From the ovens of the past to burial alive under missiles... from traditional starvation to famine by siege! What is unfolding in Gaza is not a conventional war but the Holocaust of the 21st century: a mass erasure administered through aerial bombardment instead of gas chambers, and famine enforced by blockade rather than camps. It is a dark chapter in which the names of leaders, governments and institutions will be inscribed not as protectors of humanity, but as complicit actors destined for the dustbin of history. Gaza has not been defeated; it endures as a symbol of resilience. Yet what is being tested most severely is the conscience of the international community: will it act to halt extermination, or allow the new century to be inaugurated by a crime against humanity in plain sight? The toll is unambiguous Since October 7, 2023, the toll has surpassed 62,000 dead and more than 156,000 injured, half of them women and children. UN estimates indicate that around 70% of Gaza's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, including hospitals, schools, bakeries, electricity and water networks. The humanitarian picture is even starker: more than 514,000 people are already in famine conditions, with projections that the figure will reach 641,000 by September 2025. Dozens of children have died of hunger. Hospitals are operating at less than one-third of capacity. Gaza has shifted from a functioning city into a landscape where sustaining human life is nearly impossible. Displacement as policy Mass displacement is not collateral but deliberate. Some 1.4 million Palestinians have been uprooted, many multiple times. Khan Younis alone witnessed half a million people forced from their homes. Rafah has turned into a city of makeshift camps, lacking infrastructure or shelter. History echoes: just as 1948 produced the Nakba, today Gaza is being emptied by bombardment, siege and fear. This is not temporary flight; it is the manufacture of a second Nakba. Silencing the witness At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, five journalists—including correspondents for Reuters, AP and Al Jazeera—were killed in a single strike. This was no accident; it was a calculated signal: silence the camera before silencing the people. With the death of journalists, the last barrier protecting truth has been breached. This war is waged not only against the living but against memory itself. The Arab response: a red line Egypt has warned repeatedly against forced displacement, framing the emptying of Gaza as a direct threat to Egyptian and Arab national security. Cairo has pursued a dual track: keeping aid channels open and training Palestinian Authority cadres for a potential "post-war" role. Saudi Arabia has elevated its discourse, calling for formal international recognition of a Palestinian state as the only viable solution. Riyadh's coordination with France has brought statehood back to the diplomatic forefront. Qatar continues to broker ceasefire talks and prisoner exchanges, leveraging its political and financial weight to mitigate humanitarian collapse. Jordan insists the war risks igniting uncontrollable regional instability and calls for international protection for Palestinians. Despite differing methods, the message is aligned: Gaza's depopulation is a red line, and the conflict is not local but a struggle over the region's future. The global divide The West is fractured: France has called the campaign "lethal and immoral." The EU condemned full occupation and weighed partial sanctions, while Germany halted certain arms exports. The UN has officially declared famine in Gaza, warning of "a comprehensive humanitarian catastrophe." The United States—the actor with greatest leverage—remains ambivalent: openly backing Israel's "right to self-defence" while issuing ritual appeals to protect civilians. Domestic pressure within the US—from campuses to civil society—continues to mount, yet has not crystallised into a substantive policy shift. Netanyahu's extremism as strategy Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presides over the most extreme coalition in Israel's history, dominated by the far right. He has pressed for total control over Gaza City, despite UN warnings of a "mass grave." He dismissed the Nasser Hospital strike as a "tragic mishap," providing neither evidence nor accountability. Domestically, he faces mass protests from hostage families in Tel Aviv, yet doubles down on extremism as political fuel. In doing so, Netanyahu and his Cabinet inscribe themselves into the dark ledger of history, not as guardians of security but as architects of collective punishment. From yesterday's Holocaust to today's In the 20th century, the Nazi Holocaust exterminated millions of Jews through starvation and gas chambers. That atrocity gave rise to international recognition, compensation, and ultimately the establishment of Israel itself. Today, the pattern is inverted: The Nazi Holocaust was conducted with ovens and camps. Gaza's Holocaust is executed with missiles, siege and engineered famine. Then, survivors were granted a homeland and protection. Now, Palestinians are being stripped of land and future, consigned to displacement without safeguard. The cruel paradox: yesterday's victims have become today's perpetrators. The pledge of "never again" has been reduced to: "never again—except in Palestine. Futures on the table Unrestrained escalation: an assault on Gaza City, mass displacement, wider famine, and the collapse of remaining health services. Temporary truce: limited aid entry, without altering the broader strategy of erasure. Reconstruction under oversight: deployment of an Arab-backed Palestinian force, with rebuilding tied to Israeli conditions. Whichever scenario unfolds, Gaza will not return to what it was. Its future hinges on whether Arab and international actors can impose even a minimal threshold of justice. A stain on this century This is not a conventional conflict but a crime of extermination. Gaza is being erased by siege and hunger; its memory extinguished with the killing of journalists; its people scattered through forced displacement. This is the Holocaust of the 21st century. Those who lead it—and those who collude through silence—will be consigned to the same historical shame as the perpetrators of the last century's atrocities. Gaza stands unbroken, but on trial. What is at stake is not merely its survival, but the conscience of humanity itself: will the world act against extermination, or will it allow the century to begin under the shadow of a crime that will haunt it forever?
