Gaza fire betrays a fragile peace as Obama despairs of a deal

Live fire exchanges between Israeli troops and Gaza militants has ­underlined the fragility of the peace.

Palestinian militants watch an Israeli bulldozer working along a barbed wire fence that separates the Gaza Strip and the Israeli border.

Only days after air raid sirens blared across Israel and airlines were disrupted by military and civil defence exercises, live fire with militants in Gaza has ­underlined the fragility of the peace.

Israeli jets struck three Hamas targets even though a splinter outfit had claimed responsibility for firing the rockets that set off the exchange.

The Omar Brigades shot three rockets into southern ­Israel but hit nothing, blaming the cross-border attack on the purported killing of an Islamic State supporter in Gaza by Hamas.

Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon insisted Hamas would be held responsible for any ­aggression against Israel.

The Israel Defence Forces said the rockets hit open areas near Ashkelon and Netivot, causing no damage or casualties. The attack was the second from Gaza in the past 10 days to be linked to Palestinian infighting.

Hamas evacuated its headquarters, anticipating Israeli retaliation. The IDF said it had hit “terrorist infrastructure’’ in three places.

Israel launched a 50-day offensive on Gaza last July 8 after tit-for-tat skirmishing took on a lethal dimension with the ­kidnapping and murder of three teenagers by Hamas and a ­tunnel explosion that killed seven militants, blamed on the IDF by Hamas. The toll ran to an estimated 2200 Palestinians, the majority civilian, and 72 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Parts of the thickly populated Gaza strip were laid waste, and civil infrastructure was hit hard, including power and water.

The exchanges so far this year appear calculated to avoid the loss of property or life that would start another war, though Mr Ya’alon said last night the IDF would “strike harder if we must’’.

US President Barack Obama underlined the grim prospects of a peace deal, saying he didn’t expect an agreement before he left office in January 2017.

He warned Israel should not count on the US exercising its UN Security Council veto to block a French resolution to put negotiations back on the clock.

“Up until this point, we have pushed away against European efforts,’’ Mr Obama said during a prime-time interview on Israeli television. “If nobody believes there’s a peace process then it becomes more difficult to argue with those who are concerned about the current situation.’’

Traditionally tight relations between Israel and its chief ally hit a low after Benjamin Netanyahu was re-elected to a fourth term as Prime Minister in March, having walked away from the two-state solution on the eve of the election.

While Mr Netanyahu has since tried to back-pedal, Mr Obama said the country risked losing international credibility.