Israel confirmed over the weekend that Israel and Hamas were close to achieving understandings aimed at curbing a recent flare-up in violence, a senior Israeli official said. The confirmation comes after scaled-back Gaza demonstrations Friday, after months of violent, weekly Palestinian protests along the border with Israel.
Speaking to Israel Hayom, the official said considerable efforts had been made in recent days, facilitated by Egyptian mediators, to finalize diplomatic understandings between Israel and Hamas.
According to the official, Israel's current policy is to exhaust all diplomatic avenues before launching a military campaign to protect Israel's southern communities, which have been terrorized by Palestinian arson and sporadic rocket fire in recent months.
Consequently, Israel has agreed to allow Qatar to pay the salaries of Gaza government workers and has already permitted the transfer of fuel into the Strip in hopes of improving the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza and hopefully defusing a possible military conflagration.
The official added, however, that Israel conditioned the transfer of Qatari money on the establishment of an oversight mechanism that would ensure the money won't be used to fund terror.
He noted that ideally, Israel would prefer to see the Palestinian Authority handle the payment of the Gaza government workers rather than Qatar, but there was no intention of torpedoing Egyptian mediation efforts for that reason.
Israel realizes that the emerging understandings could be derailed at any moment, the official explained. "It could all fall apart one hour from now," he said, adding that in such a case, Israel is prepared to use immense force against Hamas.
But first, "we need to exhaust all the possible avenues to reach an arrangement," he continued. "But if it looks like there's no chance, we'll act forcefully."
As stated, only a few thousand Palestinians protested at the border on Friday. Seven protesters were wounded in clashes with Israeli troops, Gaza health officials said – the lowest casualty figures reported since the weekly demonstrations began in late March. No attempts to breach the border fence were reported.
Hamas wants a cease-fire and an end to a crippling 11-year blockade on Gaza. The group, which rules the Gaza Strip, has threatened to intensify the weekly protests if the Egyptian-led diplomacy efforts fail.
"We are following the efforts and the [Israeli] occupation is being tested," said Khalil al-Hayya, a senior official from the Islamic terrorist group.
"If lifting the siege is late, you will experience in the winter what you did not see in the summer," he said, in a warning directed at Israel.
Israel and Egypt largely sealed their borders with Gaza after Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007.
On Friday, Egyptian mediators in SUVs drove by two protest locations for the first time. The envoys from the Egyptian intelligence service have been talking separately with Hamas and Israel for months.
Cairo hopes to restore calm and revive inter-Palestinian reconciliation talks between rival factions Hamas and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
