Regrettably for the people of Gaza, it was always a matter of when, not if, the war would resume. On Friday, that time arrived as Israeli aircraft continued bombing operations against Hamas infrastructure in the enclave after talks to extend a weeklong humanitarian truce broke down over a dispute about additional prisoner exchanges. Secretary of State Antony Blinken blamed Hamas for the breakdown, arguing that the terrorist group started sending rockets into Israel even before the pause was scheduled to expire. After it ended, the Israel Defense Forces didn’t miss a beat, hitting 200 terrorist targets in Gaza. The Hamas-run Health Ministry reports that approximately 100 people have been killed thus far.
For those who believed the short-lived truce would snowball into a broader ceasefire leading to a termination of the war, the resumption of the fighting comes as a significant disappointment. There was a hope, particularly in the minds of Qatari mediators, that a few days of calm would be able to whet the appetites of Israel and Hamas for more serious discussions about cutting the conflict short and perhaps even produce momentum for comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. There haven’t been any peace talks on a two-state solution in nearly a decade.
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