Since the announcement on Wednesday of a likely ceasefire deal, the Israeli Defence Force has egregiously continued its air strikes deep into the destroyed Gaza Strip, reportedly killing more than 80 Palestinians.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was among those outraged at apparent Israeli efforts to keep killing Palestinians when they knew what was on the table and highly likely to be signed.
He accused the Israeli government and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of violating and exploiting the ceasefire deal.
It may not have been ratified yet by Netanyahu and his colleagues — that was due to happen last night — but there is such a thing as acting in good faith.
Nobody wants to be a wet blanket when a long-awaited ceasefire appears all but over the line, but it is worth pondering precisely what it is we may be celebrating.
Because, realistically, there is next to nothing to celebrate about what has happened in the past 15 months.
Yes, an agreement which allegedly puts an end to the killing, the bloodshed of so many thousands of innocent people, including children, to the annihilation of their homes and mosques and hospitals and schools, is certainly worth celebrating. Why did this moment not come sooner?
But it does not undo what has been done and rub out the nightmare of what has been.
The potential of generations of young people who could have had their talents for good nurtured and grown under the right conditions has been crushed.
In effect, then, we are celebrating the fact that now, hopefully, nothing more like this may happen.
The joy at peace prevailing over war and evil should not be minimised or curtailed in some way. Any peace settlement is a wonderful achievement.
War, aggression, violence, terrorism — none of these should ever be allowed to win.
Unfortunately, this is where we get back to the very reason why wars and conflict occur — to protect freedom, boundaries, and a peaceful existence from those who would have it otherwise. It is a mind-bending conundrum.
A signed and sealed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is a huge step forward in the Middle East. The architects of the plan are also well aware that a settlement like this have much broader ramifications, and help the whole region settle and take some deep breaths.
Israel did not start this latest fight. On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists in Gaza broke through the border into Israeli settlements in an horrific attack: they killed 1200 people and took more than 250 citizens and overseas visitors hostage.
In the ensuing war, the Gaza health ministry says Israeli soldiers backed by Netanyahu have killed more than 46,000 people and left many hundreds of thousands homeless and displaced, struggling to find food and water, shelter and medicines.
Most reasonable-minded people can work out that, as terrible and depraved as the initial attacks were, the Israeli blitzkrieg response has been way out of line.
Netanyahu has left an horrific mess, one the world could only stand by helplessly and watch in disgust as it unfolded.
It is little wonder that Netanyahu, desperate to do anything to take the spotlight off his own court case for corruption, is now universally vilified, even by groups of his own people.
Let us hope the ceasefire is indeed ratified by the time you read this and we can breathe a sigh of relief.
Both sides need to accept some culpability and do their utmost to make it work and rebuild the shattered lives of Palestinians in Gaza.
