The first step to ending violence in Gaza is recognizing Palestinians are human beings.

On May 14, Israeli forces shot and killed 60 Palestinians and injured over 2,500 – among them minors, women, journalists and paramedics – in what can only be called a massacre in broad daylight. The violence was the culmination of protests that began on March 30, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip called for an end of the 11-year-long siege of the coastal enclave and the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes in what is now Israel. In total over the last six weeks, 112 people have been killed and an astounding 13,000 wounded by Israeli forces, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Not a single Israeli has been killed and not a single rocket fired into Israel.

Not far away, Jared and Ivanka Trump were celebrating the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had the audacity to say, “This is a great day for peace.”

The disturbingly stark contrast between the bloodbath in Gaza and the smiling faces of American and Israeli officials in Jerusalem illustrated just how far the dehumanization of Palestinians has gone. This was exacerbated by the fact that many mainstream American publications found it difficult to simply report the facts. The New York Times’ original headline that day indicated that Palestinians “have died” in protests, and a Washington Post editorial stated that Hamas had organized “nominal civilians” at the border. Many reports called the incidents “clashes,” even though only one side was subjected to violence.

The White House has adopted the Israeli government line and squarely put the blame on Hamas, justifying the shooting of unarmed civilians because they were either “sent” by Hamas or because they are affiliated with the group, which is defined by Israel and the U.S. as a terror organization. Israel continues to invoke its right to defend its borders – even though it has not clearly defined its borders and de facto still occupies the Gaza Strip, controlling its supply of water and electricity, airspace, population registry, freedom of movement and other necessities.

The Gaza Strip is held on the brink of humanitarian disaster by Israel, and to a lesser extent by Egypt, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Gaza’s population of 2 million live with only a few hours of electricity a day, many suffer from unemployment and food insecurity. The UN has declared it will be uninhabitable by 2020. A 20-year-old Palestinian man set himself on fire May 19, reportedly blaming Hamas for the dismal economy.

Palestinians of all ages have been protesting near Israel’s fence in order to remind the world they deserve basic human rights – and were met with live bullets.

The first step in working to end the violence is sifting through the political and media-saturated smokescreens and recognizing the basic human rights of Palestinians – something Israeli and American leaders are categorically unwilling to do.

MAIRAV ZONSZEIN is an Israeli-American journalist and a blogger with +972 Magazine, based in Santa Cruz.