And rhetoric, here, matters.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for the “voluntary resettlement” of Palestinians in third countries, adding that “no Hamas, no UNRWA, no Gaza” should remain . National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir declared that Gaza should host Israeli settlements, not Palestinians . Likud MK Nissim Vaturi said, “This should be permanent.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in March 2025 that Palestinians would not be allowed to return to the north: “The north is cleared” .
The implication is not subtle. Gaza is not just being depopulated. It is being redrawn.
Lina’s body was never claimed. Her hospital had been shelled twice in four days. Her parents were believed to be under the rubble across the street. A volunteer tagged her bag with “Lina?” and zipped her alongside an older man who died of sepsis an hour later.
No one knows if they were related.
What we do know is that Lina died because the oxygen ran out. The oxygen ran out because the generators failed. The generators failed because fuel was blocked. The fuel was blocked by order. And the order came from a government that has described Gaza as “a cancer,” and vowed never to return it to what it was .
Amnesty International has called this the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure . Human Rights Watch calls it “de-development.” The wells are poisoned. The streets run with sewage. Infants born in 2025 are dying before they ever taste solid food. Aid rots at the checkpoints. There are no tomatoes.
Genocide isn’t a label. It’s a pattern.
Her name was Lina.
They buried her with a stranger. Same bag. Same number. Her mother, if she lived, was searching for insulin. Her brother’s arm surfaced in a different crater four days later.
The ambulance never came.
But the verdict might.
Genocide isn’t declared by press release. It’s recognized in hindsight—when it’s too late to interrupt.
We have the statements. We have the statistics. We have the graves.
What we don’t have is time.
If this is not genocide, then what word do we reserve for the next Lina?
And how many names do we wait for before we say it?