Stop the rockets, but lift the siege
Any ceasefire will be temporary unless Israel starts negotiating seriously with the Palestinians
THE mounting toll of innocents in Gaza is reason enough for anyone with compassion to demand a ceasefire. Since July 8th, when Israel began its campaign to clobber Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that has run the Gaza Strip since 2007, at least 700 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians and many of them children, along with at least 35 Israelis, including three civilians. After Israel undertook a ground invasion of Gaza on July 18th, the casualty rate on both sides soared. Hospitals have been hit and scores of buildings flattened, often with civilians inside. A Palestinian family of 25, said to have been hosting a Hamas fighter during a supper to break the Ramadan fast, was wiped out.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "Stop the rockets, but lift the siege"
From the July 26th 2014 edition
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