The heinous Hamas 07 Oct massacre just crossed its 1st month anniversary and we see the unfolding of the Israel response happening in real time every day. I had written about the horrible incident a few weeks ago as I felt sick to my stomach and needed to do more research on the reason behind the attack before I could pen down my thoughts.
Since then, the world has seen the meticulous steps undertaken to seek out Hamas and to try to rescue the 200+ hostages still trapped in Gaza City. More than 2 million Palestinian citizens were told to relocate to the south of Gaza for the Israeli military to move in.
There have been many stories of civilians being killed as collateral damage in the precision strikes on supposedly Hamas hideouts. To date, a figure of 11,000+ were estimated to be innocent victims of the crossfire. It is especially disheartening to hear of casualties at or near the hospitals which are treating the sick and injured.
Israel claims that Hamas is using the hospitals as cover to hide and prevent its citizens from getting out of the city as an effective human shield for them. They tried to show some evidence of weapons hidden within the hospitals, the underground tunnels running below and mobile communications of the terrorists using ambulances as a means of transport between locations.
There is so much misinformation on both sides that it is tough for us outsiders to know what is real and what is not. Meanwhile, there have been mass protests all over the world in support of the people of Gaza to force Israel to stop their military operations there.
But the Israeli refused to stop until Hamas is rooted out and the hostages are all accounted for. They insist that it is a defensive move to prevent another 07 Oct from ever happening again, now termed the 2nd Holocast event.
One of the retired generals had mentioned that Hamas, via the extensive underground tunnels, had already evacuated themselves to the south of Gaza. Israel’s current sweeping of north Gaza therefore may not be enough to eradicate Hamas. They might force another mass exodus of Gaza citizens now stationed in the South to once again move to the North when they have neutralized that area.
Mass global condemnation of the Israeli ambush in Gaza will not deter them from completing their mission and they are likely to continue operations for a few more months. Hopefully, there would be a concurrent plan to discuss a future 2 state solution for the Palestinians to eventually reset and start all over again, to have fresh elections. To have a government that cares for the welfare of its people first, rather than just calling for the death and destruction of Israel, which will be a non-starter for peace talks.
On the personal front, I had a wonderful meetup with ex-colleagues on Sat. It was also a new housewarming occasion for one of our team members. He took the opportunity to invite the old team together. We were working together during the 2005-2012 period in the American bank.
I cannot believe that it has been more than 15 years ago already. We were much younger then. Working hard and playing hard was our motto during that period. We were reminiscing the good old times we shared in common and the various offsites we had taken as a group every year.
It was so good to catch up with each other and be updated on what has happened to each of us since then. Some have become parents and others have moved on to another relationship and career. We laughed about the silly things we had done while being amazed that we had the stamina to work like crazy to achieve the sometimes impossible budget targets.
We have all aged and grown older since then. One of them is now doing well in her career, which I was happy to see. It feels so rewarding to have seen her grow up from fresh grad days till now and also a new parent too.
The hours passed away quickly as we had so many topics to chat about. The 12 of us remembered the times when we worked as a united team to organize client events and even performed in the Dinner & Dance competition, coming in as champions twice!!
I was looking forward to this gathering and I was not disappointed. As we grow older, old colleagues can turn to become treasured friends through the passage of time with so many precious memories to cherish.
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