It is clear that the crisis in the Middle East is reaching a pivotal stage, and there can only be enormous alarm over indications that the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel is in serious danger of collapsing.
The complex deal centring on the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners remains in place, but tensions have been steadily escalating and there have been ominous signs about a frightening resumption of hostilities.
Five groups of Israelis kidnapped on October 7, 2023, have been freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli custody since the truce which came into effect last month and largely halted more than 15 months of carnage in Gaza.
However, both sides have been increasingly accusing each other of bad faith, and the disastrous recent intervention by President Trump, proposing that the US should take over Gaza and send its two million residents to neighbouring Arab countries, has inevitably undermined all those working for a peaceful outcome.
While there is firm evidence that Israel has simultaneously maintained a massively aggressive approach, killing Gazans in bitterly disputed circumstances and interrupting vital humanitarian aid deliveries, the response by Hamas that it intends to postpone the freeing of hostages was equally wrong.
Mr Trump immediately cranked up his rhetoric, incredibly claiming that he could press for an end to the ceasefire, and declaring that, if the next phase of releases did not proceed as planned… “I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out.”
This is plainly a time for patient diplomacy rather than the issuing of naked threats, and, as Ireland has always supported respecting the basic human rights of the Palestinian people, taoiseach Micheál Martin, speaking in Paris yesterday, was fully entitled to insist that all the hostages should be allowed to return to their families immediately.
It is equally important that Israel, as many of its own citizens are demanding, should honour all aspects of the agreement and avoid jeopardising the carefully negotiated understandings which are in place.
There will be concern over revelations that RAF Aldergrove in Co Antrim has been used at least 17 times by US military aircraft travelling to and from the Middle East during the Gaza conflict, but it remains a matter which is under the jurisdiction of the British government rather than the Stormont administration.
The priority for the international community must be to encourage all those who are working to keep the ceasefire in place, and avoid the prospect of a catastrophic conflict which could rapidly spread from one country to another and result in the loss of lives on an unimaginable scale.
