Six weeks of fragile quiet in Gaza have given way once more to airstrikes and ground operations, as negotiations between Israel and Hamas over the next phase of their ceasefire collapsed without resolution. Into this renewed rupture stepped Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign policy chief, traveling through Cairo, Tel Aviv, and the West Bank to press all parties toward what has already been agreed but not yet honored. Her mission reflects a recurring human dilemma: how to hold a peace together when the architecture of trust has crumbled, and more than fifty thousand lives already bear wi
EU's Kallas presses Israel, Hamas for Gaza ceasefire resumption amid renewed fighting
Israel's resumed military operations have caused significant casualties; Gaza health ministry reported at least 50,021 deaths since October 2023, with renewed fighting creating a humanitarian crisis.
The killing must stop. In a new war, both sides lose.
Mark
So the ceasefire lasted six weeks and then just ended? What actually broke it?
Mimi
The negotiations over the second phase fell apart. Israel and the US wanted to change the terms. Hamas said no. When talks stalled, Israel cut off aid and electricity as pressure, then resumed military operations.
Luke
But we should be clear—the source doesn't say exactly what terms Israel wanted to change or why Hamas rejected them specifically. We know there was a disagreement, but the details of what each side was asking for aren't in here.
Mark
And Kallas is trying to get them back to the table. But she won't even meet Netanyahu?
Mimi
Right. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for him on war crimes charges, so she's meeting with other Israeli leaders instead—Herzog, Saar, Lapid. It's a real constraint on the diplomacy.
Luke
Though it's worth noting the source doesn't explain whether that warrant actually prevents her from meeting him legally, or if it's more of a political choice by the EU. The warrant exists; the reasoning behind not meeting is implied but not stated.
Mark
What's the human cost here? How many people are we talking about?
Mimi
Since October 2023, the Gaza health ministry says at least 50,021 people have been killed. The UN considers those figures reliable. And now with the fighting resumed, that number is climbing again.
Luke
That's the official count from Gaza's health ministry. It's the most recent figure available, but the actual toll could be different depending on how deaths are counted and what's been documented. The source doesn't give us a range or alternative estimates.
Mark
So Kallas is basically saying: stop fighting, release hostages, restore aid, and negotiate. Can any of that actually happen?
Mimi
That's the open question. The ceasefire was supposed to work. It did for six weeks. But the disagreement over what comes next broke it. Whether diplomacy can fix it now is unclear.
Luke
And the source doesn't tell us what either side's red lines are or whether there's any actual room for compromise. We know the positions are far apart, but we don't know if they're reconcilable.
Il Polso
- A six-week ceasefire collapsed when Israel and Hamas could not agree on what comes next, and Israeli airstrikes and ground operations resumed across Gaza almost immediately.
- The humanitarian toll is staggering — over 50,000 deaths recorded since October 2023, with Israel's cutoff of electricity and aid deliveries deepening an already catastrophic crisis on the ground.
- EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas arrived in Cairo, then Israel, then the West Bank, demanding Hamas free remaining hostages, Israel restore aid flows, and both sides return to negotiations.
- Kallas will not meet Prime Minister Netanyahu — an ICC arrest warrant for crimes against humanity makes any direct meeting a diplomatic impossibility, underscoring how fractured the political landscape has become.
- The path forward remains genuinely uncertain: Hamas has rejected any modification to the original ceasefire terms, Israel and the U.S. have pushed for changes, and neither side is moving.
Six weeks of fragile quiet in Gaza have given way once more to airstrikes and ground operations, as negotiations between Israel and Hamas over the next phase of their ceasefire collapsed without resolution. Into this renewed rupture stepped Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign policy chief, traveling through Cairo, Tel Aviv, and the West Bank to press all parties toward what has already been agreed but not yet honored. Her mission reflects a recurring human dilemma: how to hold a peace together when the architecture of trust has crumbled, and more than fifty thousand lives already bear witness to the cost of failure.
