T he announcement was an admission of failure. On July 26th the Israel Defence Forces ( IDF) said that it would parachute food into Gaza and implement daily “humanitarian pauses” in parts of the still depopulated areas of the devastated strip, allowing international aid organisations to bring in convoys.

A few weeks ago, President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu each gave the other something of great symbolic value. Trump excoriated the “out-of-control” prosecutors responsible for the Israeli prime minister’s corruption trial, and Netanyahu nominated the American president for the Nobel Peace Prize he has long coveted.

The U.N.-developed panel, known as IPC, said conditions “worsened dramatically” in recent months, with food consumption at its lowest level since the conflict began.