Little has been done to repair the damage of three hugely destructive wars in the last decade.

Last year, the Palestinian Authority, seeking to win back control over Gaza, slashed the salaries of thousands of workers still on its payroll and halted payments to Israel for Gaza’s fuel and electricity. That pushed Hamas into a much-heralded agreement with the Palestinian Authority in October, but nothing has come of it.

Most recently the Trump administration waded in with a vindictive decision to cut funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which supports Palestinian refugees, including 1.2 million in Gaza.

While the blockade and Israeli military attacks have ruined Gaza, there is no defending Hamas, which regularly fires rockets across the border into Israel. Money that should have gone to hospitals and medicine has been spent on futile confrontation with Israel and digging tunnels that the Israelis are now spending a small fortune to block.

But holding two million people hostage is not the way to fight Hamas, and the suffering only nurtures more rage and militancy. A majority of Gaza’s two million people are simply trying to survive against lengthening odds and can do little to alleviate their plight.

If, as General Eisenkot warned, another uprising lies in the future, that would likely prove futile. It would cause great suffering and destruction again, and might not even rouse the world to Gaza’s plight. The Palestinians no longer seem to be a serious concern even for Arab nations.