A Cease-Fire in Gaza Can End the War on Civilians. A “Humanitarian Pause” Will Not.
The Biden administration’s “humanitarian pause” is not a solution to the horrific war in Gaza, which is killing Palestinian civilians by the thousands. Cease-fires foster a path to peace, while "humanitarian pauses" facilitate continued war.
Smoke rising over buildings in the Gaza Strip during an Israeli strike on November 1, 2023. (Jack Guez / AFP via Getty Images)
As the Israeli government’s brutal war on Gaza continues into its fourth week, the United Nations and most of the world’s governments, human rights organizations, aid groups, and antiwar protesters have coalesced around a single demand: an immediate cease-fire.
The Biden administration, on the other hand, is calling for something different.
A cease-fire “would simply consolidate what Hamas has been able to do and allow it to remain where it is,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently told the Senate Appropriations Committee. “We do believe that we have to consider things like humanitarian pauses.”
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