This round of fighting lasted some two weeks.
But look at what all had happened during this period. According to various accounts,
Hamas, the Palestinian group, had fired some 4,000 rockets at Israel.

Of course, most were intercepted by Israel’s missile defences.

Israel went all out with retaliation. Hundreds of air strikes on Gaza, more than 200 people were killed, all but 12 of them Palestinian, according to a report in The Economist.

After International uproar, the battle began to wind down on May 20th; after nightfall Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire.

Fighting between Israel and Hamas has become almost routine. So is the ceasefire.
Since the Islamist group grabbed control of Gaza in 2007, the two sides have fought four wars and several smaller battles, costing thousands of lives. Mostly Palestinian.

The spark for the latest outbreak came in Jerusalem—but were it not Jerusalem, it would have been some other cause. Israel and Hamas are stuck in a perpetual crisis, trapped by the logic of war. That means peace is temporary.