Stop Calling This A Cease Fire

The usual suspects in the media call the piece of paper supposedly signed by Hamas and Fatah a cease fire. They call the situation following that signing a shaky truce as fighting continues. Here's a clue for the media and observers: if the parties are still shooting at each other regardless of any piece of paper signed, there is no cease fire. They're still fighting.

This isn't a shaky truce. This isn't a failing cease fire. This is where a cease fire hasn't even taken hold because the two terrorist groups are still slugging it out on the streets of Gaza.

As a tenuous cease-fire took hold in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh appealed to all Palestinians to prevent a resurgence in the internal violence that killed 36 people in recent days.

Much of Gaza was quiet Tuesday, though a Hamas gunman was killed in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis — a shooting officials from the Islamic group blamed on militants from rival Fatah.

The relative lull in Gaza violence came just as Israel carried out its first response to a Palestinian suicide bombing, carrying out an airstrike early Tuesday on a tunnel dug by Palestinians near the Gaza-Israel border.

Previous truces between Hamas and Fatah militants in the tense Gaza Strip have quickly collapsed, and it appeared unlikely the two sides would comply with all the terms of the current agreement, such as handing over all those involved in killings and abductions.

A lull in the fighting is not a cease fire. It's simply a pregnant pause between the two sides reloading for the next round. Meanwhile, they're also anxiously watching to see what Israel does following yesterday's successful suicide bombing by an Islamic Jihad terrorist in Eilat. No doubt they're going to see what will best exploit the situation to be considered the victims should Israel strike at Hamas, Fatah, or the other terrorist groups operating in Gaza and the West Bank.