Today is Friday, so there was a "demonstration" at the border between Gaza and Israel. Once again, Hamas organized a group to rush the border fence to try to breach it. Once again, the effort failed. There were only about 2% as many people who turned out today compared to the early efforts by Hamas, but there was a major difference. Today, Hamas put snipers high up in buildings close to the border so that they could shoot down at Israeli troops on the other side. At least one Israeli was hit and killed.
A few hours later, the Israeli Air Force launched counter measures. The IAF hit a series of Hamas installations inside Gaza and destroyed them. These were the largest raids by the IAF on Gaza in quite a while, perhaps since the 2014 war. There is even talk that Israel may launch a ground offensive into Gaza to find and disarm Hamas of its weapons.
This may well be a response by Hamas to the informal offer by the Trump Administration to have Hamas give up terrorism in exchange for help in improving the living conditions inside the Gaza Strip. What better way for Hamas to say NO than for it to ratchet up its confrontation with the Israelis on the border.
One has to wonder what the end game is for Hamas. The terrorists cannot win in a confrontation with the Israeli military. All that will happen is that there will be more fighting, more death, more suffering and then, for Hamas, ultimate defeat. What's the point of this?
For Israel, there could be the chance to end the problem of having Hamas as a thorn in its side. Were the Israelis to retake Gaza, the Israelis could root out most of the Hamas terrorists. Israel could also remove the chance that there will be massive missile launches from Gaza that could hit the southern part of the country. The press would, no doubt, be bad as the far left supporters of Hamas would call any move by Israel genocide, even if no one gets killed (which won't be the case.) Still, Hamas may be pushing the situation to the point where that alternative is the one that the Israeli government selects.
There is one big difference now from 2014 when the Israelis last fought Hamas in Gaza. At that time, president Obama made clear to Israel that it should not retake Gaza if it wanted US support. With President Trump in the White House, however, the Israelis are unlikely to be held back by the USA. Another big difference is the stance of Russia. In 2014, it is unlikely that Putin wanted to see Hamas neutralized. Now that Hamas has become so dependent on the Iranians, Putin most likely wouldn't mind seeing Israel get rid of the terrorists. The final big difference from 2014 is that the other Sunni Arab nations like Egypt, Jordan, and the Saudis are unlikely to give Hamas any support other than possible verbal statements. Hamas is already on the outs with the Egyptians. Hamas has also thrown its lot in with the Iranians, the mortal enemy of Jordan and the Saudis. These Sunni nations would shed no tears to see this Iranian ally removed from the map.
We may be seeing the prelude to a war that the terrorists of Hamas have brought on themselves. I hope not, but I fear yes is the likely answer.
A few hours later, the Israeli Air Force launched counter measures. The IAF hit a series of Hamas installations inside Gaza and destroyed them. These were the largest raids by the IAF on Gaza in quite a while, perhaps since the 2014 war. There is even talk that Israel may launch a ground offensive into Gaza to find and disarm Hamas of its weapons.
This may well be a response by Hamas to the informal offer by the Trump Administration to have Hamas give up terrorism in exchange for help in improving the living conditions inside the Gaza Strip. What better way for Hamas to say NO than for it to ratchet up its confrontation with the Israelis on the border.
One has to wonder what the end game is for Hamas. The terrorists cannot win in a confrontation with the Israeli military. All that will happen is that there will be more fighting, more death, more suffering and then, for Hamas, ultimate defeat. What's the point of this?
For Israel, there could be the chance to end the problem of having Hamas as a thorn in its side. Were the Israelis to retake Gaza, the Israelis could root out most of the Hamas terrorists. Israel could also remove the chance that there will be massive missile launches from Gaza that could hit the southern part of the country. The press would, no doubt, be bad as the far left supporters of Hamas would call any move by Israel genocide, even if no one gets killed (which won't be the case.) Still, Hamas may be pushing the situation to the point where that alternative is the one that the Israeli government selects.
There is one big difference now from 2014 when the Israelis last fought Hamas in Gaza. At that time, president Obama made clear to Israel that it should not retake Gaza if it wanted US support. With President Trump in the White House, however, the Israelis are unlikely to be held back by the USA. Another big difference is the stance of Russia. In 2014, it is unlikely that Putin wanted to see Hamas neutralized. Now that Hamas has become so dependent on the Iranians, Putin most likely wouldn't mind seeing Israel get rid of the terrorists. The final big difference from 2014 is that the other Sunni Arab nations like Egypt, Jordan, and the Saudis are unlikely to give Hamas any support other than possible verbal statements. Hamas is already on the outs with the Egyptians. Hamas has also thrown its lot in with the Iranians, the mortal enemy of Jordan and the Saudis. These Sunni nations would shed no tears to see this Iranian ally removed from the map.
We may be seeing the prelude to a war that the terrorists of Hamas have brought on themselves. I hope not, but I fear yes is the likely answer.
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