The Venice Biennale, which runs this year from April 20 to November 24, is one of the world's most prestigious international art shows, alongside the documents in the German city of Kassel.

Attempts to retrieve aid from recent US airdrops to Gaza that landed in the Mediterranean Sea have turned deadly, as people drown trying to recover the packages. Border crossings for aid convoys into Gaza remain hampered despite international pressure on Israeli authorities.

In this edition of The Debate, we examine the situation in Gaza as diplomatic efforts are stepped up to find a path to a truce. This as the death toll continues to rise.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said expanding Israel's offensive into the Gaza border city of Rafah would be unjustifiable. Explosions have already been reported in the city.

Israel's ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, has told DW Israel will ensure that the infrastructure of the Hamas militant group — which Germany, the EU, the United States and other nations regard as a terrorist organization — is destroyed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Western weapons deliveries to Ukraine have ended up in the hands of Hamas and other terror groups in the Middle East. Russian television has been quick to exploit the Israel-Hamas conflict for propaganda purposes.

After nearly four months of war in Gaza, the humanitarian crisis and the mounting civilian death toll have triggered growing international calls for a ceasefire. Amid intense diplomacy, a deal is taking shape. The first truce, in November of last year, lasted just seven days; this one could endure for one or two months and free many or all of the remaining 100 or more Israeli hostages in stages.

Nearing four months of war in Gaza, and the humanitarian crisis and the mounting civilian death toll have triggered growing international calls for a ceasefire. Amid intense diplomacy, a deal is taking shape. The first truce, in November, lasted just seven days; this one could endure for one or two months and free many or all of the remaining 100 or more Israeli hostages in stages.

Observers say Qatar takes on this role since as a small but fabulously wealthy country built on vast supplies of liquid gas, it needs to make itself indispensable to the international community and protected from unwelcome interventions by its larger neighbours, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Germany unconditionally supports Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza, and that does not sit well with country's Palestinian community, which is Europe's largest. In the capital Berlin, artists and activists are making themselves heard, showing solidarity with Gazans being killed in Israeli air strikes.

In East Jerusalem, tensions between Israeli settlers and the Palestinians they are trying to dislodge have been rising in the context of the war in Gaza. Our reporters visited the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood and the Old City, which are symbolic of what Palestinians say is a wider effort to remove them from East Jerusalem and dash hopes of a future Palestinian state.

The short answer, military analysts say, is "no." The long answer is more complex. Israel's campaign may degrade the group's capabilities but defeating its ideology is likely impossible without a political solution.