Reading the front page of this paper on Friday was disheartening in every sense. The current plight of the people of Gaza should weigh heavily on the conscience of every citizen in Ireland and across the world.

The merciless slaughter of innocent Gazans as they waited for aid was a clear signal to the international community that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are an out of control, rogue force, equal in the capacity to terrorise and commit random acts of wanton violence as those terrorists they seek to destroy.

When this madness ends (and it will) Israel may never recover its reputation amongst the democratic nations of the world. That’s not to say that this writer has an iota of sympathy for Hamas, but the IDF’s inhumane and barbaric treatment of the entire civil population of Gaza is wildly disproportionate, disgracefully indiscriminate and wholly disgraceful.

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But even wars have rules and war crimes consequences.