After eight days of rocket attacks from Gaza the Palestinian group Hamas seemed to have left Israel with little choice but to retaliate. On Saturday it did so, launching one of the deadliest series of air assaults in the history of the 60-year-old conflict. As a result, innocent lives are being destroyed. The Middle East peace plan was already dog-eared. It now looks threadbare.

The latest tragedy is the outcome of a vicious cycle that has gripped Gaza since Hamas seized full control of the territory from the more moderate, secular Palestinian Fatah movement in June 2007. Israel tightened its blockade as a result, and has been demanding that Hamas cease its rocket attacks. Hamas vowed to continue them until Israel opened the border and stopped retaliating. In the past few weeks, an uneasy six-month truce between the two sides has unravelled. Israel has tightened its control of the border, permitting only the intermittent delivery of humanitarian supplies. The result is a violent impasse that shows no sign of abating, despite the call by the UN Security Council (see pages 6, 7 and 8) for an immediate end to the bloodshed.

The increase in violence is a huge blow for the moderate Palestinian leadership. Prolonged fighting in Gaza would make it extremely difficult for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to continue the peace talks. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is left looking beleaguered as he rightly calls for Egypt to help to negotiate a new truce. The animosity between Hamas and Fatah had already shredded the notion of a united Palestinian leadership. This latest move underlines the deep divisions that exist on the Palestinian side, divisions that are exacerbated by Iranian backing for Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza. Yesterday's call by the exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, for Palestinians from both Gaza and the West Bank to come together in a new Islamist intifada, or uprising, was a clear attempt to undermine Mr Abbas's Fatah administration.

Both the Israelis and Palestinians have failed in Gaza. The Israelis had hoped to make life intolerable for Hamas, intending either that it would reform and start to co-operate, or that the people of Gaza would decide that they had had enough of their Government. Neither has happened. On the contrary, the bold words of Hamas leaders suggest that they have found renewed strength through the conflict. In their turn, the Palestinians have claimed to want peace. But they have been only occasional partners in the peace process, and sometimes openly hostile.

Israel's withdrawal from Gaza three years ago was a traumatic process for that country. It removed its soldiers and settlers from the coastal strip, only then to come under fire from its new neighbours. There will be plenty of Israeli politicians happy to argue that Hamas has squandered its chance. Both the leading candidates to become Israel's next prime minister, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Likud party leader Binyamin Netanyahu, have said that they are prepared to use military force to overthrow Hamas in Gaza (although Ms Livni has also said that there is no wish to reoccupy Gaza). With the election looming in February - the timing of the violence is not coincidental - such a venture looks increasingly possible. But the human price would be terrible. Israeli leaders must consider whether their country's security would really come from more bloodshed.

In Gaza, Hamas leaders have gone into hiding. They are leaving their people to bear the brunt of the Israeli attacks. Yet most of the impoverished citizens of Gaza just want a better life. They must decide whether more moderate leaders could offer them that, rather than a vicious cycle of senseless destruction.