Gaza war: anytime but now

Israeli officials accepted Hamas’ offer of a ceasefire, but insisted that the Palestinians should be the first to cease fire; Israel would then follow.

Ceasefire was a sensible option two years ago because Hamas, acting on its Islamic values, could not agree to any kind of peace with Jews. The current situation is different: Iran is stepping up weapons deliveries to Gaza, and Rafah Crossing may be opened any time—and even if it isn’t, Egypt won’t enforce the weapons embargo. Already we are dealing with advanced antitank and anti-aircraft rockets, and we only narrowly prevented the Libyan rebels from delivering shells containing chemical weapons to Hamas. Maintaining a ceasefire would allow Hamas to arm itself to the point that the inevitable next war with Gaza will be a real war, not a slam-dunk affair like it was two years ago.

Meanwhile, IDF announced that it has upgraded its maps to include 3,000 buildings in Gaza that won’t be targeted, such as schools, UNRWA installations, and houses. That is quite a hint to Hamas to hide its command-and-control centers precisely in those places.