It’s not that.’ We don’t care. We vowed never again. Never again is now. It’s not going to happen again.”
Palestinians have long sought to create an independent state in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem through a U.S.-mediated peace process. Many accuse Israel of having destroyed Palestinian statehood prospects through increased settlement building in the West Bank and by leveling much of Gaza during the current war. Israel rejects this.
Cabinet ministers in Netanyahu’s Likud party called last week for Israel to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank before the Knesset recesses at the end of July. Israel’s pro-settler politicians have been emboldened by the return to the White House of Trump, who has proposed Palestinians leave Gaza, a suggestion widely condemned across the Middle East and beyond.
The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.
Israel’s subsequent assault on the Palestinian enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry. Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced by the war.
Trump hosted Netanyahu at a White House dinner on Monday, while Israeli officials held indirect negotiations with Hamas in Qatar aimed at securing a U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
