So, who is best served by a ceasefire? The people of Gaza certainly, but so would Hamas who would then use the time to rearm and reposition themselves in Rafah for an extended war that would make it harder for IDF forces to eliminate. And Hamas has already dropped the number of hostages they said they would release from 40 to 20. They are playing the long game. They know the longer they drag the war out and not surrender all the hostages in one sweep, the more world opinion sides with them. It's clever and devilish at the same time.

Welby outlined the imminence of famine in Gaza, referring to warnings from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (News, 22 March). "For some, it's already too late -- children are beginning to die of starvation and dehydration.

While a small number of children have died of starvation in Gaza, the number is below 30, and most have suffered from dehydration. In the US 13 million children are food insecure, that's one in five children. By contrast some 13,690 people starve to death in the US per year, and we are the richest nation on earth. Death by starvation is not unique to Gaza, it is a worldwide phenomenon.

Somalia has the highest rate of starvation deaths by country in Africa and in the world. The rate is a sky-high 42.27 deaths per 100,000 people. This rate is often attributed to the food insecurity caused by the near-constant civil wars in the country. Food shipments have been interrupted and agricultural areas have been heavily shelled, bombed, and mined. Gaza pales by comparison.

"These deaths, and the famine-like conditions in Gaza, are not the result of some unexpected natural disaster -- they are human-made," said Welby.

Starvation is the human condition and Jesus addressed it in His feeding of the 5,000. We all have the resources to combat hunger and any responsible approach would be to provide humanitarian relief. Appeals to numbers or percentages are ineffectual if you're the one starving.

As bad as the people of Gaza may have it, they are calories ahead of those in Somalia, Sudan and much of the Sahel where conflict and man-induced climate catastrophes have made those moslem-controlled basket cases breeding grounds for mass starvation, insurrection and terrorism.

World Vision reports that a severe food crisis is intensifying across Africa, driving millions of people into a heightened risk of hunger and starvation. Fueled by a combination of factors, including the war in Ukraine, regional conflicts, extreme weather events, and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, hunger threatens the lives and well-being of vulnerable communities and people, particularly women and girls. What is happening is hardly unique to Gaza.

Describing Israel as "the occupying power" in Gaza, Archbishop Welby said that "all parties to a conflict must allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need."

Actually, the occupying power for the last twenty years has been Hamas and they haven't done one good thing for the people of Gaza, except to impoverish them and keep them politically off balance. The IDF has been there barely six months, and they are only there because of what Hamas did on October 6.

"It is unacceptable that the number of aid lorries entering Gaza in March -- an average of 169 per day -- remains significantly below the operational capacity of both the Rafah and Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) border crossings," said Welby.

The archbishop added that alternative avenues for getting aid into the territory, including by air and sea, were "unlikely to meet the urgent and monumental humanitarian needs of Gaza's starving population."

This is only partially true. Israel has said it is committed to improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza and there is no limit on the aid for civilians. It has blamed the United Nations for any delivery issues, saying limitations on the quantity and pace of aid are dependent on the capacity of the U.N. and other agencies.

Welby like most liberal minded thinkers seems bent on blaming Israel for the situation in Gaza. But Israel did not start the war, but they will end it when the last Hamas is dead or surrenders. Anything less will see more raids, rockets and mayhem on their land and people, a situation Israel will never again tolerate. Never.

(Written on the start of Holocaust Remembrance Day events in Jerusalem.)

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