The State of Israel remains committed to a negotiated agreement with the Palestinian Authority. Hamas is adamantly opposed to these negotiations.

Israel fully redeployed from the Gaza Strip in August 2005, uprooting Israeli settlers and removing military installations, in the hope that the Palestinians would govern Gaza responsibly and peacefully. Instead, four years later, the Hamas leadership has turned Gaza into an armed camp, creating and maintaining the conditions for a humanitarian crisis, and forcing the isolation of the Gaza population.