Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Gaza City brigade commander and 15 other members of the Islamist militant group were killed in air strikes. We'll hit them like they've never dreamed possible," he said. After the announcement, more rocket salvoes were fired at the Tel Aviv area and the cities of Ashdod, Ashkelon and Sderot. Hamas confirmed the death of the commander and of "other leaders and holy warriors" in a statement. Its chief Ismail Haniyeh added: "The confrontation with the enemy is open-ended.
Israel launched its military action after Hamas fired rockets in retaliation for Israeli police clashes with Palestinians in East Jerusalem, including at a holy site during the fasting month of Ramadan. A Palestinian source said truce efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations had made no progress to end the violence.
The cross-border fighting has touched off strife within Israel, where some in the Arab minority mounted violent pro-Palestinian protests. Media reported spreading street attacks by Jews on Arab passersby in ethnically mixed areas on Wednesday. Describing the scenes of destruction as "harrowing", U. Hamas is on the ropes economically, its political support is weak, and it has few means to press Israel.
Its smuggling operations and taxation of private smugglers have dried up as Egypt has cracked down on tunnel traffic along the border. Israel has also made progress destroying or blocking Hamas tunnels into Israel, which Hamas dug in order to be able to send operatives into Israel.
Many among its military wing would prefer to shed the burden of governance and return to the purity of resistance. Egypt, which Hamas had hoped would be an ally when the Muslim Brotherhood held power there, is now a bitter enemy and has tightened border security with Gaza , cracking down on long-tolerated smuggling, with little concern for the welfare of the people there. Israeli military operations and international pressure make it hard for Hamas to succeed on the governance front and will continue as long as Hamas continues to see fighting Israel as part of its mission.
Hamas is not the worst of the Palestinian groups opposed to Israel. At times, Hamas has allowed these groups to operate in order to put pressure on Israel, but Hamas also cracks down on these groups , arresting some and even killing others. In addition to quashing radicals, Hamas also governs and provides services to Gazans. Militants could operate unchecked, while ordinary Gazans suffer more. In this scenario, Israel runs the risk that Hamas might turn more toward Iran for financial and military support.
Unfortunately for Israel, there is currently no credible alternative to Hamas in Gaza. Extirpating Hamas would require deploying tens of thousands of Israeli troops to Gaza for years and shouldering the responsibility to govern Gaza on a day-to-day basis; Israel does not want to do either of these things.
In its last few military operations, Israel had the chance to reoccupy Gaza, but its leaders pragmatically opted for a punishing raid instead of the grind of another unpopular occupation of Palestinian territory. By Michael E. Nor can Israel look to the PA for help. Israel has declared all-out war on Hamas. This has been its military, intelligence and diplomatic posture toward the Islamic movement for years. These are the permanent decorations in the display window.
But under the circumstances in which both Israel and Hamas are trapped — and not just for the past few weeks — these enemies are dependent on each other. Hamas needs quiet in Gaza. It needs this not only so it can continue to rule there even under the reconciliation agreement it signed with its Palestinian rival, Fatah, but also to rehabilitate its relationship with Egypt.
This includes acquiescing in the senior status of the PA and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, despite their close relations with Israel. Hamas often fires rockets at Israel from within residential areas and operates command posts in apartment blocks. The practice effectively uses civilians as human shields. Hamas has been secretly digging underground tunnels to smuggle arms into the enclave, chiefly from Egypt.
The Egyptian government, however, has been clamping down on this activity. Qatar is Hamas' most important financial backer and foreign ally. Israel, meanwhile, hopes Qatar will join the US-brokered Abraham Accords and establish diplomatic relations with it, as a number of Arab states already have done.
Hamas is also supported by Turkey. The organization is also supported by a range of nonstate initiatives and foundations, some of which are based in Germany. According to the German weekly Der Spiegel , donations to Hamas from Germany-based groups are increasing. The number of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel has reached an unprecedented level these past days.
On Tuesday, Hamas said it launched rockets in a matter of minutes in an attempt to overwhelm Israel's Iron Dome air defense system. The Iron Dome's interceptor missiles are far more agile, advanced but also expensive than Hamas rockets. On Friday, the Israeli army reported that more than 1, rockets had been launched from the Palestinian coastal enclave.
For many years, Hamas relied on Iran-supplied rockets. Fabian Hinz, an expert on Middle Eastern missile technology, told German public broadcaster ZDF that different Gaza-based groups have expanded their rocket arsenals. He said they possess thousands of missiles — as Israeli media outlets have confirmed. This week, The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli intelligence sources that estimated the Hamas arsenal to contain 5, to 6, rockets.
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