Israel and Gaza Exchange Rocket Fire Before Peace Talks Begin

Despite restarting peace talks for the first time in five years today, Israeli warplanes struck two Hamas-controlled areas in Gaza that had shot rockets into Israel the night before. No casualties have been reported. Earlier yesterday, as a sign of goodwill before the peace talks, Israel released 26 Palestinian prisoners—a move that was met with both praise and criticism. The face-to-face talks are being held in a secret location, and leaders from the U.S. (who helped broker the negotiations ) hope that the two sides will have come to some manner of resolution within nine months …