The ceasefire held for six weeks. Then, after talks over its next phase broke down entirely, Israel resumed airstrikes and ground operations across Gaza. The quiet was over.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign policy chief, was in Cairo when the full scale of what had resumed became clear. Standing beside Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, she did not soften her words. She condemned Israel's resumption of hostilities, called the loss of life appalling, and laid out three demands: Hamas must release all remaining hostages, Israel must restore humanitarian aid it had cut off earlier in the month, and both sides must return to negotiations. Behind those demands stood a grim accounting — at least 50,021 people killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the territory's health ministry, figures the United Nations considers credible.
From Cairo, Kallas flew to Israel, where she met President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, and opposition leader Yair Lapid. She did not meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against him on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity made any such meeting diplomatically untenable. She then traveled to the occupied West Bank to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas and Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa.
The situation on the ground had grown acute. The United Nations described Gaza as facing a nightmare. Aid workers warned that Israel's decision to cut electricity and halt deliveries had made a desperate situation worse. The original ceasefire agreement — which had allowed food, medicine, and shelter into Gaza, and enabled exchanges of hostages for Palestinian prisoners — was now in active dispute. Israel and the United States had sought to modify its terms. Hamas refused, calling any change a breach of what had been agreed.
Kallas pressed for what her office described as an immediate return to full implementation of the ceasefire-hostage release agreement, along with unimpeded humanitarian access at scale. The language was measured. The stakes were not. Whether the ceasefire could be restored — or whether the war would simply grind on — remained an open and urgent question.
The ceasefire in Gaza lasted six weeks. On Tuesday, it ended. Israel resumed airstrikes across the territory, followed by ground operations, after talks with Hamas over what comes next broke down entirely. The fighting had stopped. Now it started again.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign policy chief, was in Cairo on Sunday when she learned the scale of what had resumed. She stood beside Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and spoke plainly about what she had seen in the reports coming out of Gaza. "We strongly oppose Israel's resumption of hostilities, which caused appalling loss of life in Gaza," she said. "The killing must stop. In a new war, both sides lose." She was there to push three things: Hamas must release all remaining hostages. Israel must restore the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, which the government had cut off earlier in the month as leverage in the stalled negotiations. And both sides must return to the table.
The numbers behind her words were staggering. Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters crossed into Israel and killed more than 1,200 people, Israel's bombardment and ground campaign in Gaza had killed at least 50,021 people, according to the Gaza health ministry. The United Nations considers those figures reliable. The first phase of the ceasefire had allowed food, medicine, and shelter to flow into the territory. It had also enabled the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. All of that stopped when negotiations over the second phase collapsed.
Kallas left Cairo and flew to Israel, where she would spend Monday meeting with President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, and opposition leader Yair Lapid. She would not meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The International Criminal Court had issued an arrest warrant for him on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the EU's top diplomat could not sit across from him without creating a diplomatic incident. From Israel, she would travel to the occupied West Bank to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas and Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa.
The humanitarian situation on the ground had become acute. The United Nations described Gaza as facing a "nightmare" since the fighting resumed. Aid workers warned that Israel's decision to cut electricity and halt aid deliveries had made an already desperate situation worse. The ceasefire agreement that all parties had signed was now in dispute. Israel and the United States had tried in recent weeks to change its terms. Hamas, which runs Gaza, rejected any modification as a breach of what had been agreed. The organization was not budging.
Kallas's mission was to press for what her office called "an immediate return to the full implementation of the ceasefire-hostage release agreement." She would also emphasize the need for unimpeded humanitarian access and sustained aid distribution at scale. The language was diplomatic, but the urgency was real. The ceasefire was broken. People were dying again. And the question of whether it could be repaired—or whether the war would simply continue—remained entirely open.
Citazioni salienti
We strongly oppose Israel's resumption of hostilities, which caused appalling loss of life in Gaza. The killing must stop. In a new war, both sides lose.— Kaja Kallas, EU foreign policy chief, speaking in Cairo
From the European side, it is very clear that Hamas must release all hostages and Israel must fully reinstate humanitarian aid into Gaza and negotiations must resume.— Kaja Kallas
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War & Conflict