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One year after last summer's Gaza war between Israel and the Hamas movement, peace still remains elusive despite a ceasefire that has largely taken hold along Israel's border with the coastal enclave.
With no immediate prospect of a permanent agreement between Israel and Hamas, for most Israelis and Gaza residents alike, it's only a matter of when, not if, before the flames of war ignite again, observers here warned.
They cited the persistent blockade on Gaza, the renewed cycle of rocket attacks from Gaza and ensuing Israeli military response in recent months.
The conflict that broke out in early July last year was the deadliest and most destructive of the three wars between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev insists that the war restored quiet in Israel as a deterrent against Hamas.
"The goal of the fighting was to end the rocket fire on Israeli cities, and the truth is, since the end of the war last summer we' ve seen a dramatic reduction in that rocket fire. People in Israel are living much normal lives, which is a good thing," Regev explains.
The war left more than 2,200 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and 73 Israelis dead. Thousands of homes in Gaza were destroyed by the Israeli air force; in Israel there seemed no end to the wailing of sirens and the barrage of rockets fired from Gaza onto Israeli cities.
After 51 days of war, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire similar to the one they signed in 2012. No permanent solution or peace deal was reached.
"The situation has gotten worse, that's what has changed," said Gershon Baskin, an analyst on Middle East politics and a veteran peace activist in Israel.
"The war had no achievements; if a war is a means of diplomacy, of trying to change the geo-strategic reality the war further empowered Hamas' hold of Gaza rather than weakening it. It destroyed more Palestinian homes and killed more Palestinians and destroyed their hopes," he added.
Residents of Israeli communities that were under direct Hamas fire last year fear that this is not the last round.
The family of Avichai Jorano in the city of Sderot was hit by a Gaza-launched rocket. Wife Tami and her two kids managed to reach the bomb shelter only seconds before the rocket landed in one of their bedrooms. They emerged unscathed, but the fear that it may happen again is still hunting them.
"I don't feel safer, because it's not finished, it's not finished," said Avichai Jorano, adding that Hamas could resume its attacks at any time.
Ehab Bseiso, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank, said the burden to prevent another conflict rests with Israel.
"Gaza witnessed three wars: in 2008, 2012 and lately in 2014," he told Xinhua. "The reason to see a good perspective for the people in Gaza as well as the people of East Jerusalem and the West Bank is by pressuring the Israeli government not to go into this security deterioration by launching a war here and there," he said.
Baskin suggests that in order to prevent another round of fighting, Israel should lift the blockade that it imposes on the Gaza Strip and let the territory prosper again.
Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007 after a bloody internal battle with its Palestinian rival faction Fatah, and has since increased its rocket fire on Israeli cities.
For security reasons, Israel has since then been restricting the movement of Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip, as well as imports and exports of goods.
The measures, Baskin argues, have isolated the Gaza Strip and suffocated its economy.
"Gaza needs to be integrated into the economy of the West Bank, Israel and the world. People in Gaza need to have the right to go out of Gaza," Baskin said.
The Israeli government vehemently has denied that it's imposing a siege on Gaza.
"There is no siege on the Gaza Strip. The crossings are open and every day hundreds of trucks enter Gaza with food stuff and medicine and building materials. In fact more trucks, I think, are entering Gaza today than at any time in recent history," said Regev.
Adding to the complex picture, this summer is the 10th anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. In August 2005, Israel evacuated all of its population from 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza.
Regev said the pullout from the Gaza Strip, which Palestinians claim for their future state together with the West Bank and East Jerusalem, only led to the present deadlock with Hamas.
"We took down all the settlements and we went back to the '67 lines. And since then we've had three wars with Gaza," Regev said.
Noting that withdrawing was not enough, Baskin said that Israel should not have acted unilaterally but should have engaged the Palestinians.
"We have to have an agreement with the Palestinians that's going to base the withdrawal from the territory on the development and cooperation and partnership in peace," he said.
In the latest ominous sign of a renewal of the vicious cycle of violence prior to last year's Gaza war, Israel's aircraft struck Hamas targets Friday evening after militants in Gaza fired three rockets into southern Israel. Enditem
