FOR both Israelis and Palestinians, the third war between Israel and Gaza in six years may prove to be the most gruelling yet. Since the war started on July 8th over 500 people have been killed, all but 20 of them Palestinians. In a ground offensive, which started on July 17th, Israeli forces are focusing on four border areas along a strip 40km (25 miles) long, seemingly to destroy tunnels used by Hamas to launch attacks in Israel and to fortify its border against Israeli incursions. But most of the victims have been Palestinian civilians, including many children.
In the worst violence to date on July 20th Israel attacked Shujaiya, a tightly packed residential suburb five minutes’ drive east of Gaza City that has long been a stronghold for an array of militants. The shelling killed66 Palestinians in one day; 13 elite Israeli soldiers died in the fighting of an ensuing ground offensive. Footage from the scene showed bodies of Palestinians, many of them women and children, strewn across the streets. Gazans have limited options as to where to flee: more than 80,000 people have sought shelter in UN schools.
On July 21st Israel’s defence minister, Moshe Yaalon, said the mission to destroy tunnels should be over in two to three days. But Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, has warned that the offensive will continue until Israel has achieved its aims. These are said to include the destruction of rocket-launchers and command centres. But many of these lie concealed among and below civilian infrastructure in the heart of Gaza City and the mission looks set to draw Israel ever deeper into the heart of Gaza's teeming population centre.
Despite being besieged and the rising death toll, Hamas and fellow Islamists show no sign of changing course. They continue to launch over 100 rockets at Israel every day, targeting towns and cities from south to north. Hamas has launched drones for the first time and militants have repeatedly infiltrated Israel by sea and tunnel, sometimes to deadly effect. Over the weekend of July 19th-20th Hamas killed 18 Israeli soldiers, almost double Israel’s toll during the three weeks of Operation Cast Lead, hithero the biggest Israeli assault on Hamas in Gaza, in 2008-2009. In contrast to the resistance Israel’s forces encountered then, Israeli soldiers speak of fighting a force ambushing them with anti-tank missiles from fortified underground bunkers.
Diplomats are struggling to make their calls for a political solution heard. Before an emergency session of the UN Security Council on July 20th, Ban Ki-moon, the UN’s secretary-general, described the deaths of Palestinians by shelling as an “atrocious action”. President Barack Obama has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire. And despite supporting Israel’s right to defend itself in public, John Kerry let slip his frustration when he was caught on camera remarking sarcastically to one of his aides that Israel was conducting “a hell of a pinpoint operation”.
Mr Kerry is due to travel on July 21st to Cairo and Jerusalem in an attempt to broker a ceasefire. Hamas leaders have refused to accept a "quiet-for-quiet" deal, but say they are open to discussing a settlement that lifts Israel’s seven-year siege on Gaza that has blocked the movement of all but a tiny number of Gaza's people, imports including an array of basics including paper and construction materials and all exports.
Israeli officials bridle at those terms. In public statements an increasing number of ministers lean towards expanding the operation in Gaza. And attempts to broker a deal are hampered by the refusal of Egypt, which is taking the initiative, and Western powers to engage with Hamas. Since Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, then as head of the army, seized power from the Muslim Brotherhood in July 2013, Egypt has banned Hamas, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, from carrying out activities and shut the border crossing with Gaza. It has so far stopped short of inviting Hamas leaders from Gaza for talks. Meanwhile, Palestinian officials are meeting in Qatar's capital, Doha, where Hamas’s head, Khaled Meshal, resides.
The longer the fighting continues, the more unrest is likely to flare violently among Palestinians in the West Bank. Demonstrations are getting bigger. Israeli forces opened fire on crowds in Hebron, the largest West Bank city, on July 20th. And the more damage Israel causes to infrastructure in Gaza, the more it sows the seeds of future strife. Electricity has collapsed to two hours a day in Gaza and in some parts water has slowed to a trickle after Israel struck the water mains. Banks briefly opened during a brief UN-negotiated humanitarian respite on July 17th to allow some employees to draw their salaries, but those working for Hamas’s administration could not do so because Israel had bombed two branches of Hamas’ Islamic National Bank. The less Gaza has to lose, the more its people will back Hamas's use of military means—including those rockets.
