Tension continues even after truce in Gaza; Hamas does not participate
Until the last minute before the time defined in the ceasefire agreement, Israel continued attacks on the Gaza Strip in response to Islamic Jihad rocket launches. Despite the truce, the region is one step away from falling, once again, into war. Were it not for Egypt’s efforts at negotiation, the bombings would hardly have stopped.
The last three days of conflict have left 42 Palestinians killed and 300 people injured. Two Islamic Jihad leaders died: Tayssir al-Jabari and Khaled Mansour.
The first attacks took place on Friday (05), after tensions increased due to the arrest, on Monday of last week (01), of one of the group’s leaders in the West Bank, Basem al Sadi, in the refugee camp of Jenin city.
The 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza, who in May 2021 faced the 11-day war, once again found themselves in danger.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said “Israel will not sit idly by.” “This government has a policy of zero tolerance for any attempted attack,” he concluded.
In turn, Palestinian jihadists announced that they were ready for war. “There are no red lines in this battle. I declare before the Palestinian people: Tel-Aviv will come under resistance missile attacks,” read the group’s first statement.
So far, Hamas – the Palestinian Islamist movement in power in Gaza – has not entered the conflict. This may show that the group is not ready for a new war with catastrophic consequences like last year. But this situation also points to the fact that if Hamas decides to attack, there will be a major escalation in the conflict.
For now, spokesman Fawzi Barhoum only announced that “the resistance is united in this battle” and condemned “the Israeli aggression”.