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The abyss is eating Israel alive while tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians are starving.

That鈥檚 a monstrosity of a different kind from the butchery of October 7, 2023. But it is arguably just as deliberate and just as merciless.

It is a moral stain on a nation founded on the idea of Never Again.

I will leave the question of whether it鈥檚 genocide or ethnic cleansing to the genocide scholars who鈥檝e been debating passionately from both ends of the spectrum. Because international law hardly matters when there鈥檚 no fuel to power incubators for newborn babies, when aid workers are themselves fainting from hunger, where violence at food distribution hubs in Gaza has claimed more than 800 lives in the last seven weeks, where according to the UN鈥檚 World Food Program one-third of Palestinians have not eaten for multiple days in a row, where images of pitifully skeletal children with distended bellies have outraged people worldwide, and where yet another generation of militants may well be being formed in hatred amidst the ruins of the enclave.

On Monday, two leading human rights organizations based in Israel, B鈥橳selem and Physicians for Human Rights, issued reports accusing Israel of committing genocide by targeting civilians as a group and systemically destroying Palestinian society. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Wednesday that Canada will join Britain and France in officially recognizing a Palestinian state by September, as long as the Palestinian Authority implements reforms including demilitarization and elections in 2026 that exclude Hamas.

The daily news bulletins are gut-wrenching: At least 10 children killed in an airstrike while queuing for medical treatment; at least 31 Palestinians, including four children, fatally shot on their way to an aid distribution site in Deir al-Balah; more than 30 killed when they stampeded a food site near Khan Younis, fired upon by Israeli forces after they allegedly ignored warning shots; 30 killed in a double strike on a school where some 2,000 displaced people had taken shelter; eight children killed as they were collecting water; and where 111 recorded starvation deaths 鈥� more than 40 of them children 鈥� over just three days last week.

Israel has stood as a beacon of global conscience for nearly eight decades. But its righteousness has taken a pounding since the collapse of a second temporary ceasefire in March, after which Israel re-launched its military offensive, imposed a near-total siege on Gaza, blocked aid from entering Gaza and restricting UN food distribution since May.

Condemnation of Israel at the UN is so over-the-top 鈥� there have been 154 resolutions adopted by the General Assembly against Israel through the end of 2024 鈥� that the chronic demonization of the only democracy in the Middle East is given scant legitimacy. That includes the blatantly anti-Israel rhetoric from Francesca Albanese, the UN鈥檚 special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory. Albanese was formally sanctioned by the United States in early July for waging 鈥渁 campaign of political and economic warfare鈥欌�� against the US and Israel.

Also disputed is the number of Palestinian deaths since Israel鈥檚 retaliatory war after the Hamas-led invasion and atrocities聽鈥� some 1,200 slain, rapes, hostage-taking on October 7.

Gaza鈥檚 Health Ministry on Tuesday said the deaths in Gaza had just surpassed a grim threshold at 60,034. The Ministry doesn鈥檛 distinguish between fighters and civilians.

Since Israel won鈥檛 allow foreign reporters into Gaza, independent documentation is almost non-existent.

What鈥檚 not in dispute is the overwhelming toll this war has taken on Palestinians, not to mention the nearly 900 Israeli soldiers killed during the conflict, and over 1000 Palestinians killed in the Occupied West Bank, often in attacks by settlers.

There is no end in sight to the war. Last week, the U.S. and Israel walked away from ceasefire negotiations in Qatar that had been ongoing for six months, with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff blaming Hamas for the impasse (they are, he says, 鈥渘ot acting in good faith鈥欌��). Though the setback is seen as a tactic for pressuring Hamas into abandoning its most obstructive demands: A guaranteed lasting end to the war and complete withdrawal from Gaza of Israeli forces.

Hamas opposes any short-term truce that would release Israel鈥檚 remaining 50 hostages (of which 20 are believed still alive) and there have been reports that if Israeli forces approach where they鈥檙e being held. The proposed agreement would see a 60-day pause in military operations by Israel, but Hamas is also demanding that the release of its members in Israeli jails should include those who participated in the October 7 atrocities. That鈥檚 non-negotiable for Israel. Hamas refuses to lay down its weapons and Israel believes any pause would be exploited for the group to reorganize and replenish its supplies.

Canada is among the signatories from 25 countries that last week issued a joint statement urging Israel to immediately end the war. Only intensifying international pressure has coerced Israel into relenting, as of the weekend permitting food airdrops. Israel also announced it would allow daily 10-hour humanitarian pauses in three areas of Gaza and create new safe corridors for aid convoys.

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his lame claim that 鈥渢here is no starvation鈥欌�� in Gaza, President Donald Trump 聽asserted that the starvation is real and urged Israel to do more as regards humanitarian access. Although Trump had been in lockstep with Netanyahu since reclaiming the Oval Office, he vowed that the U.S. will set up food centres to ease access, working with other countries to provide more humanitarian assistance, including food and sanitation.

Numerous aid agencies had earlier warned that the contentious food distribution undertaking that began in May, 聽run by the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, using American contractors, bypassing the UN-led system, intended to prevent looting of aid by Hamas, would cause havoc. Located near the hub zones, it has made scarcely any dent in the catastrophic levels of starvation, and the airdrops been denounced as inefficient and ineffective, given the massive scope of need.

Prior to the war, the UN operated hundreds of aid distribution sites in the enclave.

Airdrops are a desperate measure and inherently dangerous. Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Program said Tuesday that vast amounts of aid are needed urgently to 鈥減revent mass starvation鈥欌��.

鈥淭he unbearable suffering of the people of Gaza is already clear for the world to see. Waiting for official confirmation of famine to provide life-saving food they desperately need is unconscionable.鈥欌�� She called for Gaza to be 鈥渇looded鈥欌�� with food aid immediately.

Loaded trucks are far preferable to parachuting in food. In the military pauses Sunday and Monday, 300 trucks ferrying aid entered the enclave. Relief groups say that was the minimal daily amount needed for a population facing unprecedented hunger.

It鈥檚 become abundantly clear that Netanyahu has no desire to end a war which, among other useful attributes, has forestalled his trial on corruption charges. What鈥檚 unfolded since the October 7 slaughter 鈥� beyond Israel鈥檚 inalienable right to defend itself 鈥� is exactly what slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar wanted: International anger directed at Israel, exacerbated by stridently right-wing hawks in Netanyahu鈥檚 cabinet.

Even those of us who love Israel, who will almost always defend this sliver of a nation, who are appalled by the surge of worldwide antisemitism, cannot abide what it has done, and continues to inflict, upon Palestinians. Their babies are as precious as Israeli babies. Atrocities committed by Hamas won鈥檛 be vindicated by atrocities against Palestinian civilians, however little value is placed on those people鈥檚 lives by a globally designated terrorist group. Netanyahu is doing the dirty work for rotting-in-hell Sinwar.

Outsiders to the war cannot end the conflict. But in the 21^st century surely we 鈥� and Israel 鈥� are capable of averting starvation disaster in a region that鈥檚 365 square kilometers.

Israel should declare the war won and expel the remnants of Hamas, offering them safe passage out of Gaza. Though which country would take them? They won鈥檛 even take Palestinian civilians.

Correction - July 30, 2025

This article was updated from a previous version to note that聽Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel’s prime minister.