In describing the Israelites’ slavery in Egypt, the Bible gives but a few clues about the sort of work they were doing. Some of these clues match well with what is known to archaeologists and historians about ancient Egyptian construction. For instance, the Israelites produced bricks and were required to meet specific production quotas; many ancient Egyptian structures were made from mud bricks, and documents mention workers who made these bricks being forced to meet regular quotas. David Falk explores how other evidence can shed light on Israelite slavery:

One verse in the Torah describes the Israelites building actual structures, not only making bricks: “Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh.”

What are supply cities? They cannot simply be coterminous with [the historical] Pithom and Rameses, since these two cities were large with multiple buildings in them, including temples made of stone, [not only brick]. In other words, Pithom and Rameses were cities, but they cannot really be described as “supply” cities, and thus, the verse likely refers to structures inside these cities.

I suggest that the term “supply cities” refers to a series of mud-brick storage depots that were attached to the temples in these two cities (and many others), and which were built to store vast quantities of food that would be used for offerings to the Egyptian gods.

That the Bible refers to these structures as “cities” instead of merely “buildings” is likely a consequence of the magnitude of these projects. The area that these supply depots covered often exceeded by many times the area taken up by the temple itself. . . . [Thus] Pharaoh’s command to force the Israelites to build these temple storage depots was concomitantly a command to make God’s chosen people labor in service to gods other than God.

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.