Will Israel and Palestine ever reach a truce?

The Heat

Israel had accepted a cease-fire proposal brokered by Egypt, but Hamas rejected it with rocket attacks from Gaza. Now the Israeli military has resumed airstrikes. The Heat brings you the latest efforts by the international community to end the violence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country was ready to declare a truce with Hamas, but the militant group called the deal unacceptable and continued to fire rockets. Israel has resumed airstrikes, with the fighting resuming just hours after Israel’s Security Cabinet accepted the Egyptian cease-fire proposal. Leaders of Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, didn’t accept the plan and didd’t stop launching rockets at Israel.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemned Hamas firing numerous rockets with the offer of a cease-fire from Israel and Egypt. The international community strongly supports the calls for a cease-fire. During the last week, nearly 200 Palestinians — including several children — and one Israeli has been killed. CCTV’s Stephanie Freid is monitoring the developments from Tel Aviv.

Dan Arbell, a 25-year veteran of the Israeli Foreign Service and a scholar-in-residence at the Center for Israel Studies at American University, has more on the Israel-Palestine tension.

The hostilities between Israel and Hamas are the most serious since an eight-day war in 2012. The United Nations estimates some 17,000 Palestinians have been displaced by the Israeli airstrikes.

A Palestinian group says nearly 900 homes have been damaged or destroyed in Gaza. Electricity has been knocked out and staples like water are more difficult to find.

Palestinians living in Gaza are caught in the middle of a battle between Israel and Hamas. The Palestinian Health Ministry says some 200 people have died and more than 1,000 men, women and children have been wounded during the conflict. Joining us from Ramallah is Omar Barghouti, a researcher and human rights activist.