After decades of oppression and 21 months of sustained bombings, mass shootings, and forced starvation, the people of Gaza are on their last leg. Reports of the famine there are as horrific as anything in modern history. Images of children and babies emaciated to the bone pour out of the region every day, and the situation is only getting worse.

All of this is intentional, imposed on Gaza by the state of Israel and supported throughout the US government. Israel has completely obliterated the region’s infrastructure and land and is now deliberately preventing aid from getting in. Even more despicably, when aid does manage to enter the strip, Israeli soldiers slaughter the hungry people trying to reach it. This kind of massacre, one of the most depraved things anyone can imagine, is now routine.

Only now are some Western leaders and talking heads coming around. Among others, The New York Times, a longstanding and defiant supporter of Israel even through the worst atrocities, is gradually growing more critical. But plenty of observers have known for a long time that this latest flare-up between Israel and Palestine was different from previous skirmishes. This time, from the beginning, the intent and the actions have been purely genocidal.

If you’re just waking up to the horror now, then welcome aboard. It’s time to speak up. And if you haven’t woken up yet, you have precious little time left to do so. Gaza may not last much longer. And when the people there are all gone, when we’re realizing the extent of the horror we have perpetrated, you won’t be able to say you weren’t told. This is a US atrocity as much as it is an Israeli one, and every American who looked the other way shares in the responsibility.