When Israel accepts 70,000 deaths in Gaza, the West’s moral failure is no longer deniable

As deaths mount and aid is criminalised, Western governments respond with caution, procedure and silence instead of consequence

Mahmoud Al-Atbash with the bodies of his daughters, Zeina and Maryam, killed in an Israeli strike at Shifa Hospital in Gaza on Saturday amid the so-called 'ceasefire'. Picture: Jehad Alshrafi/AP

When even the Israeli military accepts the scale of death, what possible excuse is left for the West’s moral shrug? 

This week, Haaretz reported that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have acknowledged the Gaza health ministry’s estimate that more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF. Not alleged. Not disputed. Accepted. By the army that’s been doing the killing.