Does either Hamas or the Israeli government actually want a ceasefire?

[BlueCheese]

It seems to me that for all of the international efforts to stop the fighting, both sides would actually prefer continuing to fight. This is probably not true of a large fraction or majority of their respective people, but as of now, both sides appear to be think they have something to gain. Netanyahu wants to destroy all those tunnels, and Hamas' entire point of existence is to fight. Further, Hamas probably thinks it wins by losing-- the longer the fighting goes on, the better they look compared to Israel.

Thus stories like this: Gaza truce in peril after Hamas attacks on Israel continue

Rocket fire from Gaza resumed on Saturday night with warning sirens sounding across central and southern Israel in what appeared to be a rebuff by Hamas to attempts at extending a 12-hour humanitarian truce, which could risk a new escalation of the war.

Thousands of people in Gaza ventured out from homes and shelters on Saturday to find that whole streets and neighbourhoods had been destroyed in the past week after Israel and Hamas both agreed to a UN request to cease military activity from 8am until 8pm. But Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said that it had resumed rocket fire despite reports that Israel had agreed to a four-hour extension of the truce.

The renewed attacks – and an unconfirmed report that a Palestinian in southern Gaza had been killed by Israeli tank fire after the 8pm end-of-truce deadline – followed an appeal by the foreign ministers of seven nations to extend the 12-hour pause in fighting. Envoys from the US, France, Britain, Italy, Germany, Turkey and Qatar – had gathered in Paris to call for an extension of the 12-hour humanitarian truce.

The group convened, with a senior EU representative, at the request of US secretary of state John Kerry, who failed to win backing from Israel or Hamas for a week-long truce on Friday. There were no envoys from Israel, Egypt or the Palestinian Authority in attendance.

It's all just very depressing right now.

[Loudly]

1. Doesn't the content of the story answer your question?

Who wanted to extend the ceasefire? Israel.

Who resumed rocket fire? Hamas.

[Little Star]

2. Most important to Israel is dealing with Gaza tunnels....

They don't really care much about cease fire right now. That's what my tv just told me minutes ago.

[Skidmore]

3. And they get to decide how many tunnels there are

with no independent observer to confirm or deny their existence.

[former9thward]

7. Yeah, I guess all the photos that have been taken are fake....

[oldandhappy]

4. NO

[villager]

5. No. Peace -- an actual, lasting peace -- is anathema to the extremists "leading" each side

Peace to them means loss of power.

And that's more important than a life, on either side.

[BlindTiresias]

6. The truth is

Both Hamas and the Israeli right wing (Likud, et al) benefit politically from the violence.

[TwilightGardener]

8. No.

[Maedhros]

9. Just like the US MIC and Al Qaeda, the hardline Israeli Government and Hamas

have a symbiotic relationship.

Neither can exist without the other.