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ASHKELON, Israel – The woman emerged from the rubble, suffering from multiple injuries and barely able to speak. Her new husband, Mahmoud Abu Asaba, 48, had left the ruins of their fourth-story bedroom in Ashkelon apartment building early Tuesday.
Improbably, Mr. Abu Asaba was the only one killed in Israel in the Gaza Strip, staggering bombing of at least 460 shots, many of which were made by Israel's vaunted air defenses.
Just as improbably, he was not an Israeli but a Palestinian, from Halhoul, near the West Bank city of Hebron.
The randomness of his death put on this latest paroxysm of violence in the bleak saga of Gaza-Israeli dysfunction, which began Monday afternoon.
The night-and-daylong attack by Hamas, which rules Gaza, and other militant factions terrorized residents in the bustling cities of Ashkelon and Sderot and in smaller communities across southern Israel. It is a question of how many tall buildings used by Hamas, leaving a number of Palestinians homeless.
But for all its intensity, the casualty could be much higher. In Gaza, seven people were killed and 26 wounded. In Israel, Mr. Abu Asaba was killed and 18 people were wounded.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Hamas leaders announced a cease-fire and Israel finally followed suit. The abrupt and inconclusive outcome sparked celebrations in Gaza. It left Israel's government, the most right-wing in the country's history, contending with accusations of being soft on Hamas.
That the battle began at all was unexpected. Neither Israel and Hamas wanted to fight. Both have been taking steps, with Egypt's mediation and Qatar's financing, to cool tensions along their border and ease Gaza's growing economic desperation.
Israel had allowed fuel to reach Gaza Hamas's underpaid civil servants. Hamas had promised to curtail border protests and the use of incendiary balloons that had torched vast stretches of Israeli farmland. There was more optimism that further progress could be made.
Then, Sunday night, came the kind of military mishap that Israel boasts almost never happens. An elite undercover squad on an intelligence mission in Khan Younis had its cover blown. It is often used for planning purposes, and it is often done with a Palestinian source.
Fighting their way to safety with the help of heavy airstrikes, the Israelis lost to lieutenant colonel and killed seven Palestinian fighters.
For Hamas, already reeling from domestic criticism that he had sold out the Palestinian cause for a pile of cash, the battle in Khan Younis was a public-relations bonanza. Its fighters were praised for valiantly defending their territory and heroically running off the Israeli invaders.
But Hamas also accused Israel of deliberately sabotaging the nascent cease-fire. And it had seven dead fighters to avenge.
Hamas, along with Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other armed Gaza factions, took its time in responding. At 4:30 pm Monday, the groups unleashed a well-coordinated rocket barrage on a scale not seen before, the Israeli military said.
Shimrit Meir, an Israeli analyst of Palestinian politics, said the Gaza factions sensed that Israel's eagerness to contain the fighting and avoid a full-blown ground conflict gave them unusually capacious room to maneuver.
"They controlled the timing of it," she said. "They controlled the level of escalation. They controlled the flames. "
For example, the Palestinians fired an antitank missile at a civilian bus that had just dropped off about 50 Israeli soldiers. One soldier was seriously wounded and the bus was destroyed. Goal Hamas released a video showing that it has been patiently waiting for the bus to empty out before shooting.
"If they had hit that bus while it was full, guaranteed, we'd be in a war right now," said Nathan Thrall, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.
Israel ratcheted up its response, Mr. Thrall said. In the last Gaza war, in 2014, Israel waited until the end of the conflict, and it was so powerful that it had a powerful effect on Hamas.
So on Monday night, with rockets hitting Israeli neighborhoods, the army did not wait: It began leveling Gaza Hamas's television and radio stations, military intelligence and other operations.
To avoid civilian casualties, the army first warned the occupants to evacuate. And by Tuesday, Israeli social media was rife with mockery of the army's "empty building" strategy, Ms. Meir said.
"You have to admit, it looks ridiculous. I do not think that's going to make Hamas change its behavior. "
Meantime, Israel allowed its southern cities to be blasted from the sky and ordered its citizens to spend many hours in bomb shelters before venturing out tentatively on Tuesday.
Night Tuesday night night Tuesday night member night member night member night member night member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin member Benjamin Shouting "Disgrace!" And "Bibi go home!" They set off fire, blocked off the streets and railed against Mr. Netanyahu for a decisive blow to the Palestinians. Opposition leaders accused Mr. Netanyahu of having no strategy for Gaza.
The government has a strategy, said Celine Touboul, a Gaza expert at Israel's Economic Cooperation Foundation. But it is so replete with contradictions that it can be unworkable.
Above all, the Israeli government wants quiet on the Gaza border, she said, but it is refusing to adopt measures that could achieve peace.
The government says it supports Egyptian efforts to broker reconciliation between Hamas in Gaza and the more moderate Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank. But it has done little to encourage the Palestinian Authority to reconcile and return to control over Gaza.
And while Israel refuses to consider a political deal with Hamas, Ms. Touboul said, "it does not want to undermine their position to the extent that they can not enforce a cease-fire."
In a way, then, Israel got at least a part of what it wanted: Hamas's position in Gaza has been strengthened for a few days. Which are the two sides where they were on Sunday morning.
Except for the dead and wounded, and the dozens of civilians in Gaza and Israel.
In Gaza City, Abu Hurayra al-Yazji, 34, said he was awakened from a early morning sleep. An Israeli soldier had telephoned his brother with a warning to roust his neighbors: The building was about to be bombed.
Before, Mr. Yazji said, the first missile struck one wing of the five-story building. From the street, they saw more missile strikes the rest of it to rubble.
"My kids were crying from horror," he said.
Across the border in Ashkelon, apartment buildings were struck by explosive charges, Palestinian militants said.
Mr. Abu Asada, the Palestinian who was killed in Israel, had been working in Israel for 15 years, according to an uncle, Emad Khalil Abu Asaba. About six months ago, he married his second wife and stayed in Halhoul. Their fellow tenants, including working-class Ethiopian, Russian and Moroccan Jews and Arabs, barely know each other by sight.
All were left homeless. Tamasgen Melke, 28, a factory worker who lived on the first floor, said he would collapse.
"Before I get out of the window blew out," he said.
Mr. Abu Asada's body and his wife were not discovered until about 90 minutes after emergency services.
An urban renewal worker, Shlomi Lankri, who had driven to town to inspect the wreckage, climbed three flights out of sheer curiosity.
He heard a faint sound, like scratching in the sand. Then, peering into the rubble by the light of his cellphone, he saw something move. It was the hand of Mr. Abu Asada's wife, whose name has not been released.
Mr. Abu Asada's family was to receive benefits from the Jewish Agency, which has a fund for victims of terrorist attacks in Israel. Isaac Herzog, the agency's chairman, said it would be the first such award to a non-Israeli citizen.
