The brief but intense conflict with Tehran had eclipsed mainly the ongoing crisis in the Palestinian enclave. Now, as the dust settles, a critical question, elegantly posed in a recent analysis by Courier International, is echoing through the corridors of power: Does Israel's claimed "victory" against Iran change the equation in Gaza? While the world watched the skies, a Palestinian journalist for Middle East Eye noted that the "massacre, displacement, and engineered famine" in Gaza "continued at full throttle," a grim reality that international attention could no longer ignore.
The humanitarian situation has become untenable. According to Gaza's Ministry of Health, approximately 870 Palestinians were killed between June 13 and June 24 alone. The daily newspaper Al-Ayyam reported 94 deaths and over 400 injuries on June 24, as Israeli forces launched extensive attacks. The Israeli opposition daily Ha'Aretz warns that nearly two million displaced people are now crowded into less than 18% of the Strip's territory, living in "infernal conditions." Aid distributions have become chaotic and dangerous, described by the outlet +972 Magazine as "deadly traps" akin to the "Hunger Games."
This dire reality has amplified calls within Israel for a resolution. Following the cessation of hostilities with Iran, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and opposition leader Yair Lapid have publicly urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure a deal to end the war and retrieve the 49 remaining hostages. Prominent columnist Ben Caspit echoed their pleas in the newspaper Maariv, who implored Netanyahu to "conclude, here and now, an agreement with Hamas." The recent deaths of seven Israeli soldiers in Khan Younis have added a painful urgency to these demands.
Previously, analysts suggested Netanyahu prolonged the Gaza war to maintain his governing coalition. However, the widely supported military campaign against Iran has placed the Prime Minister in what The New York Times calls a "much more comfortable position." This perceived success may grant him the political capital to "show greater flexibility regarding Gaza." Indeed, US President Donald Trump claimed on June 25 that "great progress is being made" toward ending the war, while a Hamas official confirmed to AFP an intensification of talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators. With Hamas seen as diplomatically isolated, a potential deal—perhaps involving the expulsion of its leadership or Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor—appears, for the first time in months, to be a tangible possibility.
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