Palestinians wait for food at a humanitarian aid distribution point in Nuseirat, Gaza.
22/07/2025
Periodista
2 min

"The suffering of civilians has surpassed all limits," The 28 countries that demanded that Israel end the war in the Gaza Strip concluded. I suppose they were looking for a way to express that what Israel is doing to the Palestinians is intolerably cruel, and they phrased it like this: "The suffering has surpassed all limits."

Does this mean there are acceptable limits to human suffering? That there are basic sufferings that must be accepted before the international community feels it has the authority to raise even a voice? From what we've seen in Gaza, enduring bombings, being deported, being killed in line for NGO food, seeing trucks loaded with aid on the other side of a fence and not being able to get close, and seeing fields and water wells bombed are all within the limits. This was and is within the limits. And, apparently, the ribs of children and adults are outside the limits when they start to be clearly visible on TV. The limits are that we see people dying of hunger.

If the suffering of civilians has surpassed all limits, it means that those in power have also surpassed all the limits of the Penal Code. The ethnic cleansing that Netanyahu ordered perpetrated in Gaza has been going on for some time now, and he has been handling it with blood on his hands. So why does the international response, including that of the Arab countries, remain so within the bounds of diplomatic caution? The damage that this disproportionate impact does to trust in the law is devastating to collective morale. We take note, because if today thousands of civilians are subjected to suffering beyond limits, it means that any day now it could do the same to any of us. And 28 countries will write a note of protest.

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