far, he has resolutely chosen not to do.
The Israeli government has presented and doubled down on its five main conditions for immediately ending the war. Hamas must release all the remaining 50 hostages and disarm, while the Strip must be demilitarised and come under full Israeli security control.
Israel has also said that neither Hamas militant group nor the Palestinian Authority which anchored in the occupied West Bank and recognised internationally, would be permitted to be part of Gaza’s future governing body.
But even with these conditions, Netanyahu’s military objectives to conquer Gaza City will not budge and must come first, according to sources briefed on his government’s position. This is also the fear of the majority of the families of the hostages.
As Israeli daily Haaretz reports: Netanyahu is in no hurry to advance a major move because “the perpetuation of the present situation serves him politically”. “This is why that for as long as no real American pressure is directed at Netanyahu to end the fighting, no apparent signs of a deal will be seen.”
And so people briefed on attempts at truce negotiations have repeatedly told me that it is deliberately impossible to demand Hamas agree to these five conditions with nothing really promised in return – especially while on the ground, Israel advances military and ramps up its 22-month bombardment.
This is especially true given statements by the likes of Netanyahu’s extreme-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who says the aim of the new offensive is “the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories”, for Gaza to “be entirely destroyed”, and that Palestinians must leave “in great numbers to third countries”.
This language, implying war crimes, has such disturbing implications that it has been condemned by the UK’s now former foreign secretary, David Lammy, who was due to go to Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia next week. Any UK deputation, sent in his place, will no doubt try to discuss with Doha, which has been a main mediator, any route towards a ceasefire.
The UK and other European states are under increasing pressure to take further action, including lobbying Mr Trump, imposing their own arms embargo on Israel, and cancelling trade deals.
But without the US leading the charge will anything change?
On Friday, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant warned that Israel is opening “the gates of hell” in Gaza.
The Israeli military is already closing in on the remaining neighbourhoods of Gaza City, and raining bombs down on areas which Palestinian families have told me they are desperately trying to flee, with nowhere safe to go.
In the middle of this, the Israeli military actually briefed the families of the remaining hostages that the Gaza City operation “will increase risk to living hostages and the permanent loss of deceased hostages”.
In a joint statement, the families said they are “deeply concerned to our very core” that the operation puts their loved ones “in immediate and direct danger”.
“We are appalled by the chief of staff’s decision to cooperate with an unnecessary war, especially when the chief of staff himself believes the same objectives can be achieved through means that would not endanger the hostages and soldiers,” they wrote.
“There is a deal on the table – this is what will bring back the last hostage, this is what will end the war.”
There are growing signs of resistance from within Israel, where the population is increasingly alarmed by the rising (and for Israel, unprecedented) death toll among Israeli soldiers, as well as the fact that it increasingly becoming a pariah state internationally.
I have been told there is a surge in soldiers refusing to turn up for reserve duty: with some Israeli media reports saying that in the last major offensive earlier this year as many as 30,000 were no-shows.
Many, including ex-heads of the military and intelligence agencies do not believe there is a way to win this war as Netanyahu has promised. And the costs are too high.
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed over 64,000 Palestinians according to health authorities, sparked famine according to the UN-backed global hunger monitor, and displaced nearly the entire 2.3 million-strong population.
The largest professional organisation of scholars studying genocide said this week that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, joining a chorus of rights groups long who have long voiced the same concern.
The Israeli government may deny all of this, but those denials are sounding weaker and weaker.
The situation is beyond critical, beyond catastrophic, beyond what any words can describe. What is happening – and has happened – in Gaza is already a bleak mark on history. The consequences of it will be felt for generations.
Now is the time to end this nightmare.
