Northern Gaza is no more, at least not as a livable, populated area. This was not an asteroid strike or a tsunami. But such a fate might have been kinder to the nearly 3 million people who have been compelled to undergo deprivations most of us can barely understand.

Every year, at Christmas, much of the world turns its eyes to Bethlehem and the world of two millennia ago. Images of the baby Jesus in a manger surrounded by shepherds and wise men adorn Christian churches across the world.

Can one imagine a year passing nowadays when the number of refugees and internally displaced people declines? Sadly, these circumstances are hard to imagine. The trends are stark and terrifying.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy was quizzed last week in front of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons. At one stage, he opined: “There are no journalists in Gaza.”

Some 185 days after they were requested by prosecutor Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court last week issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ex-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif, a Hamas commander.

It was only a matter of when. It has always only been a matter of when. For years, Israeli leaders have craved the West Bank. Few hid their desire to annex it either wholly or in large part.