Pressure is working on Hamas....

Israel and the international community must keep up the pressure...

The talk about Hamas's "steadfastness" in the face of the huge pressure doesn't seem to provide consolation to many residents of the Gaza Strip who have long been feeling the heat beneath their feet.

"Many people here admire Hamas for staying in power and refusing to succumb despite the pressure and threats," said a Palestinian editor living in Gaza City. "But many people are also beginning to complain about the bad economy and the fact that we are living in a big prison. They are beginning to realize that perhaps Hamas should make some kind of a sacrifice by softening its positions."

Hamas leaders are also beginning to feel the heat, and that's why some of them are now openly talking about the need to do something "for the sake of the higher national interests of the Palestinian people."

Hamas leaders are also said to be worried about the billions of dollars that the recent Paris donors' conference promised to pour on Mahmoud Abbas's authority. Their major fear is the money will be used by Abbas and his Fatah lieutenants to buy loyalty among the Palestinians and undermine Hamas's rule.

A cease-fire with Israel, these Hamas leaders argue, is not only in the interest of the Palestinians, but of Hamas as well.

Hamas's leaders are said to have been in a panic following the recent killings of top Islamic Jihad operatives by the IDF.

The Palestinian media has also been highlighting statements made by some Israeli politicians and columnists who called for eliminating Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders in retaliation for the rocket attacks on Israel.

While it's true that these reports have sent many Hamas leaders and activists into hiding, they have also prompted the Hamas leadership to issue a new initiative for a truce with Israel.

As a former Hamas sympathizer put it this week, "Ismail Haniyeh cares more about looking neat and wearing a nice suit than becoming a shaheed [martyr]. He and most of the Hamas leaders are afraid for their lives and don't want to join [slain Hamas leaders] Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi."