Drawing on both the Hebrew Bible and archaeological evidence, Cynthia Shafer-Elliott describes what we know about everyday meals in the ancient Near East:

In 1 Kings 5:2-3, [the Bible] lists the daily provisions for King Solomon’s table: 30 kors of choice flour, sixty kors of meal, ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed cattle, 100 sheep, deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl. [But these] are daily provisions for the [court] and do not reflect what the average ancient Israelite man, woman, or child ate.

Textual resources are an important source of information on any ancient society, but their original purpose was to provide accounts of monumental people and events such as military conquests and the reigns of kings. . . . We must therefore turn to other sources to understand the daily preparation and consumption of food in Iron Age Israel, especially archaeology. . . .

[Although it] is rarely included in discussions of ancient Israelite food and cooking, . . . the average Israelite meal consisted of a stew. Meat was not consumed on a regular basis by the average Israelite, so most stews were made from legumes and vegetables. This can be seen in the use of the Hebrew word nazid, which is used to describe stews (or pottage) of vegetables and/or legumes (as seen in Genesis. 25:29- 34, 2 Kings 4:38–40, and Haggai 2:12).

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.