Israel's Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin has been very busy. With Iran flaunting their nuclear aspirations, Hamas still bent on destroying Israel, Hezbollah threatening from the north, and Egypt's borders an issue of security he knows Israel is surrounded, literally, from all sides. So what to do?
Yadlin reports that while the border with Egypt is better than before, this has not stopped the smuggling completely. Hamas can still permeate the Gaza-Egypt border and, with the uranium recently found on Egyptian turf, this is not a good thing.
Yadlin commented that:
Gaza's Hamas rulers have been reinforcing their capabilities since Israel's offensive earlier this year...the group was unlikely to unleash a massive attack on Israel this year, but was using lessons from that offensive to prepare for a future confrontation.
Threats from the east are on Yadlin's radar as well.
"Iran is intentionally advancing its nuclear development in such a way so as not to cross any nuclear red lines by enriching low-grade uranium that is not sufficient for weapons development, but that can quickly adapt to weapons-grade uranium in such a short period of time that the process can't be sabotaged,"
Unfortunately, it seems the only thing to do is wait. Yadlin doesn't see war as a possibility in the near future, at least not between Israel and Iran. However, Hamas can play the waiting game too, and it happens to be their specialty:
According to the anonymous official, representatives in charge of Hamas negotiations are to notify the Egyptian brokers that the organization will agree to an immediate long-term ceasefire with Israel if the IDF ceases all military activity in the Gaza Strip.
In Hamas terms, "ceasefire" usually means time to re-arm and regroup. The estimate is that Hamas is willing to hold the ceasefire for 10 years. That is ten years for them to smuggle more weapons and raise more children to fight Israel. Whether or not Israel's response should be military, she cannot stand quietly on the sidelines.