The level of human suffering which has followed the concerted attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas has been appalling in every respect, and there can only be fears that an already shocking death toll will rise sharply in the coming days.
There are clear indications that the conflict is in grave danger of escalating across the region, and the prospect of a sustained war between the Palestinians and the Israelis is a very real one.
The priority for the international community must be to engage in immediate and determined dialogue with all sides and persuade them that further conflict would be catastrophic.
However, with Hamas directing a full blown military campaign, and Israel determined to respond with all the massive resources at its disposal, the prospects for any kind of early progress appear bleak.
Since the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948, there have been occasional periods of stability in the Middle East but confrontation and crisis have never been far from the surface.
While peace treaties with some neighbouring Arab countries have been negotiated and maintained, the continuing Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territories has been a source of major tension.
Israel's actions have been established as illegal under international law, and the country's attitude towards the basic human rights of the Palestinian people has attracted worldwide condemnation, but militant Palestinian groups have also been regularly responsible for brutal and unacceptable acts.
Although prolonged efforts have been made to achieve a long term resolution based on what is referred to as the two-state solution, creating an independent state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel, the diplomatic process has failed to make advances over recent years.
Concerns have been expressed about what could follow but the sudden Hamas offensive was not anticipated and appears to have taken even Israel's highly sophisticated intelligence services by surprise.
There is firm evidence that Hamas has been guilty of war crimes by deliberately targeting women and children, as well as taking unspecified numbers of innocent civilians as hostages, and hundreds if not thousands of people have already been killed.
The overwhelming priority must be agreeing some form of immediate ceasefire, with hostilities suspended and civilian captives released, but the structures which would facilitate such an outcome are simply not in place.
It is essential that the United Nations and the international community plays as full a role as possible before disaster again engulfs the Middle East.
