Day 29 of Operation Protective Edge

PREAMBLE: Israel’s operation to stop Hamas rocket fire, demolish its cross-border tunnels and restore sustained quiet enters its fifth week.

Late Monday, Egypt announced that Hamas had accepted its proposal for a 72-hour ceasefire from Tuesday morning, and informed Israel of the terms. Israel, which accepted an Egyptian proposal for an unconditional ceasefire three weeks ago, said it accepted the proposal this time as well.

Of course, we’ve been down this road before, including on Friday morning, when Hamas broke a UN- and US-brokered truce after barely an hour, with an attack on troops in Rafah in which three Israeli soldiers were killed.