William M Twaddell is missing a far bigger point: Whatever words you use to describe violence, especially violence on this scale, the children are still dying, the homes are still being destroyed, millions of people are still at risk of starvation.

Words don't "contain" violence. This is one of those poetic-sounding phrases that is actually completely meaningless. Words contain nothing except whatever meaning we give them And we often disagree on those meanings. But words can be used to distract from violence. They can even convince people to ignore or minimise violence.

So yes, Steve QJ would rather people focused on the thousands of dead children in Gaza, and on saving the lives of as many of those still living as possible, than quibble about whether to use the word "genocide" or not.