August 26, 2011:
Hamas is losing its grip on power in Gaza. The problem is that Hamas is an Islamic radical group (they are officially recognized as international terrorists) and supports other Islamic terrorists. Thus many of these groups have set up shop in Gaza. But a problem with Islamic radicals is that they tend to play “more Islamic than thou” with each other. This makes it impossible to get the various groups to agree on a common strategy. Thus when Hamas decides it’s a good idea to have a ceasefire with Israel (so Hamas can build up an arsenal of rockets for a major attack), many smaller Islamic terror groups in Gaza disagree and continue attacking Israel anyway. Moreover, in the last few years the smaller groups have become stronger, as Hamas has become weaker (largely due to resistance from the non-radical majority in Gaza). Reunification talks between Fatah (which used to run both Gaza and the West Bank) and Hamas are going nowhere. This appears to be partly because Fatah is waiting for Hamas to lose control in Gaza, giving Fatah a chance to take over again.
Over a hundred rockets and mortar shells have been fired into Israel since the terrorist attack on the 18th. Some Islamic terror groups in Gaza want constant efforts to attack Israel, and see ceasefires as a form of weakness. Most of the Islamic terror groups in Gaza disagree. Israeli counterattacks on Gaza have caused over a hundred casualties and destroyed many terror group assets (bases, housing, weapons and equipment).
Israel has agreed to allow Egyptian army helicopters and armored vehicles (but not tanks) to enter the Sinai to help with the search for Islamic terrorists. According to the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, Sinai is demilitarized, but army forces are allowed in if Israel agrees to it.
August 25, 2011: After two days of Israeli bombing, the various Islamic terror groups in Gaza agreed to yet another ceasefire with Israel, to begin tomorrow. In the previous 24 hours, Israeli air strikes had done enormous damage to Islamic radical groups, as well as killing nine and wounding 30 (mostly members of these Islamic terror groups.)
August 24, 2011: The latest ceasefire between Israel and Gaza based terror groups unraveled as four rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, wounding an Israeli infant. Israeli warplanes quickly began hitting terrorist targets in Gaza.
August 22, 2011: The latest ceasefire with the Islamic terror groups in Gaza lasted about eight hours, as a dozen more rockets were fired into southern Israel overnight. The problem is that there is always one Islamic terror group in Gaza that will not agree to a ceasefire, and Hamas is either not able, or willing, to destroy the Islamic terror groups that keep breaking these ceasefires.
August 21, 2011: Gaza Islamic terror groups said they all agreed to a ceasefire, mainly because the last three days of Israeli attacks had done a lot of damage to them.
August 20, 2011: Hamas fired several 122mm rockets at Beersheba in southern Israel, killing two Israeli soldiers.
August 18, 2011: Islamic terrorists from Gaza attacked several vehicles carrying Israelis and killed eight people. The vehicles were travelling on a highway near the Egyptian border. Some of the Palestinian terrorists were wearing uniforms resembling those worn by Israeli troops. The Islamic terrorists have gotten out of Gaza (not hard to do, with the tunnels, and Egyptian border guards willing to ignore things) and travelled with their weapons to the point, near the Israeli beach resort of Eliat. Israeli forces began pursuing the attackers, and during that chase an Israeli aircraft fired on Egyptian police who were also pursuing the terrorists. Five Egyptian policemen died, and Israel later apologized for that. The Israeli pursuit did manage to kill several of the Islamic terrorists.
August 17, 2011: Egyptian police raided a terrorist camp in Sinai and arrested two people. This is part of a larger police operation to shut down growing Islamic terrorist operations in Sinai.
August 15, 2011: Two 122mm rockets were fired from Gaza towards Beersheba. There were no injuries.