Sign the first: Hamas observing the latest 3-hour ceasefire on Jewish Standard Time. Because, of course, it's hard to fire rockets at kindergartens when you're both cornered and militarily decimated. The fact that Hamas would so flagrantly and willingly cede the moral high ground to Israel is a sign that things can't be going all that well for them...
Sign the second: Iran is threatening to cut Hamas loose if it agrees to a premature ceasefire. Which means two things: firstly, Hamas's Iranian backers are not happy about how things have gone for their Palestinian proxies over the past couple weeks. And secondly, Hamas wants out of this mess badly enough to potentially jeopardize its relations with Iran. Now I don't think Iran is remotely serious about following through on this, but it's pretty significant that threats like this are even being aired...
On while I'm on the topic of the Gaza op and the cynical genius thereof: remember the Arab world's adulation over the Samir Kuntar-for-dead-Israeli-soldiers swap a few months back? This article in the English edition of Al Ahram reasoned that the prisoner deal automatically raised the asking price for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held by Hamas for the past 2 1/2 years. Predictions that Israel would empty its prisons of Hamasniks in exchange for Shalit have proven comedically wrong, thus turning the Gaza invasion into a masterpiece in lateral thinking...
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