Good morning,
You might be forgiven for feeling relieved Gaza is no longer in the headlines (or at least not leading the news), after two years of unremitting gore and bloodshed.
It would be less forgivable for believing this "ceasefire", in operation since 10 October, is peaceful, let alone actual peace. It's - at best - a reduction in casualties and a chance to get aid in.
As Elena Sanchez Nicolas' interview coming out later today with the UNRWA chief in Brussels, Marta Lorenzo, spells out, the situation in Gaza is extremely bleak.
According to Gaza health ministry figures, 347 Palestinians have been killed since 10 October, and another 889 injured. And that's not including the West Bank.
I wouldn't be the first to point out that if 1,236 Israeli citizens had been killed and injured in the past two months, nobody would be calling this a "ceasefire".
Aid workers can now move around, Lorenzo says, although many citizens are knee-deep in water with few belongings and nowhere to live.
And they are free to move around in a Gaza greatly reduced in size by the "yellow line" inside the old border - which Israel now says is "the new border".
Is there hope? Lorenzo says so, but not seemingly much: "Something is changing, but not fast enough to have a very big impact on people".
The EU will discuss Israel at their summit next week. Notably, however, there will be no mention of the need to allow international journalists in Gaza, a situation which Lorenzo deemed "unacceptable".
- Matt Tempest, comment editor
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