last friday, an agreement between israel and hamas meant that, for a brief period, oil and wages, paid by qatar, flowed into gaza. they were able to run their power plant for 12 hours a day, a shockingly high amount given how little power gaza usually receives. supposedly, this was in exchange for hamasâ police force keeping a lid on protests. israelâs true reasoning behind this deal was soon clear, when they dispatched a special forces assassination squad on sunday to kill a general in hamasâ military wing, the qassam brigades. hamas fought them off, losing 7 and killing one IDF soldier, which the guardian memorialized in the absurd headline âIsraeli officer killed during Gaza raid in which 7 Palestinians dieâ, later replaced with âEight dead in undercover Israeli operation in Gazaâ.
the objective was clear. a night time covert raid would cause a hamas backlash which could then be painted in the international media as hamas breaking a ceasefire, given the international press pays no attention whatsoever to what palestinians say. instead, hamas fought off the raid and responded with an incredibly well-targeted ATGM strike. rather than kill all the soldiers on the bus, in the video above, the operators wait for each soldier (a bus full of soldiers is a legitimate target in war) to exit before striking, killing none and injuring one. israel referred to this bus as a civilian bus, but the message was clear. hamas has gained a level of military discipline it did not have before.
israel responded with the usual airstrikes on buildings in gaza. palestinians launched nearly 500 rockets and mortars in response, all from a central command uniting every faction in gaza, something that has never before been witnessed and shocking israeli commanders. the new strategic prowess of hamas was encapsulated in this quote: âIf we had intensified the attacks, rockets would have been fired at Tel Aviv,â senior cabinet officials said. overall, hamas managed to prevent a war that would have been seen as regular only a few years ago.
defense minister avigdor lieberman jumped ship right after agreeing to a renewed ceasefire in private. he saw the chance to get the jump on netanyahu by proclaiming himself the renewed war party. israel looks weak agreeing to a ceasefire without major bleeding by the palestinian side, but it would look weaker if it took serious casualties. netanyahu knows heâd suffer going into early elections if this were the case, so he agreed to continue the prior arrangement, lieberman, however, realized he could steal votes from war-supporters if he criticized netanyahu as weak, and left his position to do so. netanyahu now has to appoint his biggest opponent on the right, naftali bennett, to the post of defense minister to avoid an election. he will probably accede, but reap the consequences quite soon, given that his coalition now only has a one seat majority. israelâs rapidly moving between a rock (the israeli populaceâs appetite for war and ethnic cleansing) and a hard place (the strategic position of hamas and hezbollah).
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