News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) disagree over whether to continue to respect the "calm" with Gaza-Hamas or to mount a military operation into Gaza. The IDF supports continuing the "calm" for several more months, but the ISA believes the situation serves Hamas, which is training its forces and building bunkers and underground positions for firing rockets.

The top IDF command thinks the period of relative calm "gives the residents of the western Negev a much-needed respite after years of life under the threat of Kassam and Grad rockets." Meanwhile, the IDF is using the period of calm to train and refresh its forces, for use inside Gaza "if the calm collapses."

ISA Chief Yuval Diskin, who opposed the "calm" from the outset, believes that the IDF will have to invade Gaza anyways, and it is better not to allow Hamas to build up its forces.