Israel's caretaker prime minister took a gamble with his pre-emptive strike against Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza, less than three months before he is to compete in general elections to retain his job.
Yair Lapid had counted on Gaza's militant Hamas rulers to stay out of the fight, thus enabling Israel to weaken Hamas' smaller sister group while avoiding a full-blown escalation. At the same time, he may also have gained political ground ahead of the polls.
The Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, which took effect late Sunday, capped one of the shortest rounds of fighting since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. Israel and Hamas fought four wars over the past 15 years, as more than 2 million Gazans endured a suffocating Israeli-Egyptian border blockade. Going into the Gaza offensive, the centrist Lapid, a former TV host and author, lacked the security credentials that Israelis often seek in their leaders. It was seen as a glaring weakness as he faces off against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who portrays himself as a security hawk, in November elections.
"Hamas doesn't want a war every other day. If it joined publicly, this means destruction of buildings, infrastructure, and the Egyptians played an influential role in preventing Hamas from joining the battle," said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Gaza's al-Azhar University. "This government has a zero tolerance policy for any attempted attacks - of any kind - from Gaza towards Israeli territory," Lapid said at the onset of the operation Friday.
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