There is still time for the West to change Israel’s mind on a ceasefire – but it must act quickly

Editorial: Israel has inflicted huge casualties and damage on Gaza but it is losing this war in the wider sense and rendering itself less secure

Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with GOP senators on Wednesday afternoon (AFP/Getty)

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund – a body worthy of trust and respect, and well acquainted with conditions on the ground – “Rafah is Gaza’s last hope”.

In that case, the Israeli government’s continued apparent determination to launch an armoured ground assault on Rafah, coupled with the most recent failure by the UN Security Council to agree to call for a ceasefire, removes the last vestige of hope for the nearly 2 million displaced persons – many of them children – sheltering in flimsy tents around the city in southern Gaza.

If the record of the last five months or so since the atrocities of 7 October is a reliable guide to what will happen next, what remains of Rafah will be pulverised, many thousands more innocent civilians will be killed, maimed and orphaned, the incipient famine will intensify across the territory – and what is already a humanitarian disaster will grow still more hopeless.