EDITORIAL — A year on and still no end in sight

Exactly a year ago yesterday, Hamas launched a terror attack against Israel that saw 1,200 people killed and hundreds kidnapped --including foreign nationals, the elderly, and infants.

This attack led to retaliation by Israel. And this war against Hamas has morphed into what many around the world also call a terror attack, with Gaza schools, refugee camps, and hospitals being targeted, and non-combatants and even children being killed.

The suffering is not exclusive to Gaza, Israel is also suffering in its own way because until now there is still no word about more than a hundred hostages taken during the terror attack.

But the harshest of events, in this case the terror attack, always have lessons to teach.

For Israel, it’s to never let their guard down when it comes to their security. If proper intel had been in place, as well as their security forces strategically located, the damage and death would have been minimal. Buoyed by its reputation as a security powerhouse, Israel eventually became a victim of its own success and got complacent.

For the people of Gaza, the lesson is to not let a terrorist organization become their de facto government, because that terrorist organization isn’t likely to have their interest in mind when it makes decisions.

Of course, for many Gazans, this was beyond their control. They had no choice in the matter. But we see in the future that they will not be so receptive to groups like Hamas rising to power.

For Hamas, the lessons are many, but the best is probably this: If you claim to be waging a righteous war you should not break the rules of engagement by taking hostages and killing men, women, children, and the elderly indiscriminately.

Will these lessons be learned? There is no certainty of that yet.

A year on and there is no end yet in sight. In fact, it is even possible that this war will expand.