Can peace prevail in Gaza, or just a war?

Can there be — and perhaps more importantly, will there be — a negotiated settlement to the Hamas-Israel conflict in Gaza that avoids an all-out war in the Mideast?

That's our Question of the Week for readers.

It's been a month since fighters from Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that controls Gaza, crossed the border and slaughtered some 1,400 people in Israel on Oct. 7, taking about 240 hostages it still holds. Since then, Israel has bombarded the densely populated territory; Hamas says more than 10,000 people have been killed.

In rejecting calls for a cease-fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said “This is a time of war.”

Given the scope of the pain inflicted on Israel's people, and the existential threat Hamas — which in its charter denies Israel's right to exist — poses to Israel, is Netanyahu right to press on with the war?

Or should he instead be paying attention to calls for a cease-fire, or for a “humanitarian pause” to the fighting that would allow aid to get in to the people of Gaza and maybe provide some time to negotiate a release of the hostages?

Peace-oriented groups have always been a small minority of the Israel population. But some such as Alon-Lee Green, national director of the grassroots group Standing Together, a Jewish-Arab peace coalition, say that one can express horror at the Hamas terrorist attack and still not support an all-out war of retribution. “We have to ask the fundamental question,” Green told Laura King of the Los Angeles Times this week. “Conquer Gaza, kill many, many innocent Palestinians ... and then what?”

What should the American military and diplomatic response be? Our nation has historically been one of Israel's strongest allies. We supply it with aircraft and weaponry. Naval ships have been dispatched to parts of the Mediterranean near Israel as a show of support and force.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been engaging in shuttle diplomacy with Arab leaders and asking Israel for a measured response. Will that help, or is a larger, longer war inevitable?

Email your thoughts to opinion@scng.com. Please include your full name and city or community of residence. Provide a daytime phone number (it will not be published).