Military planners dubbed their Gaza attack plan "Summer Rain." It's also a fitting image for how many Israelis have followed the operations to shake Hamas: watching closely as the storm gathered, then losing interest as it rolled on.
The bombardment of the Gaza Strip -- so far bringing lots of noise but few casualties -- tells as much about the defiance of Hamas militants as it does the ambivalence of many Israelis.
The offensive waged to free a kidnapped teenage soldier has not come close to stirring Israel's collective spirit in the way of the Lebanon invasion in the 1980s or during the wave of Palestinian suicide bombings that tailed off last year.
The search for explanations has gone in several directions. Among them: a general weariness of conflict, the fading of Israel's sense of common purpose and questions over whether there's too much firepower and not enough diplomatic imagination. There's also the irony of Gaza itself.
Last year, Israel endured a painful and divisive withdrawal of troops and soldiers from Gaza. Now, tanks and artillery are back on the border and warplanes are blasting sites including former Israeli outposts believed used as militant camps.
"Expectations for anything positive are very, very low these days," said Yosi Sarid, a well-known commentator on Israeli affairs. "There's indifference to the current situation because people are not very sure what is the right track to follow."
The only real consensus is that the 19-year-old captive, Corporal Gilad Shalit, cannot be left to his fate. The pledge to never abandon a soldier, dead or alive, is deeply ingrained in Israel's military creed and spills over into a society where nearly everyone has had some days in uniform.
Israeli authorities have rejected any possible deals with Hamas, which won Palestinian elections in January but has refused to significantly soften its anti-Israeli views. Hamas' military wing claimed it kidnapped Shalit on June 25 in an ambush that also killed two soldiers.
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