Egypt is mediating to end the latest Israeli war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip that erupted on Friday when Tel Aviv killed a senior “Islamic Jihad” commander in an air strike on the coastal enclave.
A brief Egyptian foreign ministry statement said on Friday that Cairo was holding intense contacts around the clock to contain the situation.
It added that it was working in restoring calm and preserving lives.
At least ten people have been killed in the assault.
Israel said it carried out the strike after receiving information that the Islamic Jihad was preparing to launch rocket attacks on Israeli towns.
Israel has since sent messages to the Hamas group in Gaza and the Hezbollah party in Lebanon against joining the war.
Israeli military officials have predicted that the Gaza operation will take up to three to four days should Hamas refrain from joining the fight.
Israeli sources revealed that Hamas informed the Egyptian mediator that it was not keen on joining the war.
Israel appears however, to be provoking the movement, saying it has a wide list of targets in Gaza and will not hesitate in expanding it should Hamas join the fight.
Observers believe that Hamas now controls whether the war will escalate or not.
Israel has so far only targeted Islamic Jihad positions in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minster Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz will seek to exploit the operation to the fullest in the buildup to elections, despite their assertions that they are not keen on war.
They have been faced by criticism from former PM and current opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu that they are not fit to lead Israel during conflict, so they are out to prove him wrong.
Israeli experts have warned however, that the war could escalate at any moment and backfire against Lapid and Gantz’s electoral aspirations should Palestinian rocket fire reach Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, should Israel incur casualties or should Hamas and Hezbollah join the fray.
