Gaza strip

Last month, I wrote about how the death toll from Israel’s war in Gaza may be significantly higher than the commonly cited estimate that has lately been stuck at under 40,000 individuals. A Friday article at The Lancet medical journal makes the case that the death toll, conservatively estimated, may be more than four times higher — even if the war were to end immediately.

The article’s authors Rasha Khatib, Martin McKee, and Salim Yusuf note in reaching their conclusion:

Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) was confronted by peace activists in Washington on Tuesday about the Israeli slaughter in Gaza and sparked an outcry for saying “kill ’em all” when asked about Palestinian children being killed with US support.

“I’ve seen the footage of shredded children’s bodies. That’s my taxpayer dollars that are going to bomb those kids,” an activist said to Ogles.

“I think we should kill ’em all, if that makes you feel better,” Ogles replied. “Everybody in Hamas.”

Now we are going to find out who was bluffing and who was not bluffing.  Israeli troops have gone into Gaza, and we are being told that this is a war that could last for months.  Of course it could easily last a lot longer than that.  If the stated goal is to eliminate Hamas, that certainly won’t be easy.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling this a second war of independence, and he just told the world that “Never Again is now”…