AA Edit | Hopes rise for truce in Gaza

There may be little sign of the world getting weary of two wars going on in Europe and the Middle East. There is, however, the merest suggestion that one of them could stop, at least briefly, if Israel is willing to halt the offensive during the month of Ramzan in a swap deal of hostages and prisoners with Hamas.

Israel may have gone on the offensive in retaliation to the barbaric strike on its territory by Hamas on October 7, 2023. But excesses have become so common that not even unwarranted military action against Palestinian people surrounding a convoy of aid trucks that led to more than 100 deaths caused outrage.

The death toll has already crossed over 30,000, a huge majority being Palestinian citizens who may have little to do with the reign of Hamas. That is a sure sign war has benumbed the rest of the world that is looking on helplessly or using whataboutisms.

It would be a great relief if the Israeli operations were to stop in Gaza and give the people a breather even as more than half the population of the Gaza Strip has gravitated to or near Rafah, the last haven, relatively speaking, in a land overtaken by death and destruction.

In a conflicted world there is so little good news that even a whiff of a Gaza truce offer that is being negotiated gives rise to hope. Meanwhile, there is only bad news out of Russia as Vladimir Putin, enraged by a comment from French President Emmanuel Macron about the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, is bristling to the extent of threatening a nuclear war if any Nato country puts troops on Ukrainian soil.