A five-hour “humanitarian ceasefire” scheduled for tomorrow is not expected to seriously change the ongoing Gaza conflict, according to top Israeli officials, and a ground invasion is still considered very likely.
“If you want to efficiently fight terrorism, you need to have boots on the ground,” insisted one of the top military officials briefing Western reporters, who said he saw a “very high possibility” of an invasion.
The military has been chomping at the bit for an invasion for awhile, saying the troops deployed along the border are all ready to go and just waiting for final approval from the security cabinet.
Military officials are also making a big deal of their willingness and ability to “seize the entire strip,” and while the usual hawk politicians are calling for this, they all seem to assume that a permanent occupation will calm the situation, rather than simply turning the ongoing state of war into a permanent part of life.