As the clock ticks down to the next clash between Israel and Hamas, Egypt has been tapped for what Israel describes as “a last-ditch mediation attempt” to reach a long-term cease-fire arrangement between Israel and Gaza for the umpteenth time since Israel’s 2005 disengagement from the enclave.

The mediation effort officially launched at a Sept. 13 summit in the Red Sea town of Sharm el-Sheikh between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. At the same time, one or two rockets were being fired nightly at Israeli communities along the Gaza border.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid weighed in with a plan for an arrangement with Gaza. In a Sept. 12 speech, Lapid sought to revive a vision that has been presented in the past for the rehabilitation of Gaza in return for demilitarization. The plan places the welfare of Gaza’s 2 million residents as a top Israeli priority with a non-military alternative. Lapid was immediately accused, perhaps rightly, of being naive. Hamas will never give up its weapons, the political right argued, and what about the promises made by Bennett, Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz to “bring order” to Gaza once and for all?

“Eventually, we will have to bring order,” a senior diplomatic source in Jerusalem conceded in a conversation with Al-Monitor last week, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The next clash, which is apparently inevitable, will be completely different from the ones we know. We are preparing a few surprises there and Hamas will emerge from this clash in a completely different state than it went in,” he promised.