Those who want permanent cease-fire in Gaza must answer: Then what?

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I was reading the latest news on Haaretz, which is an Israeli-based newspaper site that has been one of the most truthful sources on the conflict of the Middle East and has not been afraid to go after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or talk about the casualties of the war in Gaza on both sides.

There, I read an article by a resident in the strip identified as Abdullah, about the nightmare he has faced living in Gaza. He stated that he’s in his 30s and takes care of his elderly parents. Two of his nieces were killed in a bombing and his mother barely survived. He lives without electricity or basic necessities.

However, there is something he writes in this piece that is shocking. He blames Hamas as much as he blames Israel. And for good reason. Hamas was the group that dragged the average Gazan into this war.

This is what he stated about Hamas:

“Hamas is an oppressive ideological religious organization that steals our freedom, enslaves us, abducts us at gunpoint, and suppresses any voices that oppose it. Hamas rejects the idea of the civilian state, which it sees as a desecration of everything holy and a violation of sharia law. It’s a religious, totalitarian, tyrannical government that restricts freedom of expression.”

But it is not like the problem is simply just Hamas, although Hamas “used civilian sites for terror.” As for the Israeli Army, he states that the army “is waging a war of revenge in Gaza, a war with no holds barred, no mercy, no red lines, a war that has gone beyond self-defense to revenge and collective self-punishment.”

After all I had read, I believe he is right. Except it also states unintentionally why an immediate permanent cease-fire can’t work, as what would happen if Hamas retakes the strip? What will happen to Abdullah if they find him after everything he just wrote? (His article on Haaretz is headlined “Writing these words in Gaza could cost me my life.”) And what happens to Israel if America does not help to fund Israel with military aid and Hamas tries to invade Israel without it?

And yet, the war waged by Israel is tyrannical and horrible to watch and even worse to fathom to someone trapped there between Hamas and the Israeli army. I would think escaping into Egypt should have been an option, but Egypt refuses due to its own political posturing that Palestinians should stay in Gaza no matter what so Israel does not try to annex the region. And as for Netanyahu, he remains in office as long as his coalition remains intact or until the next scheduled election in 2026, except that Netanyahu helped to strengthen Hamas in Gaza, according to Abdullah.

So it leaves America to put the pressure on Netanyahu and Hamas to come to a truce, and hopefully that involves Hamas disbanding and leaving Gaza and returning the hostages. Then, it involves Israel’s army leaving Gaza and returning the governing of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority but also helping to rebuild Gaza. And finally, Netanyahu must leave office and fresh elections in Israel take place immediately afterward to push for a two-state solution.

And I think we can do this as long as we stop trying to look for nonfeasible solutions to the problem that keeps Hamas in control of Gaza. Abdullah’s life (if he is still alive and makes it out of hell alive) depends on it.