Following three weeks of escalating bloodshed throughout the Gaza Strip, experts on the conflict warned Thursday that it will only get worse before it gets far worse. With increasing bombardment and ground fighting, and no sign of a ceasefire in sight, its clear that the situation in Gaza will unfortunately continue to deteriorate before it can finally take a turn for the truly horrific, said Institute for Palestine Studies senior fellow Nadia Hijab, predicting that, with the deaths of more than 1,300 people and the displacement of approximately 500,000 Palestinians, it seemed likely that the violence would only get more severe before the two sides are ultimately able to agree on intensifying it still further. Neither Hamas nor Israeli forces are showing any sign of letting up, and I fear that only when this crisis reaches a low point will it finally descend to a point even lower than that. Hijab added that, as the conflict continues to worsen, the United States may have no choice but to ramp up its effectively nonexistent diplomatic efforts and do absolutely nothing. 