The Guardian view on the catastrophe in Gaza: it must not be overshadowed by the Iran crisis | Editorial

Hopes of a ceasefire have ebbed, concerns about an assault on Rafah endure, and aid remains wholly insufficient

The Middle East is on the precipice" and one miscalculation, one miscommunication, one mistake, could lead to the unthinkable," the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, warned on Thursday. Israel has vowed to retaliate to Iran's weekend barrage of missiles and drones - itself a response to Israel's killing of two generals at an Iranian diplomatic facility in Damascus. It is hard to have confidence in either's ability to calibrate their actions when both have misjudged already.

Yet the spectre of full-scale regional conflict, and themany deaths that could result, must not draw attention away from the almost 34,000 Palestinians already killed in Gaza, according to its health authorities, and the many more who will soon diewithout an immediate ceasefire and massive increase in aid in what Mr Guterres called a humanitarian hellscape".

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