It is more than a year since Israel began its devastating bombardment of Gaza, sparked by the shocking attack by Hamas on Israeli citizens which saw 1,200 killed and 250 taken hostage.
Since then more than 43,000 people have been killed in a relentless assault on the Palestinian population, more than half of them women and children.
Almost two million have also been displaced, with dire warnings of famine and much of the region reduced to rubble.
These are statistics, even for a society that has known conflict such as our own, that simply defy comprehension.
How, we ask, can the world allow the slaughter to continue, day after blood-soaked day, with the re-election of Donald Trump only likely to embolden the warmonger Benjamin Netanyahu even further.
Pope Francis has rightly now called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide.
The pontiff has met with both relatives of Israelis being held hostage and Palestinians who have been bereaved, and his words should carry significant weight.
The International Court of Justice is already considering a complaint by South Africa that Israel has been engaged in genocide, with Ireland among countries to have indicated they will participate in the proceedings.
Genocide is defined in international convention as acts “committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”.
An official ruling may take some time, with Israel fiercely contesting the accusation, but many around the world have drawn their own conclusions.
A UN special committee released a report last week that said Israel’s methods in Gaza are consistent with the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians.
US-based group Human Rights Watch has also accused the country of committing crimes against humanity through the “systematic” displacement of Palestinians, as well as condemning Hamas for using civilians as human shields.
In Ireland, the Gaelic games community has been to the fore in highlighting the humanitarian crisis, with players lining out in special kits for a hurling match between Ulster and the Rest of Ireland at the weekend.
Protests during the visit by Hillary Clinton to Queen’s University last week, as well as countless other demonstrations, have also demonstrated the strength of feeling.
The sheer scale of the suffering in Gaza has lost little of its power to shock over the last year.
The looming shadow of Donald Trump over international relations should ensure that all those with any influence use it now to bring about a ceasefire that will allow desperately-needed humanitarian aid to arrive and space for talks to finally chart a way of the madness.
