In Gaza, ‘How Do You Heal a Scarred Soul?’

Opinion|In Gaza, ‘How Do You Heal a Scarred Soul?’

For one brief shining moment, something encouraging unfolded in Gaza: Palestinians protested against Hamas.

As I traveled in Israel and the West Bank — foreign journalists are generally not allowed in Gaza — the protests seemed to capture hope of change, a deadlock breaking, some way forward. But Hamas appears to have squelched the brave protests for now, in part through torture and murder.

Despite talk of cease-fire proposals, the two sides still seem impossibly far apart on any deal to end the war for good, so I fear we must brace for more killing. Israel on Wednesday announced an expansion of its military offensive in Gaza, including plans to seize “large areas.”

The people of Gaza are caught between the irreconcilable demands of two parties, Hamas and the Israeli government, that both show a brutal indifference toward Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages alike — in Israel’s case, with a weapons assist from the United States.

Gaza today has the highest proportion of child amputees in the world, according to the United Nations, yet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broke the initial cease-fire, defying public sentiment on the one issue that most Israelis and Palestinians seem to agree on: The war should end.

Unless there is a dramatic breakthrough — such as the removal of either Hamas or Netanyahu — the war may instead expand.