So much for yesterday’s relative calm in the Gaza Strip.

Just one day after reports Israel was considering the resumption of attacks as well as assassinations, Israel assassinated the top military commander in the Gaza Strip, and launched several other attacks killing multiple Palestinians and sparking rounds of retaliation fire that have the strip on the brink of war.

The United States is advising citizens inside southern Israel to “take appropriate measures” as the fighting escalates, and has ordered embassy personnel to take shelter and curb all non-essential travel to the southern part of the nation.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that today is the “start of the incident and not the end” while the Israeli Embassy in the US praised the killings as a “restrained response,” while insisting that Israel has not yet targeted schools and hospitals, though setting the stage for such attacks by claiming they are housing weapons.

Egypt, which had been trying to negotiate a ceasefire in the region, has withdrawn its ambassador to Israel in response to the latest round of attacks, and is calling for an emergency meeting of the Arab League on ways to stop the Israeli attacks.