The Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror organizations on Saturday warned Israel following airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire at southern Israeli communities.
The Hamas-run health ministry said a Palestinian was killed and two were wounded in the Israeli strikes across Gaza. The strikes came after the army said 10 rockets were fired Friday night into Israel, one of which struck a home in the southern city of Sderot.
“The Israeli occupation bombardment and targeting of resistance sites and our people in Gaza is a continuation of a series of Zionist crimes and acts of aggression,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement.
Barhoum called the airstrikes a “dangerous escalation” and said the “Zionist enemy bears responsibility for its consequences and ramifications.”
“We affirm the blood of our people is dear and no one will allow the enemy to violate it or to turn Gaza into an arena to export internal crises,” he said.
“We hold the occupation responsible for this and affirm that what happened in terms of aggression is an extension of the tragedy that our people have experienced since Britain and the forces of Western colonization made a statement and gave support to the Zionist Jews to occupy Palestine and expel and persecute its people,” it added.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the rocket fire, but Israel routinely holds Gaza’s Hamas rulers responsible for any violence emanating from the Strip.
Hebrew media reported the belief in the security establishment was that Islamic Jihad was behind the rockets.
Over 5,000 Palestinians were demonstrating in several locations along the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel on Friday afternoon as part of weekly protests, with several hundred rioting.
The army said rioting was taking place, with troops being attacked with improvised explosive devices, Molotov cocktails and rocks. In once instance a military vehicle was hit with a firebomb, but none were hurt.
Soldiers responded with less-lethal means as well as live fire against main instigators, the military said.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry reported at least 60 people had been wounded in the protests.
After a night of Israeli airstrikes in retaliation for rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, it was unclear whether a particularly short round of fighting between Israel and Palestinian terror groups in the coastal enclave was over or just beginning.
Ten rockets were fired into Israel Friday evening, one of which struck a home in the southern city of Sderot. A rocket was also launched from the Palestinian territory on Thursday, landing in an open field.
In response to the latest rocket fire, the Israel Defense Forces struck numerous Hamas targets in the Strip. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza later reported the death of 27-year-old Ahmed al-Sheri of Khan Younis in the strikes.
It can be assumed that the Gaza-ruling Hamas is not looking for an escalation of violence due to numerous developments in the Strip, though it appears fellow terror group Islamic Jihad is doing everything possible to set the area ablaze, with Hamas standing by and allowing it to do so for fear of public opinion.
Some in Israel have been quick to attribute the unruliness of Islamic Jihad in recent months to Iran’s influence over the organization. Such influence is indeed long-standing and continues to exist — but the situation is more complicated, involving a number of personal and political motives, and not necessarily alleged “commands” from Tehran.
The growing trend of escalation by Islamic Jihad is being led by the figure thought to be the head of its military wing in northern Gaza, Baha Abu al-Ata.
Time after time, the Israeli security establishment takes pains to publish or leak al-Ata’s name to various media outlets as the person behind the rocket fire and efforts to launch other attacks, in the hopes that Hamas will rein him in.
Al-Ata is a serious troublemaker in Gaza that no one wants to confront, including Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, who fear him and the possibility of being accused of collaboration if they act against him.
Al-Ata holds particularly extreme opinions against Israel and the current ceasefire between it and Gaza-based terror groups, including the agreement to allow money from Qatar into the enclave.
Al-Ata, whose picture has previously been released by the IDF spokesperson’s office, wants an even more extreme and uncompromising stance toward Israel and does not necessarily adhere to Iranian orders, but rather his own whim.
Furthermore, Al-Ata understands that in order to boost Islamic Jihad’s standing in Gaza, he needs to differentiate it from Hamas and the Gaza-ruling terror group’s agenda. As Hamas leads a policy of seeking quiet vis-a-vis Israel and improvement in Gaza’s economic situation, al-Ata is trying to brand himself and his organization as the true “resistance” in the Strip.
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