“In the summer of 2018, the lives of dozens of soldiers and civilians were spared. Their time may come in another year, two years or three. But today and tomorrow they’re here. Their families weren’t shattered, graves weren’t dug, eulogies were not delivered. What’s been said of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu many times in the past remains true today: He doesn’t rush to send soldiers into war, certainly a war that’s unnecessary and pointless and after which we will only return to square one. He has also succeeded in recruiting to this judicious and mature policy of containment a defense minister (Avigdor Lieberman), who took over that portfolio two years ago in the guise of James Bond, Rambo and Conan the Barbarian. The size and bitterness of the pill that Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman had to swallow for negotiating with Hamas, with vigorous Egyptian mediation, on the terms of an agreement or 'arrangement,' are beyond measure.”
—Haaretz+ political analyst, Yossi Verter, looks at the decision-making behind the one-year ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel.

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You Must Be Kidding: 
“However, as a gesture, and in a step that went beyond the letter of the law, COGAT, with the assistance of the Ministry of Communications and the Customs Authority, allowed a one-time transfer of approximately ten and a half tons of mail that had been held in Jordan."
--Israel says that it did the Palestinians a favor when it allowed to be transferred to the West Bank this week over ten tons of Palestinian mail that it prevented delivery since 2010 because it was not properly addressed to Israel.

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Front Page:

News Summary:
So a Gaza ceasefire went into effect today and an Israeli woman was hit and killed by a car driven in the West Bank by a Palestinian man making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Meanwhile, Netanyahu was questioned today for the 11th time in Case 4000, the corruption probe of the Bezeq-Walla affair. And, justice officials were accused of being unduly slow in making decision about the cases.

The Gaza-Israel ceasefire has a number of phases during which, if all goes well, a maritime route from Gaza to Cyprus will be created, a seaport will be built, the power supply will be repaired (much of which will be paid by Qatar, whose envoy Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with in June, Maariv reported) and eventually a prisoner swap will take place. To finalize this agreement, Egypt's intelligence chief  Abbas Kamel visited Israel and met with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Shin Bet Chief Nadav Argaman Wednesday, Israel confirmed. But the Shin Bet warned that excluding Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from truce talks with Gaza's rulers will bolster Hamas in the West Bank, prove to the Palestinians that violence is the way to get Israeli concessions, Shin Bet security agency head Nadav Argaman tells the cabinet (also Maariv). “The arrangement that is being formulated actually puts Qatar above Abu Mazen's head," wrote Maariv reporters Yasir Ukbi and Yanir Kuzin. "The chairman of the Palestinian Authority has raised difficulties in the talks, so the Americans have created a bypass route through Qatar. But Argaman said that in his experience Qatari money does not end with projects in the Gaza Strip, but also goes to terrorist activity. Israel insists that the first stage of the arrangement is only a cease-fire, and if it succeeds in a few months, they will discuss the Operation Protective Edge understandings. The arrangement was not approved by the Cabinet. The one who did not meet with the Egyptians is Abu Mazen, who said he was busy. Egyptian intelligence chief Kamal already intended to go to Ramallah, and then received the negative answer."

Most of the Israeli newspapers did not assume that the 63-year-old Palestinian taxi driver had intentionally run over and killed the 42-year-old Israeli woman on a West Bank road Thursday night. Even Israel Hayom, which rarely gives the Palestinians the benefit of the doubt, noted that the driver turned himself in to Palestinian police shortly after the incident. The driver said he fled the area for fear that the settlers or soldiers would harm him after they thought he intended to hurt the woman.The Israel Defense Forces said it was apparently an accident, but that they were looking into it. Oddly, Yedioth’s settler affairs reporter, Elisha Ben-Kimon, asked Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, for his view of what happened, despite Dagan not being there. Dagan claimed the incident was a terror attack because "The junction is lighted... there are no signs of an attempt to stop—not before the spot and not after.” [A video on Ynet Hebrew shows the site of the incident is near a bend in the road. - OH] Today, the army said that following an initial investigation by the IDF and the Shin Bet, the defense establishment concluded that this was not a ‘nationalistic incident,’ [i.e. an attack - OH]. (Maariv and Ynet Hebrew)