The slaughter of civilians in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza shows us a new age of mass violence

Since Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7 and Israel’s retaliation, global attention has shifted from Ukraine to the Middle East. But while we are transfixed on Gaza, large-scale violence against civilians is also taking place elsewhere.

In the former Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh nearly the entire population had to flee, becoming refugees in the wake of Azerbaijan’s decisive victory in a conflict that lasted over two decades. In Ukraine, investigators constantly uncover new and ever more gruesome evidence of war crimes, torture, rape, kidnapping of children and intentional targeting of civilians as part of Russia’s genocidal campaign. In Israel and Gaza, 1,200 Israelis and more than 11,000 Palestinians lost their lives in a bout of violence that includes atrocities, indiscriminate targeting, bombings and hostage taking, leading to claims about a potential genocide or genocidal massacres committed by the warring parties.