MIDDLE EAST BRIEFING: Hunger and Hamas, negotiations and narratives

FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS: With Gaza’s humanitarian crisis escalating, a diplomatic endgame is beginning to take shape — and the stakes are enormous.

Amid growing global agitation over hunger and mass displacement in Gaza, a surge of diplomatic activity suggests that an endgame is beginning to take shape. For the first time, the entire Arab League formally condemned Hamas’s October 7 attack and called on the group to disarm — which is absolutely essential. France and the UK are now advancing plans to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state — which risks legitimizing Hamas just as Arab nations are working to sideline it. In response to intensifying pressure, the United States has shifted its rhetoric on Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, sending a presidential envoy to the region as images of skeletal children dominate global headlines.

On NewsNation (above), I focused on the futility of Israel’s semantic arguments over whether the crisis in Gaza constitutes hunger, malnutrition, starvation or famine. That feels detached from reality, is a terrible look, and suggests a sad collapse of basic humanity. A massive change is needed, and it may be coming.

What follows is a briefing for paid subscribers on the pivotal developments and where they may lead. We promised last week that we would commence such reports, which along with others — on Europe, on tech, and more — and together with full archive and commenting access, are part of the added value you get by paying around $1/week to support free journalism and commentary.