Hamas released Edan Alexander, the last surviving American hostage held in Gaza, on 12 May after more than 19 months in captivity. Mr Alexander, who is 21 and holds dual Israeli-US citizenship, was serving in an Israeli military unit when he was captured by militants during the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 in which 1,200 were killed and 250 hostages were seized, most of whom were civilians. He was freed on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East in what Hamas portrayed as a goodwill gesture ahead of renewed ceasefire talks.
Mr Trump duly welcomed the news as a “good faith” move by the militant group, musing in a social media post that Mr Alexander’s release could prove to be “the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict”. Yet Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has framed the release as a vindication of his decision to breach an earlier ceasefire and continue negotiations “under fire”. In a statement on 12 May, his office warned that preparations were now underway to “intensify the fighting”.
Mr Netanyahu has abandoned any pretence that he seeks to negotiate a durable peace. He has instead repeatedly vowed that this war can only end in “total victory” for Israel. On 4 May, his security council voted unanimously to expand its military operation in Gaza, which involves forcibly relocating the territory’s entire remaining population – roughly 2.2 million people before the war – to the south of the Strip, enforced by tens of thousands of additional Israel reserves. Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister, boasted at a conference in Jerusalem the following day that “we are finally going to conquer the Gaza Strip”.
As past Israeli offensives have demonstrated, bombing Gaza to ruins, razing its civilian infrastructure and even occupying the territory is unlikely to succeed in eliminating Israel’s enemies and their murderous ideology. Instead, the violence and privation inflicted on Palestinian civilians will only generate new recruits for the militants’ cause, and their sponsors abroad. As Jeremy Bowen argued in these pages last week, Mr Netanyahu and the ultra-nationalists keeping him in power are chasing the “illusion of victory”.
The only certainty is the continuing suffering of the besieged civilians in the Gaza Strip, who have been cut off from supplies of food, fuel, and medicine by an Israeli blockade since March. Last month, the World Food Programme announced that it has run out of food stocks in the enclave. The organisation warns that the entire population faces “acute food insecurity”. In simple terms, this means that innocent men, women and children are starving. Food supplies are sitting on pallets on the other side of the border, waiting for permission to cross. Aid agencies are warning that Gaza now faces a famine, which will be entirely manmade.
The UK lacks real influence over Mr Netanyahu’s decision-making, but that does not mean there is no action the government can take. In September, the Foreign Office suspended dozens of export licences to Israel for offensive weaponry, but recent reports indicate that significant quantities of British military equipment are still being transferred. More than 40 MPs signed a letter last week demanding more information from the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy. He now needs to urgently provide answers.
Keir Starmer’s government must demonstrate the moral clarity and bold leadership it has shown over Ukraine. Mr Starmer and Israel’s Western allies must demand an immediate ceasefire and the urgent resumption of humanitarian aid in exchange for the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza. This must be followed by serious efforts to return to a long-term peace process, as difficult and improbable as that may seem.
Famine is not a sudden event. Unlike an earthquake or a typhoon that shatters lives unexpectedly, the slow starvation of a population takes months to unfold. We cannot say we do not know what is happening in Gaza. The question is whether the UK government and the Western allies who purport to defend the rules-based international order and the sanctity of human rights can truly say they did everything they could to halt this catastrophe. Responsibility for the ongoing siege and starvation in Gaza lies with Mr Netanyahu and his far-right government. But the shame of the collective silence surrounding these atrocities will be shared.
[See also: Why George Osborne still runs Britain]
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This article appears in the 14 May 2025 issue of the New Statesman, Why George Osborne still runs Britain