Tension escalates as Israel hits more Hamas sites in Gaza

The long-running dispute between Palestinians and Israelis will continue and bring even greater obstacles to reconciliation, said a Chinese expert, as the tension in the Gaza Strip escalated with recent military moves from both sides.

Palestinian militants fired dozens of mortars, projectiles and rockets into Israel throughout Tuesday before Israel launched a wide-scale airstrike on Gaza, as tensions rise following weeks of lethal Israeli gunfire at Gaza protesters, Xinhua reported.

The Israeli military said in a statement that most of the mortars, projectiles and rockets were intercepted by its Iron Dome antimissile system.

Gaza's ruling Hamas said they have agreed to a ceasefire with Israel to end the largest flare-up of violence between the sides since the 2014 war, but Israeli officials said on Wednesday that no such agreement had been reached.

Shu Meng, a researcher from the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, said Hamas' willingness to sign a cease-fire agreement was mainly based on the comparison of strengths, while Israel needs to show a powerful response to the attacks.

She said Hamas currently has no ability to conduct large-scale conflicts or even war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.

"The economic situation in Gaza has been deteriorating in recent years, and Hamas' external support has also been decreasing," she said. "On the other side, Israel needs to show a strong response to attacks on its southern part. Israel doesn't trust commitments Hamas has made."

Shu said existing conflicts tend to ease over time within the short term, while in the long run, the conflicts between Palestine and Israel will continue.

"In recent years, border conflicts triggered by Palestinian protests or rocket attacks have appeared from time to time. But the two sides will stop firing after a certain period of time," she said.

However, she said, in the long run, as it will become more difficult to reconcile the differences between the two sides and the degree of mutual trust is declining, the issue will persist and continue to threaten peace and development in the broader Middle East.

The violence followed a serious escalation in the area of the fence separating Gaza and Israel over the past months. Israeli forces have killed at least 121 Palestinians in Gaza since weekly demonstrations started on March 30.

Xinhua contributed to the story.