Of all the grim distinctions of the yearlong war in Gaza that followed the savage Hamas attack on Israel last Oct. 7, one may stand out for its deadly singularity: Palestinian civilians there have nowhere to go. Barricaded by barbed-wire fences, tanks and soldiers, they have been effectively imprisoned for 12 months in a 141-square-mile strip of land between Egypt and Israel that has become a killing zone.

That irreducible fact, rare in even the most catastrophic wars, has magnified the death toll from Israel’s military campaign to root out the Hamas militants. It has challenged not just Israel’s avenging army, but also Arab neighbors, Western powers, aid and refugee groups and human rights defenders.

Lacking the familiar, if tragic, cycle seen in other armed struggles — civilians are violently displaced and flee across borders for refuge — the world has watched the slaughter in Gaza with a kind of helpless horror.

More than 41,000 people have been killed, according to local health officials. While that number includes combatants, a majority were civilians, and the rate of casualties has at times outpaced even the deadliest moments in the U.S.-led attacks in Iraq, Afghanistan or Syria.

“It seems unbelievable that these people, who have already endured so much suffering, are unable to leave,” said Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, a Jordanian former diplomat who served as the United Nations High Commissioner for human rights from 2014 to 2018. “The world is not a kind and generous place.”