Follow today’s news live

‘Israeli government does not have a lot of palatable options’ – Sharma

The Liberal senator and former ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma was up on ABC News Breakfast earlier to discuss the latest strikes carried out by Israel on Gaza.

If any of us were in their position, we would be single-mindedly focused on the return of our loved ones. I can understand that. This is a politically contentious issue in Israel, there’s no walking away from that, but I don’t think the government has a lot of good choices.

Continuing the ceasefire was not going to lead to the release of further hostages, at least according to the mediators involved in the talks. Hamas had basically said they weren’t planning on returning any more. As I said, in that situation, the Israeli government does not have a lot of palatable options.

Continue reading...