Israel allowed commercial goods back into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, in a sign of an easing of tensions as neighboring Egypt pursued a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
But the prospect of an agreement between Israel and the terrorist group prompted concern within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government that Hamas would take advantage of any respite from fighting to build up its rocket arsenal.
At Israel's Kerem Shalom commercial crossing with Gaza, consignments of fruits and vegetables, fuel and construction material moved into the territory of two million people on Wednesday morning.
Israel announced on Tuesday it would lift the commercial goods ban it imposed on July 9 in response to the launching by Palestinians of incendiary balloons across the frontier.
Israel and Hamas have come close to serious conflict in recent weeks after four months of violence along Gaza's border following Hamas-organized riots there.
Last week, Palestinian terrorists fired scores of rockets into southern Israel and Israeli aircraft struck more than 150 targets in Gaza before Egypt mediated a de facto ceasefire.
There have been fewer reports in recent days of such incidents, which have burned large tracts of agricultural land and forests in southern Israel.
Israel also expanded Gaza's fishing zone in waters under Israeli naval blockade, from 6 to 9 nautical miles.
Prior restrictions on the import of commercial goods that Israel says could also be used for military purposes remained in effect, a Palestinian border official said. He said they included balloons and tires.
"As long as the residents of Israel enjoy security and calm, you, the inhabitants of Gaza, will benefit," Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in remarks broadcast on Army Radio. "If violence resumes, you will be the first to lose."
In a statement issued via the Facebook page of Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories Brig. Gen. (res.) Kamil Abu Rokon, Lieberman said he differentiates "between the Hamas leadership and the ordinary residents of Gaza. That is why I decided to open the Kerem Shalom border crossing and expand the fishing limit back to nine miles, in a clear message to the residents of the [Gaza] strip: Quiet pays off and violence does not. Gaza's residents have something to gain when Israeli citizens enjoy quiet and security, and something to lose when the quiet is violated.
"Gaza has the potential to become the Singapore of the Middle East. It will be good for Gaza's residents and good for Israel and the entire region," he said.
Lieberman noted that prior to the 1993 Oslo Accords, "Some 90,000 Gazans worked in the State of Israel, and some 80,000 factories operated in the Erez and Karni industrial zones." He said the for the sake of Gaza's residents, "we hope that all of Hamas' and the international community's budgets are directed toward your welfare and the development of the [Gaza] strip, instead of terror."
As for talk of a long-term cease-fire, Lieberman said they would require a guarantee of the return of the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas conflict and two civilians, both suffering from mental illnesses, who crossed into Gaza in 2014 and 2015 and were captured by the terrorist group.
Comprehensive Truce
Egypt and the United Nations have been trying to broker a comprehensive truce to prevent more fighting and to ease the deep economic hardship in Gaza.
According to Palestinian media reports, nearly all of the details for the truce, said to be limited to a cessation of hostilities, have been finalized. The proposed ceasefire agreement will not include the repatriation of the bodies of IDF soldiers, the demilitarization of Gaza or the return of the Palestinian Authority's rule over Gaza, according to reports. Both Lieberman and the Prime Minister's Office have refused to provide details.
While the United States has been making efforts to reinstate the Palestinian Authority in Gaza for a while now, a National Security Council official told Israel Hayom their priority was to restore calm at the border.
The official said that "the United States is interested in seeing an end to the fighting, with or without a role for the Palestinian Authority."
Israeli cabinet ministers have spoken out against the call for the Palestinian Authority to be restored to power in Gaza.
Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz, a member of the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet, told Israel Hayom, "Any attempt to restore Abbas to Gaza and connect Gaza to the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria via a 'secure corridor' that will traverse Israel will present a direct threat to the security of Israel and the demographic balance between Israel and the Palestinians.
Hamas officials said Palestinian factions were in Cairo to discuss terms for a ceasefire with Israel, whose security cabinet was due to consider the issue later in the day.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the Habayit Hayehudi party in the governing coalition, put Netanyahu on notice that his faction would vote against an agreement with Hamas.
"This 'quiet' will give Hamas total immunity so that it can rearm itself with tens of thousands of rockets," Bennett said in a statement.
He also blasted Lieberman's decision to reopen the border crossing, which he called a "prize for four months of terrorism" that would allow Hamas to rearmament ahead of the next round of fighting.
"During Operation Protective Edge, Lieberman opposed the Bennett plan for the destruction of the terror tunnels. Had we listened to him, we would be dealing with a terrible and mass-casualty attack in the south of the country," he said.
At the same time, Bennett said he would oppose a ground operation in Gaza and that his party would "introduce a plan to rein in Gaza terror, without sending in ground forces to Gaza and by exacting a price from Hamas."
In a statement, Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu party retorted, "As usual, Minister Bennett is running to the media with empty slogans. He would be better off focusing on the escalating violence in the schools."
