As of Wednesday morning, the latest violent flareup between Israel and the Gaza Strip appears to have come to a quick conclusion, as expected.

The rocket barrage that Islamic Jihad launched — due to internal tensions within the group — drew a limited, measured Israeli response that included bombardments of two of its targets in Rafah and Khan Yunis, the headquarters of the Popular Resistance Committees, and a Hamas position in the northern Gaza Strip. All the positions were empty and no one was injured, evidently due to an Israeli effort to prevent loss of life that likely would have drawn an additional Palestinian attack.

Despite the rocket attack on the Ashdod area, Hamas and Israel seem to have a clear interest in keeping things calm between them. Israel’s measured response was a message to Hamas that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government wants to maintain the status quo. In other words, calm will be answered with calm, and Israel will work to enable Gaza’s economic survival.

Beyond that message, Israel’s bombardment of empty buildings overnight also shows its acknowledgment of the situation that has been created vis-à-vis the Gaza Strip: As far as the Israeli government and its security forces are concerned, keeping Hamas in power is a security interest since the alternatives are worse. Israeli security officials know that the fall of Hamas’s regime will mean either long-term anarchy in the Gaza Strip or Israel’s recapture of the region — neither of which Israel wants.

Read the article in full at Times of Israel.