On the 23rd October 2023 two Israeli hostages were released. Good. On the same night hundreds of Gaza residents were killed by Israeli airstrikes, their bodies blown apart or crushed into bloody meat under buildings. Is this self-defence? No, of course not. That children are being indiscriminately killed, and that we are permitting them to be killed, makes us all complicit in war crimes.
The north of Gaza is in the process of being cut off and its buildings bulldozed. Is the aim ethnic cleansing of Gaza and then its occupation by settlers? That would explain Netanyahu’s statement that “ ... [the] retaliation will 'reverberate' for generations ... “ - that is, if he survives that long.
As to where the Middle East is some 18 months later now that President Trump is throwing his weight around?