Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s eight-man security cabinet decided on Monday to adopt a policy of restraint and give Hamas the chance to show that it will observe its self-declared cease fire before mounting any major military action in the Gaza Strip. Tension escalated last Thursday when a three-pronged terror attack against Israeli civilians in the south of the country left eight dead. Since that time, as scores of rockets fired from Gaza pounded Israeli territory, Israeli leadership has been torn between calls to act quickly to prevent the situation from reverting to the way it was prior to the Operation Cast Lead ground invasion of Gaza at the end of 2008; and defusing tension with the new Egyptian government incensed over the killing of five of its policemen by Israeli troops in hot pursuit of the terrorists. A team of highly-placed Israelis has been in Cairo pursuing intense diplomacy to defuse the situation since that time. Meanwhile, Hamas’ promise to stop firing rockets has been upheld for the most part, with only three landing inside of Israel on Monday. Israeli officials speaking off the record explain that Jerusalem will not initiate actions or bomb smuggling tunnels except in a situation where an attack is imminent and can be stopped