When Hamas invaded Israel,  I knew the people of Gaza  would pay a horrific price. Israel’s response to the deaths of twelve hundred people, with two hundred and fifty hostages taken, would be swift and brutal. Israel’s overwhelming military power would be devastating.

I knew that the innocent in Gaza would suffer immensely. Now almost twenty-two months later, I could not have imagined on that day, the near total destruction, or the horrific consequences people are enduring. Sixty thousand people have died, including at least  fifteen thousand children.  Around this time  last year, Israel’s military announced that all of their military objectives had been accomplished.  The war could have ended last summer.

But, ending the war is not in Primer Minister Netanyahu’s best interest.   Meanwhile, his  policy limiting humanitarian aid, has created  severe suffering for the Palestinian people. One of the few hospitals still functioning, reported  in the past three days twenty-one children  died of starvation.  The United Nations describes  people collapsing in the streets  from lack of food.

Limited aid has been allowed for brief periods of time, with Israel frequently shutting the door to aid, making it impossible for people to feed themselves. Most recently, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by Israel and the United States, has replaced the United Nations programs,  creating its own problems, and obstructions. Since the aid stations started, more than one thousand people have been shot trying to reach food. Palestinians describe the situation of choosing either to die from hunger,  or risk getting shot on the way to seek aid.  Upset allies of Israel refer to the  new system as, “Drip feeding aid.” Contractors, who started with the project, have quit over the dehumanizing conditions placed on Palestinians reaching aid.

Historians can explain the situation which led to the current war, far better that I. But what I do know, is that any nation that sees the humanity of starving people, would do far more to feed the  traumatized people of Palestine. For God is a God of justice. The scripture says,  “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”Isaiah 1:17

In 1950 Ed McCurdy composed a song, envisioning  a time when war would end,  called “Last Night I had the Strangest Dream.” Popularized in the 1960’s,  it speaks to me today with its hope of peace and the healing peace brings.

“Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war

I dreamed I saw a mighty room
The room was filled with men
And the paper they were signing said
They’d never fight again

And when the papers all were signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands and bowed their heads
And grateful prayers were prayed

And the people in the streets below
Were dancing round and round
And guns and swords and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war.”

Today I pray for a day when God’s dream for  a world where peace and justice live together, will become a reality for Gaza,  and  all the places where war demeans the image of God, in each of us.