Tragedy in Gaza

The curtain of violence again drops on the Gaza strip unfolding another tragedy with the major players being the militant Hamas pitted against the might of the state of Israel. There appears to be no solution in sight as the tensions escalate with the vicious cycle of retaliatory attacks by Israel in response to the furtive missile/rocket strikes of the Hamas, which is a guerilla outfit that operates in the heavily populated Hamas strip. Innocent civilian bystanders have become the victims of this madness and more than 200 children have been reported to be injured in Gaza. The  rest of the world watches helplessly and can only express outrage at this totally avoidable conflagration between two hostile parties, each blaming the other for having drawn first blood.
Who started this imbroglio can never be ascertained as facts can get murky as charges and counter charges get exchanged and the level of rhetoric drowns reason. Violence begets more violence as rockets stream across the Israel/Hamas border southwards into Israel wrecking havoc and disrupting the fragile truce that had been in effect since Prime Minister Netanyahu came into power in Israel. Netanyahu, a hardliner has been swift in initiating retaliatory responses with air-strikes against the Hamas, who intermingle with the civilians and are difficult to target without affecting innocent bystanders. Hence, the high civilian injuries reported with many Palestinians left with their homes destroyed, if they escape these so called surgical strikes. Many Palestinians and Israelis recount the horror of previous attacks and have had their loved ones injured or dead, as a consequence. The human misery inflicted has made the civilians bitter and further hardened their resolve to fight each other to the tooth and nail. Thus the violence that has flared up has no end, as the attacks intensifies.
And, when the bombs or rockets explode, the fire will rage, leaving the Gaza strip enveloped in a cloud of black smoke. As these clouds clear, the devastation will be apparent to the rest of the world via the media. We are inundated with pictures of this tragedy on facebook and twitter as well as our television channels and we can only watch with a repressed anger questioning the compulsions of our fellow brothers to indulge in such rabid madness. When will it all end is what the rest of the world ask! The answer is when enough of either parties die. When there has been a satisfaction of the retributions. When more than enough blood has been shed. We hope at least then, there will be some sense left for a truce,
Till then, we can only cross our fingers and hope for the best. But, the truce will only be momentary as the surviving factions again amass their weapons and replenish their arsenals for another bout of confrontation. There is no end in sight for this madness!