T he announcement was an admission of failure. On July 26th the Israel Defence Forces ( IDF) said that it would parachute food into Gaza and implement daily “humanitarian pauses” in parts of the still depopulated areas of the devastated strip, allowing international aid organisations to bring in convoys.

"We need to do some serious rethinking," a visibly frustrated Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a group of hostage families on Friday after the latest round of Gaza talks broke down, two people who attended the meeting tell Axios.

President Donald Trump and Republicans on Capitol Hill are keeping their criticism of Israel for its conduct in the Gaza Strip measured — even as they faced loud pressure from the MAGA base to rethink their support for Israel amid the worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave.