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The world is watching a rerun of the 2006 Lebanon war in Gaza. That conflict was regarded widely as a calamity for both Lebanon and Israel. Yet it would not be the worst outcome for the Gaza war to end the same way, with the injection of a robust multinational force.

In Gaza, as in Lebanon, Israel faces an implacably hostile Islamist group mounting cross-border attacks on its territory.

As in Lebanon, Israel has responded with massive - critics say disproportionate - force.

Despite howls of protest, Arab leaders stand to benefit from Israel dismantling the Islamist group. Hamas, like Hezbollah, has no friends at the United Nations except Iran. The United States is blocking any UN criticism of Israel. Meanwhile, casualties mount. That dismal summary of the parallels conceals a glimmer of hope.

The Lebanon war ended when European governments agreed to bolster the UN force in southern Lebanon, known as Unifil, to stop Hezbollah firing rockets into Israel. Despite Unifil's decidedly patchy record, particularly its propensity to turn a blind eye to weapons smuggling, the expanded UN force has sustained a fragile ceasefire that has held up even during the flare-up in Gaza. Although Israel has historically resisted an international presence in Gaza, and would clearly prefer to dislodge Hamas from power, its leaders now show interest in a Lebanon-style solution involving foreign forces. Barack Obama, who takes office in just over two weeks, may be the man who delivers it.

Ever since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007, Israel has begun to consider the deployment of an international force along the Egyptian border as a way to stem the smuggling of rockets to Hamas.

Zvipi Livni, the Foreign Minister, has said such a force must be willing and able to fight Hamas to stem the weapons flow.

Britain is also showing tentative interest in the concept. Sir John Sawers, Britain's Ambassador to the UN, said after a late-night Security Council meeting at the weekend that the idea deserved study.

Arab nations have long supported a UN presence in the Palestinian territories, particularly after Hamas's takeover in Gaza. Many see UN monitors as the key to reopening the border crossings between Gaza and Israel.

Now, however, it is Egypt that is bridling at suggestions that international peacekeepers should police the Egypt-Gaza border to stop rockets being smuggled via tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor, the name given to the narrow stretch of sand that separates the two. Maged Abdelaziz, Egypt's UN Ambassador, insisted that no weapons were smuggled across the Egyptian border and said he would send a written protest to Sir John.

But he left open the possibility for international monitors along Gaza's entire border. “The issue of observers have been put into the negotiations along the whole border of Gaza with Israel and with Egypt. It's meant to supervise who is breaching the ‘calm',” he said.

Israel is reportedly unhappy with European proposals for an international presence along the Egypt-Gaza border. Instead it is asking for the US Army Corps of Engineers to search out and destroy tunnels under the frontier. The deployment of some kind of international force may offer the best hope of ending the conflict.

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