The humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza that Israel assented to Thursday morning was intended to achieve three goals, officials said: on the humanitarian level, to allow civilians there a safe period to stock up on staples; to allow them to do so against the possibility that the fighting will continue for a few more days and might even escalate and expand; and to enable them to go out into the streets and realize the extent of the destruction that, as Israel puts it, "Hamas has brought upon the residents of Gaza." But the cease-fire has two other undisclosed goals. The first is to shore up legitimacy for a military operation in Gaza. The U.N. appealed to Israel and Israel complied. This sounds great to the ears of Westerners, who are mainly bothered by the ramifications of the fighting for innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip. Which brings us to another goal: to blunt as much as possible the criticism toward Israel over the deaths of four children in Gaza on Wednesday. A message from the IDF Spokesperson's Unit made it clear that Israel was responsible for the incident, which was a mistake resulting from terrorist groups' use of urban territory, which directly led to civilian casualties. On Wednesday, a team led by Maj. Gen. Noam Tibon launched a probe into the incident. Having learned its lesson from Operation Cast Lead and concerned about becoming mired in more international investigative committees, the Israel Defense Forces is conducting a number of processes under legal advice to ensure the legality of its operations before and after they are carried out. Special attention is being paid to mishaps, which as mentioned are investigated in real time by the General Staff team. There have been a few bungles since the current operation began, most notably the deaths of five civilians during an attack on a home in Khan Younis and 21 people killed when a mosque in the Tufaah neighborhood was bombed. The humanitarian cease-fire was slated to take place alongside attempts to reach a permanent truce. On Wednesday, Hamas was sticking to its guns and insisting on war, and sent out a list of conditions that mainly addressed payment of salaries and opening the crossings from Egypt to the Gaza Strip. But there were other messages under the surface, including some that sent out feelers about the possibility of reaching terms on a complete, long-term truce ("hudna"). The last time Hamas took a similar initiative was exactly a decade ago, after Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and Abdel al-Aziz Rantisi were assassinated, and its moves in that direction could be an indication of its utter strategic, political, economic, and military distress. This activity continued Thursday morning in Cairo. Egypt is trying to put together a deal that will weaken Hamas, give PA President Mahmoud Abbas a leg up through a PA presence at the crossings and in the police, and replace pro-Hamas Qatari funding with money from more moderate nations like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The deal's chances aren't clear, since Qatar is also trying to broker an agreement in parallel. The Egyptian channel will probably prevail, and details about money and crossings might be added to any official treaty announcing a return to calm (by renewing the understandings that followed Operation Pillar of Defense.) Until that happens, both sides continue to fight. Israel's decision to call up an additional 8,000 reservists is intended to free up more regular IDF units and move them south, both to increase pressure on Hamas and in anticipation of the possibility that diplomatic attempts could fall apart and the army will have to begin a limited ground operation. People in Israel want to avoid that, but understand that Hamas' current distress will push it in one of two directions -- to an agreement that will restore quiet (and indirectly, via Egypt, allow a significant demilitarization of the Gaza Strip), or to a decision to roll the dice and go all the way.
