some point reoccupy a wide corridor, to separate each from gaza to prevent that kind of smuggling. these rockets are getting increasingly sophisticated. >> is it possible to eliminate hamas as a military and political force with that kind of ground incursion? tony blair said it is not possible. >> i think that's a silly proposition. israel has been in the gaza strip before. now it would be -- >> do you think they can amass a political military? >> absolutely. hamas is not a major military threat to israel in the sense it's no match to the israeli defense forces. but it would require a sustained operation in gaza that would have political costs to israel that would certainly amount to palestinian casualties and some israeli casualties as well. >> matt, what do you think about the u.s. response so far, that we'll be an intermediary between the two? >> we have very little leverage there, as so many other parts of