Explained: Why was the Israeli-Palestinian conflict sparked again today?

The unprecedented operation by Hamas comes at a time of turmoil in Israel – its hardline government under intense pressure from pro-democracy protesters.

There’s also growing despair among Palestinians – in a year of rampant settlement expansion, flare-ups over a holy site in Jerusalem and 200 killed in Israeli raids in the West Bank.

The peace process is effectively over and many of their allies are normalising relations with Israel.

Paraic O’Brien looks at the backdrop to today’s events.