Middle East & Africa | Running in place

After a dramatic week in Gaza, where does the war stand?

The Rafah offensive has not really begun, and a ceasefire is probably still weeks away at best

Palestinians leave their homes after increasing Israeli airstrikes in Rafah
Photograph: Getty Images
|JERUSALEM AND DUBAI

FOR MONTHS diplomats in the Middle East have obsessed over two issues. One is the stop-start effort to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which would see the group release some of its hostages. The other is the long-threatened Israeli offensive in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, now home to 1.5m people displaced from elsewhere in the enclave. It was a stark choice: either a deal to pause the war or an offensive to widen it.

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This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Running in place”

From the May 11th 2024 edition

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