At least 10 Palestinians were killed and 15 others were wounded in Israeli airstrikes that targeted the municipal police headquarters in the center of Gaza City and Nuseirat refugee camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, August 20.

Israel claimed that both assaults were launched to exterminate Hamas commanders and operatives. Nevertheless, Hamas rejected the allegations as “baseless and false,” accusing Israel of using such pretexts “to justify its aggression and cover up its deliberate targeting of civilian police and unarmed civilians.”

The movement pointed out that the timing of the attack coincided with recent diplomatic efforts and meetings between mediators and US envoy Jared Kushner. This, in turn, “confirms endeavors by Netanyahu’s government to undermine stability efforts and reignite the war.”

Wednesday’s massacre occurred one day after Israeli warplanes targeted a crowded café surrounded by displaced families at Gaza City’s harbor. The strike killed at least seven people, including a child, and wounded 16 others.

The Israeli military used the same pretext to justify Tuesday’s deadly attack, saying it was targeting Hamas commanders, without providing evidence.

Read more: Israeli airstrikes on Gaza beach kill dozens, including a journalist

Kushner left the region without reaching a breakthrough in negotiations

Both consecutive massacres were carried out right after Jared Kushner had held talks with Hamas’s political chief Khalil al-Haya in Egypt’s city of El Alamein on Sunday, August 16, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem on Monday, August 17.

Kushner’s discussions with Hamas and Israel, however, ended without a breakthrough as both sides held their ground on core demands.

Observers argue that Tel Aviv has resorted to escalating its aggression on Gaza and other parts of West Asia during the past three years, whenever US envoys arrived in the region to push negotiation efforts.

Many believe that by derailing talks, Netanyahu ensures he stays in power for a longer period, especially as he faces corruption charges and fears that his party would lose its chance to win the upcoming election.

Perpetuating the regional war and wreaking havoc in the occupied Palestinian territories in both Gaza and the West Bank in order to implement the “Greater Israel” project are apparently the only cards Netanyahu’s far-right coalition has left to remain in office.

WATCH: ‘Greater Israel’ Exposed: The Existential Threat to Lebanon & the Levant

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