Final stretch requires vigilance, initiative

The path of the fighting in the Gaza Strip, which has known its twists and turns over the past 25 days, took another turn on Thursday. What began as a day during which the Israel Defense Forces made real progress in their counter-tunnel operation, took a turn for the worse in the evening, when a mortar shell hit a military staging area in the Eshkol Regional Council, killing five soldiers and wounding several others.

This was the second time this week when a mortar shell hit an area adjacent to the Israel-Gaza Strip border. The first incident prompted the military to move its gathering areas to the east, out of mortar range. Still, when the Gaza operation is over, the IDF will have to review this issue at length and revise the directives on having staging areas in the open, especially since more often than not, mortar fire hits with no warning.

Thursday saw IDF officials present the cabinet with a more accurate assessment of the timeframe necessary to neutralize the tunnels. Naturally, the information given to the ministers was more detailed than the generic definition of "several days" offered to the media, and if the engineering forces meet their goals as planned, Israel would be able to declare that all known terror tunnels have been dealt with as early as next week.

Subsequently, the government will have to make a more decisive move. With the cease-fire negotiations apparently at an impasse -- as Hamas refuses to adhere to Egypt's demands as to the composition of the Palestinian delegation for the talks -- and with no real solution in sight, Israel will have to take the initiative and either expand Operation Protective Edge or unilaterally withdraw its forces from Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz would rather not expand the Gaza campaign, and in the absence of an agreement they may favor a unilateral withdrawal, as was the case at the conclusion of 2008-2009's Operation Cast Lead.

Should this be the case, Israel would be able to declare victory, because it will have achieved its stated operational goals of neutralizing the terror tunnels, reducing the threat to the Israeli homefront, and severely undermining the Gaza terror groups' infrastructure. Israel would also redeploy forces along the border, as a warning to Hamas that any future rocket fire would lead to a renewed military operation.

Senior defense officials believe that this scenario should include Israeli gestures to the Palestinians, especially regarding the blockade. This move would both alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians, and it would also go a long way in helping Israel counter the anticipated onslaught of international criticism over the devastation in Gaza.

This move would most likely also assist in renewing the negotiations with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, which would also help Israel's actions regain some international legitimacy, as Jerusalem would like to see the PA's security forces play a key role in supervising the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor and, in the future, return to the Gaza Strip.

Until this happens, Hamas is trying to use these (final-) days of fighting to exact a heavy price form the IDF, and the main threat -- the one every military commander is losing sleep over -- remains abductions.

The Israeli troops are acutely aware of this threat and are required to remain on high alert in what sometimes feels like a game gone into overtime, to ensure that Hamas does not score any points just before the final whistle.

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