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Good morning. Another night of airstrikes, intensified attacks on land. But still we don’t know if this is the threatened great offensive. If we look on in dismay how must it feel in the middle of the onslaught?: how much more can they take? Many know it’s too late. The past three weeks have already seen thousands of funerals. But others face the continuing agony of not knowing what’s happened to their loved ones. ‘We are running out of tears, running out of hope’, said someone from the family of a ‘very modest, very simple’ couple seized from their kibbutz by Hamas, believed to be in Gaza; but not a word has been heard of them. ‘The thing they love most is their family and we need them back.’ Palestinian families, weakened by siege, short of food, water, medical supplies and much more, and in constant danger, tremble as they wonder, Will my home, children, community survive another night of battering? And what of those already missing? Will we ever see them again? I read for the first time this week of the efforts of some Palestinians to make sure that if they become casualties, at least they won’t remain anonymous. They’re wearing simple bracelets with their details attached. Other are writing on their legs, and one medical worker spoke of seeing children writing their names on their palms, because. he said, when they die ‘they want people to know who they are.’ I found that a powerful image, not least because it appears in the writing of the Hebrew prophet Isaiah to his people in exile in Babylon many centuries ago. They were complaining that God had forsaken them. He hears God saying, ‘Can a woman forget the infant at her breast, or a mother the child of her womb? But should even these forget, I shall never forget you. I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.’ (Is.49.15f REB). The words appear in a section of this book often seen as presenting a faith not just for the people of Israel, but for the whole world, and they’re sung frequently in Christian churches today in the belief that they’ve been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. ‘I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands,’ says a God with a love for Jew and Muslim, and for the whole human family. Especially in the middle of the present calamity, I believe these are words which can assure any of us, that we’re not abandoned by the God who grieves with us over the suffering of each of his children.