TEL AVIV — Israel’s Army Radio reported Friday afternoon that the Israeli military (IDF) cleared residents of the Gaza border area to resume their normal activities after a night of rocket fire from the Strip and also from Lebanon and ensuing Israeli strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza.

According to UNIFIL and Israeli authorities, Israel and Hezbollah both signaled on Friday they are not seeking war. “Nobody wants an escalation right now,” Israeli army spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told reporters early Friday.

Although Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah met in Beirut with senior Hamas officials on Thursday just hours before the missile strike on Israel, Israel retaliated with airstrikes only against Palestinian Hamas targets in southern Lebanon late Thursday, not against Hezbollah. Surprisingly, official Israeli statements on the rocket fire from Lebanon did not blame Hezbollah. According to Haaretz, Israel's security cabinet was even told it was not certain Hezbollah knew of the attack in advance. Clearly, Israel would like to distance Hezbollah from these recent developments, but why? 

On March 13, a Lebanese assailant managed to enter Israel and placed explosives at central Israel's Megiddo and badly wounded an Israeli driver. That event precipitated the current crisis, with Israeli intelligence assessing an increasing boldness among its enemies.