America, Israel and Hamas are trapped in a dangerous impasse

On April 7th Israel withdrew its ground troops from Khan Younis, leaving just one brigade deployed in Gaza. Those who remain are stationed along a corridor that cuts across the middle of the 41km (25-mile) enclave. They are meant to prevent Palestinians from leaving the south, now home to almost 90% of Gaza’s 2.2m people, and returning to the north, which was depopulated in the early weeks of the war.