The Israeli regime is facing a massive and increasing problem of perception. Every time one of their spokespeople pops up on the telly they repeat the (justified: don't get me wrong) rant about the horrors of October 7, commonly in graphic detail. But that happened nearly three weeks ago and, since then, Hamas has done little that's different from what they usually do (I'm excluding the dreadful hospital incident because it's not been settled who it was who did it and it isn't being used by either side for propaganda). On the other hand, there are video cameras everywhere in Gaza which are providing us with footage of new horrors every day. Dunno about you, but that has the cumulative effect on me of generating increasing revulsion at what I'm seeing Israel doing, and there's no end in sight. The stated aim of destroying Hamas can't be achieved and I strongly suspect that the real aim is to destroy Gaza and drive its citizens into Egypt.

Another thing: I don't understand the concept of "humanitarian pause" versus ceasefire. Are we really saying "stop for now and resume the killing later"?