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Israel, Hamas need a mediator

Turkey and Qatar advocate Hamas interests, Egypt promotes its own, and the United States has no influence, which is why none of them could offer Israel and Hamas an acceptable cease-fire proposal.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry walks in the garden of the U.S. ambassador's residence before meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Paris July 26, 2014. REUTERS/Charles Dharapak/Pool (FRANCE - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR406S0

On the 21st day of the fighting in Gaza, it seems as if the IDF has run through its “target bank” for this stage of the war.

The discovery and destruction of the maze of tunnels that Hamas dug along the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel is near completion. Hamas activists and the other militant groups in Gaza are still firing rockets at Israel’s civilian population from densely populated centers in Gaza, but the total destruction of their ability to fire rockets at civilian centers in the heart of Israel has yet to be defined as part of the military objectives set for this operation.

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