It was not an easy week for Gaza-based Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar.
Following last month’s destructive Gaza war, Sinwar is now being criticized by both the Palestinian Authority and Egypt. This after his meeting with a United Nations envoy earlier this week failed.
On Monday Sinwar met with UN Special Coordinator Tor Wennesland. “My meeting with the UN coordinator was very bad and therefore we have no choice but to restart the resistance,” Sinwar told Palestinian radio. A few hours later, Sinwar announced the resumption of fire balloon attacks against southern Israel. Israeli officials believe a further escalation will occur soon.
Reacting to Hamas’ intransigence, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas insisted, “The reconstruction of Gaza will be done through us.”
Immediately after, the Abbas regime established of a committee for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Gaza, to be lead from Ramallah (and thereby bypassing Hamas).
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi concurred, telling press conference that Cairo would cooperate on the matter with the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas.
Sinwar finds himself hemmed in on all sides. While he publicly declared Hamas victorious in the recent conflict with Israel, the truth is that his position was better before the war. And that could ironically lead him to escalate the situation to the point of another major outbreak of violence.
“It seems the occupation (Israel) didn’t understand our message, and that we maybe need to carry out popular resistance (ie. Terrorism) to put pressure on the occupation,” the Hamas chief told reporters.
Meanwhile, Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned Sinwar that there’s a new sheriff in town, and that Israel’s patience with Hamas “has run out.”
The UN typically sides with the Palestinians, so it would be interesting to know what Sinwar and Wennesland disagreed on. Could it be that like Israel, the UN has finally lost its patience with Hamas and its lies?
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