You want to say something that isn’t blindingly obvious. You want to talk about something people care about. If possible you want to spin a clever line or two. What you don’t want to do, generally speaking, is rub people’s faces in things they’d rather not look at.
So for people like me in the opinionating line, the temptation always is to reach for the latest shiny object. What about that new Trump outrage or absurdity? What about this weird Jeffrey Epstein business — is MAGA going to eat itself alive? Tell me more!
But sometimes — and today is one of those days — it doesn’t seem right to look away from a horror we all know about but on any given day would rather not contemplate.
On Saturday, on crowds of Palestinians seeking food from distribution hubs set up by the , an organization run by Israel and the United States. Thirty-two people died, according to “witnesses and hospital officials.â€
Then on Sunday, Israeli soldiers fired on civilians rushing to seize food from a convoy of trucks sent into Gaza by the United Nations. Seventy-nine people were killed, according to the Gaza health ministry; the Israeli army said the number was exaggerated.
This kind of thing has been going on for weeks and weeks. A few recent headlines from the Star gives the flavour. “31 Palestinians are killed heading to a Gaza aid site …†(June 1). “36 Palestinians killed trying to obtain desperately needed aid in Gaza, officials say†(June 10). “34 killed in deadliest day of shootings near Gaza’s new food distribution centres, authorities say†(June 16). And on and on …
This has become white noise, pushed to the back of our midsummer minds. Who wants to think about it? Not me. I’ve found plenty of other things to write about.

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content. The mother of Yahya Fadi al-Najjar, an infant who died due to malnourishment, mourns as she holds his body during the funeral at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
- AFP via Getty ImagesBut at some point you have to stop and at least acknowledge that atrocity is being piled upon atrocity and none of us has any excuse for not knowing at least the basics of what’s happening. Hungry people seeking food are being fired upon — and hundreds have died.
Of course, I’m aware that every detail of these incidents is contested. There are no independent journalists allowed into Gaza so the numbers of dead are attributed most often to the Gaza health ministry, which almost every report qualifies as “Hamas-controlled.†So maybe the numbers can’t be believed. After all, it was Hamas that started this horror by slaughtering some 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping about 250 more on Oct. 7, 2023.
And what’s really happening? Are Israeli soldiers actually targeting hungry civilians in Gaza? The left-leaning Israeli newspaper that that’s exactly what’s going on. It quoted Israeli soldiers as saying they were “ordered†to deliberately shoot at unarmed Palestinians seeking aid. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister, Israel Katz, angrily denied it and called the accusations “blood libels.â€
But the fact remains that week after week after week, Palestinian civilians desperate for food are being killed. The system set up to distribute aid inside Gaza . This comes after the almost complete physical destruction of Gaza’s buildings, the crippling of its health system, and the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians — with no end in sight.

Tents and shelters for Palestinians displaced by conflict are pictured erected at a make-shift camp along the beach near the seaport in the west of Gaza City on Saturday.Â
OMAR AL-QATTAA AFP via Getty ImaYou can argue over the details of this. And you can argue over how much is the result of deliberate Israeli policy and how much is due to the collapse of any governing structure in Gaza and the chaos surrounding attempts to deliver aid to a population that is desperate and, increasingly, starving.
But the result is indefensible by any reasonable standard. Even a former Israeli PM, Ehud Olmert, has concluded that in Gaza. , he wrote: “What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians … Yes, Israel is committing war crimes.â€
In columnizing, as I said, you want to say something fresh. But I’m not sure there’s anything novel left to be said in this tragedy of all tragedies. Sometimes, all you can do is notice the obvious, and hope others do as well.
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