It is hard to think of any moment when a major international institution has taken a decision of genuine import to challenge Israeli impunity. The UN Security Council has done so on occasions, but typically a US veto, or even just the threat of one, prevents this.

When outgoing US President Joe Biden last week explained that the Israel-Hamas deal was broadly identical to the one he announced last May, he thought he was promoting his own role. In fact, it was a savage indictment of his own failure — a confession, even.

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.”