US President Obama can only hope that the temporary ceasefire still in place in the Gaza strip at the time of this writing (afternoon of Thursday Manila time) holds without it being violated before it ends on Friday (Saturday Manila time). If he were being less diplomatic, he should have said “without the ceasefire being violated by Hamas before it ends.” For it is always Hamas that violates ceasefires.

On Friday Aug. 1, Hamas finally agreed to the US and UN demand for a ceasefire that Israel had earlier agreed to. It was just a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire that would have allowed medical personnel in Gaza to treat the wounded, Hamas to recover dead comrades, and for compassionate groups to deliver much needed aid to the Gaza Palestinians injured because Hamas has been using them as human shields.