Even talk of a potential ceasefire in Gaza is a cause for hope

Editorial: President Biden’s suggestion that an end to the fighting could be organised as soon as next week would have far-reaching consequences – securing the release of the Israeli hostages, putting an end to the Rafah offensive, and allowing humanitarian aid to flow. It must be given every chance to succeed

Palestinians wait for humanitarian aid on a beachfront in Gaza City on Sunday (AP)

It is hardly a “done deal” – and disappointment may yet transpire – but the very fact that a ceasefire in Gaza, of whatever genus, is being actively negotiated and openly discussed by the president of the United States represents enormous cause for hope.

Too many people – almost 30,000 now, according to the Palestinian health ministry – have died. President Biden has indicated that an end to the fighting could be organised as soon as next week, if not the weekend. If agreed, it would, it seems, last for 40 days during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on the evening of 10 March. It is possible that such a pause in the conflict could then evolve seamlessly into a more permanent end to the war.

Such a situation, which seemed remote only weeks ago, at least creates some of the conditions for something like political progress. Part of that, as the US government has hinted, might well entail recognition of Palestine by Western countries as an independent nation state. That, as the foreign secretary, David Cameron, has made clear, would include the UK – a symbolic move given Britain ruled Palestine for three decades, its mandate ending in 1948.