Unilateral ceasefire?

Widespread media reports, including the clip from Al Jezeera below, suggest that Israel may unilaterally cease firing later today. It is unclear whether this would be accompanied by a withdrawal of troops.

Presumably the concept is to end the fighting before Obama is President and to avoid having to negotiate directly with Hamas. Since it appears that Hamas has been very badly hurt, and is not likely to suffer much more damage even if the fighting continues, Israel has likely achieved what it can.

Of course the idea that Hamas is not part of the negotiations is a fiction -- there have been ongoing talks in Egypt for days now -- but it allows both sides to stay "pure".

'Unilateral ceasefire'

While Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip intensified on Saturday morning, with some attacks reported in the afternoon, the country's security cabinet is expected to decide on ending the assault, Israeli sources have said.

The move would be seen as preferable to entering into an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Hamas, unnamed sources have said.

Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, said on Israel's Channel 10 television that "the end doesn't have to be in agreement with Hamas, but rather in arrangements against Hamas".

...
Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's prime minister, called for an immediate ceasefire and the removal of Israel's troops from the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

Egypt has been pushing Israel and the rival Palestinian factions to reach an agreement, and a Hamas delegation returned to Cairo on Friday for a second round of talks.

Responding to talk of unilateral action by Israel, Hamas on Saturday threatened to ignore such a ceasefire and continue fighting. "Clearly, we have nothing new to propose ... either we hear what we have proposed [is accepted] or we will go back to the battlefield," Osama Hamdan, Hamas's representative in Lebanon, said.

"The [large] number of our martyrs will not push us to surrender, but to insist on resistance."
Speaking at a forum in Beirut, Hamdan called on Arab leaders to stand by the Palestinian "resistance", and urged European nations to cut ties with Israel forits "crimes" in Gaza.

An unnamed Israeli official told the AFP news agency that Israeli troops would remain in Gaza in the event of any such ceasefire being called."If they [Hamas] decide to open fire, we will not hesitate to respond and continue the offensive," the official was quoted as saying.Israel's stated aim of the war, which it dubbed Operation Cast Lead, was to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel.