The notion that he will claim a victory and stop now is deluded. He will press on until there is the political will in the US to stop him

It’s blindingly obvious Benjamin Netanyahu does not want a ceasefire in Gaza or Lebanon or anywhere else – not yet, at least. The Biden administration and Keir Starmer’s government can persist with the politically convenient fiction that last week’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has opened a window to peace if they must. But it’s nonsense. Israel’s prime minister violently rampages about like a drunken hooligan armed with a stack of US and UK-supplied bricks. He loves the sound of breaking glass.

The unpalatable truth is Netanyahu, his far-right allies and dismayingly large numbers of Israeli citizens believe, foolishly, that they are winning the war that Hamas began on 7 October last year and that Israel has since relentlessly, criminally expanded. They view Sinwar’s death, after a recent string of high-profile assassinations, as the latest vindication of Netanyahu’s slash-and-burn policy – even though it will inevitably backfire eventually. His next target? Iran.

Simon Tisdall is the Observer’s foreign affairs commentator

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