Sri Lanka, Oct. 10 -- In wars, there are no victors-only victims. The truth of this statement becomes vivid only when war is viewed through a humanitarian lens. It does not matter whether Israel wins or loses, whether Hamas does, or who outfoxed whom. What matters most are the lives of the war-battered-the hapless and helpless people of Gaza and the Israeli hostages.

The side that wages peace wins. As the late Pope Francis once said, "To make peace, one needs courage-far more than to wage war."

Yet the much-celebrated announcement of a ceasefire deal early yesterday, while it brightened the faces of the war-devastated Palestinians, also drew melancholic looks of indifference. In the past two years, they have gone down this path one too...