Israeli government officials told CNN that the cabinet led by Ehud Olmert plans to announce a unilateral cease-fire Saturday night. The officials added that Israel insists it retains the right to respond violently to rocket attacks.

The report came shortly after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak joined a growing chorus calling on both sides to accept an immediate cease-fire. Cynics may believe that Mubarak spoke out so strongly in favor of a cease-fire, after weeks of criticizing Hamas, because Israel informed him it would implement a unilateral cease-fire hours later.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon also called on Israel to finally accept a cease-fire. “The level of violence in Gaza is unprecedented,” the U.N. chief said. “The Israeli aerial and land offensives against Hamas targets are inflicting heavy civilian casualties, widespread destruction and tremendous suffering for the entire region.”

Ban continued to criticize Israel for the level of violence used against Hamas and other Palestinians. He said that yet another UN compound was bombed by Israel and called on the Jewish nation-state to investigate the matter and to punish those responsible. Israel attacked another UN school in Gaza early Saturday, resulting in the deaths of two young boys.

Operation Cast Lead, as Israel’s operation against Hamas is called, has resulted in the deaths of 1,203 Palestinians. 5,000 more were wounded. Estimations indicate that 50% of those killed were civilians and 410 children.

Israel has suffered much less; only 10 soldiers and three civilians have been killed in the fighting.

Meanwhile, the organization primarily responsible for the violence, Hamas, says it will continue to attack Israel, regardless of whether or not Israel announces a cease-fire today. The organization’s spokesmen said the cease-fire is unacceptable because it will not mention a full withdrawal from Gaza and because it will not mention ‘of lifting its crippling blockade off the strip.’

“This unilateral ceasefire does not foresee a withdrawal” by the Israeli army,  Osama Hemdan, the movement’s Lebanon representative, told Al Arabiya.

“As long as it remains in Gaza, resistance and confrontation will continue,” he said, adding Israel’s proposal for a unilateral ceasefire was an “attempt to derail the Egyptian plan” for a reciprocal truce.

“If they insist on this (unilateral ceasefire) position it means that they don’t want to let Egypt have success on the regional and international levels,” Hemdan said.

It is a nice attempt to court Egypt, of course. The reality of the situation seems to be quite the opposite however; Mubarak called for a cease-fire Saturday, followed a few hours later by an announcement from Jerusalem that it will indeed announce a unilateral cease-fire this weekend. It is obvious that both Egypt and Israel coordinated their actions.

The international community will undoubtedly call on Israel to withdraw ASAP from Gaza. As long as Israel does not do so, it will be criticized and blamed for the violence. If Israel withdraws, however, and Hamas continues to attack, Hamas will face increasingly more negative coverage in the press.

Meanwhile, the blockade is a difficult subject for anyone to talk about; the blockade is rather obviously an attempt by Israel to prevent weapons from being smuggled into Gaza. As we saw in the last year and especially in the last 22 days, however, the blockade has not been very effective: Hamas had many hundreds of rockets and thousands of other weapons.

The blockade does cause tremendous suffering to average Palestinians, however. It is difficult for them to travel, impossible even, and it is impossible for them to create a flourishing economy. The blockade does not damage than it does good; as such, it makes perfect sense for Israel to finally end it. If Hamas continues to attack Israeli civilians, as it likely will, Israel has a strong case for another military operation and it will be difficult for the international community to blame the victim (Israel) yet again for the violence.

More here.