The murder of three Israeli teenagers and an Arab youth have sparked the bloodiest fighting in Israel and the Palestinian territories for years. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially reacted cautiously, but following political pressure from right-wing parties he deployed the military to attack Hamas in its territory in the Gaza Strip. The Israelis believe that those responsible for the killing of the Israeli youths belong to Hamas. The objective of the military operation is to destroy both arms depots and tunnels through which Hamas smuggles weapons and fighters to attack Israel.

Hamas is a terror organisation which has been in power in Gaza since 2006, and the destruction of Israel is one of its stated goals. For years it has regularly fired rockets at Israeli towns and cities. The organisation is already politically weakened. Since its election victory in 2006, dissatisfaction has grown among the population of Gaza. Since the fall of Mohammed Morsi in Egypt, Hamas has lost an ally in the form of his party, The Moslem Brotherhood. Egypt's new president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has closed many of the Hamas supply routes through the Sinai peninsula.

Following Israel's military operation, will the population in Gaza support Hamas more strongly than before? Will the nationalist and religious forces in Israel see an increase in support? And what now are the prospects for mediation in this entrenched conflict?

Tell us your opinion. Write to us: quadriga@dw.de

Israel - Gaza: The Hour of the Extremists?

Our guests:

Daniel Dagan– is an Israeli journalist who was born in Cairo and grew up in France and on an Israeli kibbutz. He studied politics and economics and has worked for various publications, as well as radio and TV stations in Jerusalem, Paris, Brussels, Madrid, Bonn, Washingtonand other capital cities. For years, he reported from Berlin for the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the country' leading public radio and TV station.

Sylke Tempel– Sylke Tempel was born in 1963 in Bayreuth, Germany and took history, political science and Jewish studies at university. She worked as Middle East correspondent for Germany’s “Die Woche” newspaper and was later an editor at Germany’s weekly Jewish interest publication “Jüdischen Allgemeine”. She is now the editor-in-chief of "Internationale Politik", which is published by the German Council of Foreign Affairs. She has authored several books including “Israel. Reise durch ein altes, neues Land".

Anna Younes – has both Palestinian and Jewish family roots. Currently she is conducting research for her PhD thesis at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Her academic work focuses on racism, nationalism, as well as Israeli-Palestinian relations.