Even as Israel vowed on July 31 to continue its military campaign in Gaza until the network of Hamas tunnels was destroyed, the broad outlines of a longer term endgame for a more lasting resolution were emerging and being debated.

Former US and Israeli diplomats, security officials and regional analysts said that an agreement that would expand the presence of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Gaza, starting with putting the PA in charge of Gaza’s internal border crossings with Egypt and Israel, was in the joint interests of Israel, the PA, Egypt and the United States to boost Palestinian moderates over Hamas militants.

Building off that formula could give Gazans more freedom of movement, the PA more political clout, and Israel more security, by reducing the flow of arms to Hamas and its overall influence — a goal shared by Egypt’s military government.

“I think that there is a common interest here between Israel, the Palestinian Authority [PA], the Egyptians and probably the Americans as well, to see a gradually growing presence of the PA led by Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] in the Gaza Strip, first in the crossing points, then at a larger scale within the Gaza strip,” Gilead Sher, former chief of staff to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, told Al-Monitor in an interview on July 31. “I believe that there is an opportunity to gradually restore a more coherent control of the Gaza strip based on a stronger Palestinian Authority presence in Gaza. And this should be one of the outcomes of the current horrible bloodshed.”