For Israel—and for its allied Western governments—escalating starvation in Gaza is simply another bargaining chip at the negotiating table. It allows Israel to demand that no meaningful action be taken to end the war or hold it accountable for war crimes, in exchange for allowing the bare minimum of humanitarian supplies into the Strip.

The intensity of interruptions in our lifetime has deeply influenced our personal and collective consciousness. To understand how Palestinian organizations function, it’s imperative to take into consideration the accelerated pace of radical shifts and events caused by the Israeli occupation. All Palestinian organizations function under a foregranted disability of implementing plans, let alone strategies.

Even when material resources are scarce or nonexistent, thousands of grassroots activists possess the local knowledge to organize, find solutions, and deliver whatever is available. This includes negotiating prices, leveraging social networks that offer direct familiarity with each family’s situation, and the ability to act swiftly amid a rapidly changing reality. They mobilize human capacity, skills, and communication to implement and publicize creative solutions.

It comes in waves, like the stock market graphs they worship: arbitrarily attacking wider circles, marking high targets, intensifying terror. Groups start to question their identification and solidarity, preferring survival. In the climax of fear, the regime retreats to “compromise” and eliminates smaller groups, leaving the less-political majority trembling in relief — isolated from solidarity, conforming to authority.

As this reality escalates to apocalyptic levels of cruelty, the global solidarity movement’s role is to support and resource those on the ground to continue in any way possible to resist dehumanization, and to refuse to separate bread from dignity.

Ignore the noise, dear friends; dismiss the lunatic spectacle. Palestinians and the solidarity movement have agency, resources, and tools to shape discourse, set our own agenda, and defend our existence and future. Our world is bigger than the Oval Office.