Lede
When slogans lead, graves follow.

What does not make sense

• Calling it defence while cities are flattened and children starve.
• Calling it resistance while civilians are targets and hostages are bargaining chips.
• Great powers playing arsonist and fire warden at the UN on alternate days.
• Settlements grow while “two-state” is still recited like a bedtime spell.
• Everyone demands recognition. No one recognises the other’s grief.

Sense check / The numbers

1. Since October 2023, more than 64,000 Palestinians have been reported killed in Gaza; Israeli fatalities are in the low thousands across the conflict period. UN updates put Palestinian deaths at ~64,656 as of 10 September 2025. (United Nations)
2. Displacement is constant: over 250,000 people fled Gaza City again in the last month amid renewed offensives. (The Guardian)
3. The UN Security Council demanded a ceasefire and hostage release; the US vetoed it again on 18 September 2025. Fourteen members backed it. (AP News)
4. Settlements keep expanding: 2024 was a record year for West Bank settlement activity, according to Peace Now. (שלום עכשיו)
5. In the West Bank (Oct 2023–Oct 2024), Israelis killed 719 Palestinians, the highest annual toll since records began in 2005; Palestinians killed 22 Israelis (soldiers/settlers) in the same period. (Human Rights Watch)
6. Hostages: as of mid-September 2025, about 47 hostages remained in Gaza, at least 25 believed dead. (Arab News)

The sketch

• Scene one: Diplomats trade speeches while the famine bulletins refresh.
• Scene two: A bulldozer marks new plots; a map app still says “peace process, recalculating.”
• Scene three: A father counts names on a phone list. The list keeps updating.

What to watch, not the show

• UN veto theatre vs. actual protection of civilians and aid access.
• De-facto annexation through settlement growth and demolitions.
• Cycles of mass displacement that reset every “operation.”
• Hostages and prisoners used as political oxygen.

The Hermit take

Two truths can live. Two peoples must. Stop worshipping maps and martyrs. Start saving lives.

Keep or toss

Toss the absolutism. Keep the children alive.

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Sources

• Gaza death toll and injuries — UN OCHA situation updates, Sept 2025.
  Source:
  https://www.un.org/unispal/document/humanitarian-situation-update-321-gaza-10sep25/
• Overall conflict fatalities (running tally).
  Source:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Gaza_war
• New displacement from Gaza City, Sept 2025.
  Source:
  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/18/un-figures-people-displaced-from-gaza-city
• US veto of UN ceasefire resolution, 18 Sept 2025.
  Source:
  https://apnews.com/article/f11ff1d39387062455c0b0bf4bdea1e4
  Source:
  https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-vetoes-un-demand-ceasefire-aid-access-gaza-2025-09-18/
• Settlement expansion record in 2024.
  Source:
  https://peacenow.org.il/en/the-year-of-annexation-and-expulsion-summary-of-settlement-activity-in-2024
• West Bank fatalities Oct 2023–Oct 2024 (UN via HRW World Report 2025).
  Source:
  https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/israel-and-palestine
• Hostages remaining and status, mid-Sept 2025.
  Source:
  https://www.arabnews.com/node/2615587/amp