Western diplomats said Obama has been on the telephone with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu nearly every day amid the war between Israel and the Gaza Strip. They said Obama has urged Netanyahu not to launch major ground operations in the Gaza Strip while Washington was working to arrange a ceasefire with the Hamas regime.

“Obama has been pressing Israel hard to wind down operations and give him time for a ceasefire,” a diplomat said. “The president wants to the fighting to end within a day or so.”

On Nov. 18, Obama told a news conference that he sought Israeli restraint against Hamas and Islamic Jihad. He said the United States would try to achieve a breakthrough over the next two days.

“My message to all of them was Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory,” Obama said. “If this can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that is preferable. That’s not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It’s also preferable for Israelis because if Israeli troops are in Gaza they’re much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded.”

The diplomats said Washington was working closely with Egypt, Turkey as well as other NATO allies to end the missile war between Israel and the Gaza Strip. They said Egypt and Turkey were pressing Hamas to agree to a ceasefire whileWestern leaders were working on Israel to end operations.

On Nov. 18, a Hamas official said Egypt has nearly wrapped up details for a ceasefire with Israel. In talks with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Hamas political bureau leader Khaled Masha’al was said to have demanded an end to the siege on the Gaza Strip as well as guarantees that Islamists would not be targeted. An Israeli official also arrived in Cairo to monitor the Egyptian efforts.

“If there is quiet in the south and no rockets and missiles are fired at Israel’s citizens, nor terrorist attacks engineered from the Gaza Strip, we will not attack,” Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon said.

The latest mini-war has subjected more Israeli cities to missile attacks since the war with Hizbullah in 2006. Over four days, Hamas and Jihad have fired 1,000 missiles and rockets into communities that amounted to 3.5 million residents.

“This has no parallel in any country,” Israeli Home Front Minister Avi Dichter said.

The diplomats said the U.S. administration has been in constant contact with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, regarded as the most pro-American member in Netanyahu’s Cabinet. Barak, who has sought to raise funds for Knesset elections in January 2013, has mobilized 30,000 reservists near the Gaza Strip.

George Friedman, director of the influential U.S. open-source intelligence said Hamas wants to end the war with its new Fajr-5 long-range rocket arsenal, used for attacks on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Friedman said Hamas’ leading goal was retain a sufficient number of Fajr-5s to threaten
Israel.

“If they succeed, Hamas will have gained a significant lever in its relations with the Israelis,” Friedman said. “The Israeli goal is to deny Hamas these rockets. The problem for the Israelis is that this requires a ground assault in order to have any chance of success.”

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