Following the back-to-back Israeli assassinations of senior leaders of Iranian-backed militant groups Hizbollah and Hamas last week, there was a burst of triumphalism in Israel. But in the days since, Israelis — and the wider region — have been gripped by apprehension, waiting in trepidation for what may come next as their country is locked in a dangerous, escalatory spiral of violence with its foes.
Both Iran and the Lebanese militant movement have vowed to retaliate against Israel after Fuad Shukr, a senior Hizbollah commander, was killed by an air strike in Beirut, and Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran.
The US and its western and Arab allies are once more desperately working to de-escalate the situation, fearing that the Middle East is in danger of sliding towards all-out war. It is the scenario they have been dreading since Hamas’s horrendous October 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza. Yet for all their diplomatic efforts over the past 10 months, and the presumed political heft of Washington, they have struggled to restrain the protagonists. Yet a ceasefire in Gaza and a return of Israeli hostages is the only way to prevent escalation. The time for it is now.