The Diplomatic-Security cabinet on Thursday decided to give a cease-fire with Hamas another chance, even as the IDF ramped up its forces along the Gaza border, one day after a Palestinian rocket destroyed a home in southern Israel.
If the calm is preserved Friday throughout the day, Israel will reopen its border crossings with Gaza early next week for fuel shipments and will expand the fishing zone off Gaza's coast.
The cabinet's decision followed a prolonged, often heated discussion on the matter. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman pushed for an immediate, comprehensive military offensive against Hamas, arguing that the situation in Gaza will not change, saying that even if calm is currently restored it will be soon be disrupted and Israel would have to take action.
Lieberman added that it was best to act at this time, before the weather and conditions in the diplomatic arena take a turn for the worse.
The defense minister's proposal was not presented to a vote and was strongly criticized by several ministers.
One cabinet minister even accused the defense minister of being driven by political considerations and told Israel Hayom that Lieberman was "pushing the region toward war to appear right-wing and hawkish. That's not defense policy, its election policy."
On Thursday evening, Lieberman released a statement saying it was "regretful and shameful that cabinet ministers are preferring petty politics at the expense of [IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi] Eizenkot. It's unacceptable for cabinet ministers to blame the chief of staff for the policy they determine. It's crossing a red line and is detrimental to the security of the country."
Eizenkot was also the target of criticism, namely that his approach has failed to deter the enemy.
Eizenkot, for his part, arrived at the cabinet meeting straight from the airport after cutting short a visit to the United States. The chief of staff supported efforts to reduce tensions, spearheaded by United Nations special envoy to the Mideast Nickolay Mladenov together with Egyptian, American and European officials. Eizenkot has argued that Israel should only go to war "when left with no other option," and that the current situation does not apply.
The defense minister disagreed with Eizenkot and said Israel was already facing the "no other option" scenario, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided in favor of the chief of staff's position to give the diplomatic avenue another chance.
With that, the military was ordered to implement harsh measures against border rioters and terrorists who launch incendiary balloons and kites toward Israel.
Netanyahu's decision was based, among other factors, on the position of National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, who believes Hamas is not interested in a war and will act to reign in the violence.
Ben-Shabbat has received messages from several individuals, Western and Arab, that the rocket fire on Beersheba was carried out against the orders of Hamas' leadership, and that the terrorist organization was searching for those responsible.
While cabinet ministers were instructed not to divulge details of the meeting, in order to preserve ambiguity and deterrence, the message relayed to Hamas was that calm will be met with humanitarian gestures. According to one senior official, Hamas' test will be on Friday throughout the day.
"We won't react over a lone balloon, but we will be watching the general trend closely," the official said. If there's widespread violence we'll respond strongly, but if Hamas acts to restrain the violence, it won't be met with a cold shoulder."
Assessments in Israel on Thursday were that Hamas was indeed working to minimize the violence. If that happens, as stated, Israel on Sunday will reopen the border crossings with Gaza and expand Gaza's fishing zone.
Also Thursday, an Egyptian mediation delegation shuttled between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in a stepped-up effort to forge a cease-fire and promote inter-Palestinian reconciliation.
Four Egyptian intelligence officials entered Gaza from Israel on Thursday afternoon, and then returned to Israel after meeting with Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' top leader.
In Gaza, a Palestinian official said the Egyptian delegation was also in contact with Israeli leaders to curb the current tensions.
"The situation is delicate. No one wants a war," he said.
"The Palestinian factions are demanding an end to the Israeli blockade that strangled life and business in Gaza," he said.
Despite the cabinet's decision, some military and political leaders were pessimistic that calm could be restored along the Gaza border.
Mladenov, the U.N. Mideast envoy, urged all friends of Israel and the Palestinians to join the U.N. in calling on all sides "to step back from the brink" of war, calling Gaza a "powder keg."
"We remain on the brink of another potentially devastating conflict, a conflict that nobody claims to want, but a conflict that needs much more than just words to prevent," he told the U.N. Security Council in a video briefing from Jerusalem.
"I am afraid that there is no more time for words," Mladenov said. "Now is the time for action. And we must see very clear actions on all sides that de-escalate the situation. Otherwise, the consequences will be terrible for everyone."
Mladenov said Hamas and other terrorist groups must immediately stop "all provocations and attacks," attempts to breach the border fence, end the use of incendiary balloons and kites, and halt tunnel construction.
"Israel must restore the delivery of critical supplies to Gaza and improve the movement and access of goods and people," he said. "And Israeli security forces must exercise maximum restraint in the use of live ammunition."
