By Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom—
The latest flare-up on the Israel-Gaza Strip border appears to have calmed down dramatically since Thursday night, but everyone knows it is far from over. Barring an extreme turn of events, the next round of rocket fire on Israel’s south is only a matter of time, as is Israel’s next military campaign in Gaza.
The truce brokered by Egypt on Thursday is not an official cease-fire. Hamas, via Cairo, announced it was halting its rocket fire into Israel, prompting the IDF to halt its strikes, which is in line with Israel’s “calm will be met with calm” policy. And so, as long as border riots and arson terrorism incidents remain sporadic or absent, the tenuous truce appears likely to hold.
The Israeli public, media and government’s patience with Hamas is wearing thinner with every border skirmish • Hamas may opt for war to prevent the residents of Gaza from turning against them • The next flare-up may be the breaking point for both sides.
The latest flare-up on the Israel-Gaza Strip border appears to have calmed down dramatically since Thursday night, but everyone knows it is far from over. Barring an extreme turn of events, the next round of rocket fire on Israel’s south is only a matter of time, as is Israel’s next military campaign in Gaza.
The truce brokered by Egypt on Thursday is not an official cease-fire. Hamas, via Cairo, announced it was halting its rocket fire into Israel, prompting the IDF to halt its strikes, which is in line with Israel’s “calm will be met with calm” policy. And so, as long as border riots and arson terrorism incidents remain sporadic or absent, the tenuous truce appears likely to hold.
A deeper analysis of last week’s spike in border tension demonstrates that both parties were again careful to play by the familiar rules: Hamas made sure to target only border vicinity communities in Israel – the Grad rocket fired deeper into Israel at Beersheba was the work of Islamic Jihad – and the IDF spared no effort to make sure its strikes on Gaza terror targets resulted in minimal casualties, so as not to give Hamas an excuse to escalate the situation. Continue Reading…