Ongoing Israeli, Hamas war a chance to seek lasting peace

Israeli troops in a ground operation in Gaza. [Xinhua]

On October 7, the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, shocked the world with its daring attack on the Jewish state of Israel - killing and maiming more than 1,400 people within hours. Israel took retaliatory aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip, home to more than 2.3 million people under the Hamas rule since 2007.

Thus far, the conflict has killed more than 10,000 people and the Israel ground offensive forecast to add to the infrastructural toll typified by the levelling of buildings and installations, disruption to electricity supply and communications and, of course, the human cost in Gaza.