For the Gazan People, the Sooner the Ground Invasion Comes, the Better

Western media has devoted prohibitive attention to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip precipitated by the Hamas regime’s support for a complex military-style operation explicitly designed to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible. That sequence of events might convey to the casual observer that the conditions the Gazan people are presently enduring are a function of their government’s recklessness, inhumanity, and general commitment to maladministration. Maybe that’s why so many Western media outlets seem committed to advancing the notion that Gaza’s plight is a function of Israel’s response to the unprecedented butchery of over 1,400 of its citizens.

“Gaza today is defined by death and displacement,” PBS Newshour reporter Nick Schifrin observed. The deficit of “food, water, or electricity” are contributing to the terrible conditions endured by Gaza’s civilians amid Israeli airstrikes on the positions Hamas fighters take up in and around civilian infrastructure. What little civilian aid has been allowed to transit into Gaza via the Egypt-administered Rafah crossing (which was opened as a result of negotiations between Cairo, Western powers, and the Israeli government) is nonetheless “wholly insufficient for the scope of the humanitarian crisis there,” NBC News’s Josh Lederman noted. “We drink salty water. Everyone is drinking salty water,” one desperate Gazan woman told New York Times reporters. “Every day, we live this struggle.”

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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Western media has devoted prohibitive attention to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip precipitated by the Hamas regime’s support for a complex military-style operation explicitly designed to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible. That sequence of events might convey to the casual observer that the conditions the Gazan people are presently enduring are a function of their government’s recklessness, inhumanity, and general commitment to maladministration. Maybe that’s why so many Western media outlets seem committed to advancing the notion that Gaza’s plight is a function of Israel’s response to the unprecedented butchery of over 1,400 of its citizens.

“Gaza today is defined by death and displacement,” PBS Newshour reporter Nick Schifrin observed. The deficit of “food, water, or electricity” are contributing to the terrible conditions endured by Gaza’s civilians amid Israeli airstrikes on the positions Hamas fighters take up in and around civilian infrastructure. What little civilian aid has been allowed to transit into Gaza via the Egypt-administered Rafah crossing (which was opened as a result of negotiations between Cairo, Western powers, and the Israeli government) is nonetheless “wholly insufficient for the scope of the humanitarian crisis there,” NBC News’s Josh Lederman noted. “We drink salty water. Everyone is drinking salty water,” one desperate Gazan woman told New York Times reporters. “Every day, we live this struggle.”

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.