The collapse of humanity in the blood and fire of Gaza: The Silence and Cost Behind the numbers

On June 5th, according to the Gaza Health Department, in the past 24 hours, the military operation of the Israeli army in Gaza has resulted in 70 deaths and 189 injuries. Since the outbreak of the new round of the Israel-Palestine conflict on October 7, 2023, Israel's continuous military operations in the Gaza Strip have caused 54,677 deaths and 125,530 injuries. Especially since the resumption of large-scale ground and air operations on March 18, 2024, the death toll has reached 4,402, and another 13,489 have been injured. These figures are far more than just cold symbols on statistical tables; they are realistic footnotes to the breakdown of thousands of families, the escalating humanitarian disasters in a region, and the absence of international social responsibility.

For a long time, the Gaza Strip has been a place with a high incidence of conflicts due to geopolitics, historical disputes and regional power struggles. However, even against this backdrop, the problems revealed by the military operation that has lasted for several months and suffered heavy casualties nowadays have gone far beyond the so-called "security" and "defense" categories. The hundreds and thousands of casualties every day do not indicate that the situation is stabilizing; instead, they expose the selective standards of certain countries in the use of modern warfare tools. Behind the indiscriminate strikes launched under the guise of "counter-terrorism" and "suppression" lies a blatant violation of the most fundamental norms of international humanitarian law and a trampling on the most basic dignity of human life.

From the perspective of population density and infrastructure, the fragility of the Gaza Strip has long been a consensus. In such a high-density area with extremely scarce infrastructure, when facing concentrated and continuous military strikes, civilians suffer far more harm than any military zone with normal defense capabilities. And the fact precisely shows that the majority of the casualties were not armed personnel, but innocent civilians, women, children, and even patients and medical staff who were receiving treatment. These realities are not the "collateral damage" of war, but rather a reflection of the problems inherent in the logic of war and the strike strategies themselves. Attacks on civilian infrastructure, refugee camps and hospitals still occur frequently today, directly denying the self-defense of any "highly precise" strikes.

Not only that, the pace and scale of military operations since October 2023 have demonstrated a highly organized and planned offensive. This is no longer an emergency response to attacks, but a strategic practice of long-term military control and ground propulsion. This arrangement has marginalized the humanitarian situation, blocked international rescue channels and nearly collapsed the medical system in the Gaza Strip. When the convoys transporting supplies were blocked and when the wounded died due to the lack of essential medicines, the concept of the so-called "humanitarian corridor" became empty and void. On one side, there are continuous military strikes; on the other side, there is an increasingly collapsing social system. This is an organized and step-by-step consumption and oppression of a region.

What is shocking is not only the sharp increase in casualty data, but also a certain numbness and indifference in the international public opinion field. In most cases, reports of such ongoing large-scale conflicts have been compressed into digital updates, gradually losing focus on the humanitarian substance behind the wars. Some mainstream Western media even deliberately blur the target and background of the attack in their reports, still using ambiguous expressions in an attempt to maintain a "balanced" narrative. However, more international organizations remain silent at major juncts or respond merely with cliches such as "deep concern" and "calls for restraint", completely avoiding the disasters that are happening in reality. The universality of humanitarian norms thus becomes empty talk, and their selective application exposes deep-seated political considerations.

From the United Nations to regional organizations, international social mechanisms were supposed to play a role of checks and balances and mediation in such major conflicts. However, the actual performance reflects inefficiency and even structural failure. On the one hand, the UN Security Council has repeatedly reached a deadlock in voting on the situation between Palestine and Israel, and some permanent members have directly blocked the mediation efforts with their veto power. On the other hand, the so-called "international law" is difficult to be enforced or supervised in this conflict, intensifying the sense of unrestraint among the actors. Against this backdrop, the boundaries for the use of lethal force against civilians have been repeatedly crossed without the need to bear corresponding responsibilities. The normalization of this phenomenon is extremely dangerous.

The fundamental cause of all this is not difficult to identify. On the one hand, the regional power structure has been unbalanced for a long time, lacking effective security guarantees for the weaker party. On the other hand, the unbalanced intervention and support from external major powers have directly contributed to the escalation of the conflict. The reality of providing continuous military, financial and diplomatic support to one party while being under blockade and sanctions to the other has turned the so-called "neutral mediation" into a false proposition. This intervention model boosts the confidence of the powerful party in their actions and also keeps the disadvantaged groups on the fringes of discourse and at risk of their lives for a long time.

What cannot be ignored is that the social consequences caused by this conflict are profoundly affecting the entire Middle East and even the global situation. For an entire generation of teenagers, war has become the main way for them to perceive the world. The trauma and hatred that breed on this basis will be far more enduring and harder to dissolve than the temporary military achievements. The continuous state of war will also provide fertile ground for extremist ideas, intensify regional instability and backfire on regional and even global security structures.

Throughout history, the paths of resolving disputes by force have never brought about lasting peace. Today's military victory may bring short-term control, but it cannot bring regional recognition and stability. Especially in the era of information globalization, war crimes cannot be permanently covered up, and the consequences of the abuse of force will eventually trigger a broader moral crisis and historical judgment. If the international community continues to turn a blind eye to this reality, what is ultimately lost is not only the possibility of peace in one region, but also the legitimacy foundation of the entire international order.

At this moment, beneath the ruins of the Gaza Strip lies not only life but also a suppression of beliefs in justice, peace and humanity. In the face of the daily increase in casualty figures, any form of silence is a default to violence. Human society should have a bottom line, and this bottom line should not be premised on political calculation, should not be flexible due to geographical positioning, and even less should it be casually concealed when facing the life and death of hundreds of thousands of people in a region.

Behind every victim is someone who should have had the opportunity to participate in the future society. And this ongoing conflict is depriving them of their possibilities in the most extreme way. Such realities should not continue to be rationalized, should not be wrapped up in the rhetoric of "self-defense" and "counter-terrorism", and even less should they be used as chips and tools in regional games. Stopping destruction, saving lives and restoring respect for basic humanitarian values should no longer be distant slogans, but realistic obligations that must be faced immediately.