There are murmurings of inevitable war, as the current exchange of rockets between Israel and the Gaza Strip heads into its second week.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is cutting short her Asia trip with President Obama to head to the Middle East to join peace talks, already in progress.
Participants in the peace negotiations are optimistic, and Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi said he believes an agreement is imminent.
But a statement saying a ceasefire agreement has been reached was retracted a few hours ago.
"The Israeli side has not responded yet, so we will not hold a conference this evening and must wait until tomorrow," said Ezzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas leader, speaking to Reuters. "The truce is now held up because we are waiting for the Israeli side to respond."
Hamas is Palestinian militant group that has been elected to govern the Gaza Strip.
Nearly 70 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel on Tuesday morning, one falling just short of Jerusalem. The Israeli Defense Force retaliated, firing into heavy-populated areas of the Gaza Strip, hitting an apartment building and a hospital.
The death toll has now climbed to about 112 people, nearly all Palestinians, half of whom were civilians, including children. Nearly a thousand people have been injured on both sides of the conflict.
The goal of the international community is to avoid a ground invasion of Gaza by Israel, which happened in 2008.
As much as 70 percent of the Israeli population opposes another invasion, but senior officials in Israel seem to be pushing for a ground assault.
"Israel is prepared and has taken steps, and is ready for a ground incursion which will deal severely with the Hamas military machine," said an official close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"We would prefer to see a diplomatic solution that would guarantee the peace for Israel's population in the south. If that is possible, then a ground operation would no longer be required. If diplomacy fails, we may well have no alternative but to send in ground forces," he added.
If Israel does invade, it will be the first time a full military force has crossed into Palestinian territory since the Arab Spring. Egypt is under democratic rule, as is Tunisia and Libya, and leaders in those countries may want to solidify support among conservative Muslims by backing Palestinians in the face of apparent Israeli aggression.
If the dominoes fall in the right place, and Clinton and the mediators cannot stop an Israeli offensive, there may be a widespread war in the Middle East.
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