Can't reflect ghast fireball with melee weapon

Ghast fireball can't be reflected backwards, because the fireballs hit the player before they actually "touch" him/her. They instantly explode about 3-4 blocks away from the player, which means that you have to move to the right/left to actually have a chance at hitting it (which is a pain, and it's not meant to do that). Right now, I'm stuck in my Nether base because of it, and I really want to explore.

Please fix ASAP, because the knockback is so intense in this version (for some reason it's different on console editions) that it knocks me about 6 blocks away, nearly making me fall into lava.

By the way, I can't record, so I can't do anything about it except maybe make something out of screenshots on a website. Apple is very safe about their customers, as you know.