Photo/Illutration The body of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli airstrike is brought to Shifa Hospital in Gaza on March 18. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Are the combatants set on forcing civilians to return to the days of fleeing for their lives and living in mortal fear?

Both Israel and Palestine must stop fighting immediately and resume cease-fire talks.

Israel on March 18 launched massive airstrikes across the entire Gaza Strip, claiming the attacks were directed at officials of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas.

But according to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 400 civilians have been killed, including many women and children.

The Jan. 19 temporary truce agreement between Israel and Hamas effectively brought the fighting under control. However, negotiations were floundering over how to proceed to the next stage of seeking a permanent truce.

Israel was averse to the initially agreed full withdrawal of its troops from Gaza, and insisted on a compromise plan which, it claimed, had been worked out by the United States. This upset Hamas, and Hamas reacted by refusing to release some 60 Israeli hostages.

Given this background, the Israeli assertion—that it was resuming fighting because Hamas refused to release the hostages—is definitely self-serving and simplistic.

Moreover, to put pressure on Hamas in the course of the talks, Israel cut off the supply of humanitarian relief goods and electricity to Gaza, and stood its ground when the United Nations, Britain, German and France demanded that the blockade be lifted.

Israel deserves to be called out on using humanitarian aid as a political tool.

Over the last 15 months or so, residents of Gaza have barely managed to stay alive in their communities that have been reduced to rubble. We cannot imagine how desperate they must be feeling now, having lost their long-awaited truce after only two months and fleeing for their lives again.

There is no question that the continuation of Israeli airstrikes will create more civilian victims. Already, more than 48,000 people have been killed in Gaza. The toll must not be allowed to grow.

In the meantime, the frustrations and fears of the families of Israeli hostages are not hard to imagine. After the January cease-fire agreement, they pointed out that resuming the war would be tantamount to abandoning the hostages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must listen to these people.

Hamas has declared in a statement that the fate of the hostages is uncertain. Hamas must absolutely refrain from any rash act such as harming the hostages in retaliation.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have been mediating since the January truce, and we ask that they do everything in their power to end the fighting as soon as possible.

We also hope that the U.N. Security Council and the entire international community will join forces in calling for peace.

The United States plays a particularly vital role as the nation that arguably has the strongest influence on Israel. President Donald Trump was reportedly notified in advance of the resumption of hostilities.

Trump calls himself “the messenger of peace.” He must never let the once-realized truce in Gaza crumble away.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 19

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