Gaza Offensive between Ground Invasion and Truce Efforts

Local Editor

As Israeli officials were mulling a possible ground invasion in Gaza, efforts to reach a ceasefire were going on with an Egyptian mediation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened an expanded offensive that might reach a ground invasion.
"The army is prepared to significantly expand the operation," Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

But Israeli occupation military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich said no decision on a ground offensive has been made yet but confirmed it is ‘still an option’.

“We still have hundreds of targets in Gaza, including rocket launchers ready to fire rockets on Israel,” she said.

“The only thing of concern is how to stop the rockets threatening three million people – just under half of the total Israeli population,” Leibovich added.

For his part, US President Barack Obama said on Sunday it would be "preferable" to avoid an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.

Obama, weighing in with his first comments on the crisis, made clear he was firmly on the side of the Zionist entity against the Palestinian resistance, but he also seemed to appeal to Netanyahu to allow more time for Middle East leaders to “rein” in Hamas.

"There's no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders," Obama told a news conference during a visit to Thailand. "So we are fully supportive of Israel's right to defend itself."

For his part, British Foreign Minister William Hague warned the Zionist entity that a ground invasion to Gaza would cost Tel Aviv international support.

"The prime minister (David Cameron) and I have both stressed to our Israeli counterparts that a ground invasion of Gaza would lose Israel a lot of the international support and sympathy that they have in this situation.”

Meanwhile, only 30 percent of the Israelis support a ground operation in Gaza, according to an Israeli daily Haaretz-Dialog poll taken on Sunday.


TRUCE EFFORTS

On the other hand, Egypt is at the center of efforts to broker a ceasefire; with Palestinian officials said it was possible a deal would be reached "today or tomorrow."

Senior Hamas officials, who were in Cairo, said Egyptian-mediated talks with the Zionist entity to end the bloodshed were "positive" but now focused on the possible stumbling block of guaranteeing the terms of a truce.

Security officials in Cairo said an Israeli envoy also arrived in the Egyptian capital on Sunday for the talks.

Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi, meanwhile, met with both Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal and Islamic Jihad chief Abdullah Shalah to discuss "Egyptian efforts to end the aggression," his office said without giving details.

But Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman insisted that "the first and absolute condition for a truce is stopping all fire from Gaza," and that all resistance grous would have to commit to it.

Earlier, Netanyahu received French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius who said his country was willing to help broker a truce.

"War is not an option, it is never an option ...There are two key words: urgency and ceasefire," he told journalists in Tel Aviv.

Source: Agencies Sayyed Nasrallah: Nation’s Future is that of Heroes, Not Ewes DISARMING GAZA It's surrender stupid إنه الاستسلام يا غبي Hamas leadership threatens Islamic Jihad to impose truce by force LONG LIVE GAZA / FIGHTING THE BATTLE OF ALL PEOPLE هوميروس قطر “أبو النعاج” في “غزة والذئب” والعرب في زمن الكوليرا Gaza: Still the Same Old Egypt? River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!