WarSclerotic

With the latest 72-hour cease-fire set to expire at midnight Wednesday, the only certainty about what will follow is uncertainty.

According to Israeli officials, the ongoing cease-fire talks in Cairo have hit a stalemate, and Israel’s political echelon is prepared for the possibility that fighting in Gaza will resume after the 72-hour cease-fire ends.

A cabinet meeting that had been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon was canceled. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did meet with heads of coalition parties on Tuesday to update them on developments in Cairo, or lack thereof.

“Hamas is negotiating like someone who has nothing to lose,” a senior Israeli political official said Tuesday.

During a visit to a Navy base in Ashdod on Tuesday, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said. “I don’t know if we will reach an agreement by midnight on Wednesday. I don’t know if we need to extend the negotiations. It could be that fighting will break out once again. We have to be alert and ready,” Ya’alon said.

In a Channel 2 interview on Tuesday, Finance Minister Yair Lapid said hostilities might resume on Wednesday night.

“It won’t be the same fighting, because we will strike much harder,” Lapid warned. “This is an attempt to achieve quiet for residents of the south, and all options are on the table — Operation Protective Edge is not over.”

Lapid said the gaps in the Cairo talks remain wide. According to Lapid, Hamas is getting weaker with each passing day.

“[Hamas is] a murderous terrorist organization that seeks to kill Jewish children in Nahal Oz, Sderot and everywhere else,” Lapid said. “Until we ensure security, we won’t stop.”

During a visit to southern Israel on Wednesday morning, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, “Israel cannot allow a war of attrition.”

Lieberman said Israel must “take the initiative, even if it means a significant escalation. Finish the story in the shortest time possible.”

Israeli officials said Israel would not make concessions to Hamas in the Cairo talks, but would distinguish between security-related issues and other matters. Israel is apparently not opposed to an Egyptian proposal for Hamas to receive third-party funding to pay salaries to civil servants in Gaza. Israel is also not opposed to allowing commercial goods to pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing and increasing aid to the people of Gaza, as long as Israel retains supervision of the crossing.

Israel will not intervene on the issue of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, Israeli officials said.

However, Israel opposes the establishment of a seaport and an airport in Gaza. It also will not release Palestinian prisoners, except perhaps for several dozen fighters captured in recent weeks during Operation Protective Edge.

As for the Palestinian intentions, there were conflicting reports on Tuesday, perhaps stemming from internal disputes within the Palestinian negotiating delegation in Cairo. While representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza are interested in a long-term cease-fire agreement, and are willing to extend the current 72-hour cease-fire by a day or two to reach such an agreement, representatives of Palestinian groups abroad, particularly from Hamas, are insisting that the current cease-fire not be extended and that rocket fire at Israel be resumed, if necessary. A Hamas official was quoted as saying that the group was “prepared for prolonged fighting” if its demands were not met.

According to a report by the Lebanese Al Mayadeen news outlet, a key issue that remains to be solved is Israel’s demand for the remains of soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin to be returned. Hamas official Muhammad Nazal said Hamas would not tie this issue to the cease-fire talks.

“Israel has gotten used to receiving its demands without giving anything in return,” Nazal said. “We won’t agree to discuss the return of bodies in the cease-fire talks. On this issue, there will be separate negotiations.”

Lieberman said on Wednesday that he would not support any cease-fire agreement that does not include the return of the remains of Shaul and Goldin. The foreign minister threatened that if Hamas did not give back the remains of the soldiers, it would receive the bodies of Mohammed Deif, Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders in Gaza instead.

Palestinian sources on Tuesday accused Egypt of thwarting progress in the cease-fire talks, as a way of putting pressure on Hamas to withdraw some of its demands regarding the Rafah crossing.

Yet there were also optimistic Palestinian reports on Tuesday. Deputy Hamas political office chief Moussa Abu Marzouk wrote on his Facebook page that the Cairo talks were moving “in a positive direction.” And an Islamic Jihad official said, “A final agreement on a permanent cease-fire and the lifting of the blockade of the Gaza Strip will be achieved by Wednesday.”

According to Arab media reports, Israel has agreed to gradually expand the Gaza fishing zone. It will also reportedly allow construction materials into Gaza, under international supervision. Also, the number of trucks carrying goods into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing will reportedly be doubled and 5,000 Palestinians per month will be allowed to travel from Gaza to the West Bank, via the Erez crossing.

Meanwhile, Hamas said at least five Palestinians were killed on Wednesday morning in northern Gaza when unexploded Israeli ordnance detonated as sappers tried to defuse it.