'Hamas is bringing a Nakba on Gaza'

In one interview on Hamas's own television channel, spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri let slip: "We aren't leading our people today to destruction, we are leading our people to death."

In Egypt, talk show host Khaled Salah said: "Our people in Gaza must come to the realisation that such idiotic decision making… forces Gaza and its people… to pay a steep price."

Another Egyptian TV presenter, Ahmad Mousa, criticised Hamas Prime Minister Haniyeh and the Qassam rocket brigades for using civilians as human shields to launch their attacks.

"You are bringing another Nakba upon your people," he said.

Meanwhile, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have held back from pressuring the international community to act over the conflict, apparently content to see the Gaza jihadis eliminated. They see parallels with the growing threat posed by the Islamic State terror group which targets their own states.