If anything epitomised the barbarism and futility of resorting to extreme violence in the name of an entrenched dispute over land and statehood, it was this - cutting down everyday people enjoying life while thinking most of their lives were still ahead of them.
Hamas’ military operatives were the aggressors and instigators of these and other killings in Israel - while knowing that their own people would suffer severe retaliation because of it.
That pain is now being brought to bear on the impoverished people Hamas rules, trapped inside a tiny area of land.
There have been several conflicts since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 and Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on the territory, home to 2.3 million people.
Now, Israel is halting deliveries of food, water, fuel and supplies to Gazans while pounding the area with airstrikes.
By yesterday morning, after two and a half days of fighting, the estimated death toll had topped 1500, including about 900 people in Israel and 680 in Gaza, according to the health ministry there. Thousands more have been wounded and dozens of people taken captive. Foreigners have been caught in the violence.
Israel’s military has called up 300,000 reservists to secure the border with tanks and drones, and a ground operation seems likely.
The militants were prepared to toss the initial torch into the forest, knowing the sparks from the fire could fly and burn in different directions, out of control.
On the other side, in cracking down hard on the extremists, Israel is causing more death and destruction in a densely populated area. Hundreds of houses have been damaged or destroyed, and the UN estimates 123,000 Gazans have been displaced.
The cycles of attack and retaliation over decades - with no concerted practical political drive for peace in recent times - have achieved a grim limbo, eliminating hope for any positive change, fuelling extremism and a nothing-to-lose attitude.
Israel’s security and intelligence apparatus was taken by surprise, and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has been preoccupied this year with judicial changes that have inspired mass protests.
People of both Israel and Gaza are ill-served by those in charge currently ruling over them.
One survivor of the music festival, Maya Alper, told AP of being helped by Palestinian citizens of Israel who drove her to a police station. The only long-term solution is the fostering of more normal relations and attitudes between Israelis and Palestinians, and that would require brave leadership on both sides.
In the short term, Israel’s response to Hamas should be strategic, restrained and disciplined, attempting to avoid punishing civilians and a humanitarian disaster.
But the situation is a long way off that, with Israel imposing a complete siege and bombarding the Gaza Strip and Hamas’ military wing threatening to execute a hostage for every airstrike that harms civilians and occurs without warning.
Everything points to a downward spiral into a much worse and dangerous period for both Israelis and Palestinians.
