[Pandareus]

Volgens de terroristenleider van Islamic Jihad was dit maar een 'drill', een oefening om zich voor te bereiden op het volgende conflict met Israël wat al binnen enkele maanden zou plaatsvinden.

Islamic Jihad warns of upcoming war, calls last flareup ‘live fire drill’
Terror group head Ziad al-Nakhaleh says his organization and Hamas coordinated latest round of violence while in Egypt for truce talks

Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Secretary-General Ziad al-Nakhaleh said Tuesday that he expected war with Israel in the coming months, and that his group and Hamas coordinated the outbreak of the most recent round of fighting.

“The last escalation was only a live fire drill in preparation for the major campaign that is coming,” Nakhaleh said during an interview with the Hezbollah-linked al-Mayadeen news outlet, according to Hebrew media reports.
Nakhaleh said that Islamic Jihad and Hamas, a jihadist terror organization sworn to Israel’s destruction, decided to spark the last round of fighting with the Israel Defense Forces while the two groups were in Egypt to discuss a truce with Israel. Egypt has long acted as a broker between Israel and Palestinian terror groups in Gaza.
“We decided to fire at an IDF officer and a female soldier last Friday in cooperation with Hamas to respond to the killing of protesters at the March of Return,” Nakhaleh said, according to Channel 13 news. “This was decided while we were in Cairo. The Egyptians didn’t like the fact that this happened while we were in Cairo. Myself and Yahya Sinwar decided to continue the escalation,” he said, referring to Hamas’s Gaza chief.
“Between us and Hamas there is agreement on everything,” Nakhaleh said.

bron : https://www.timesofisrael.com/islami...ve-fire-drill/

In de Israëlische pers komt er ook meer en meer kritiek op de al te softe reactie van het leger, dat de afschrikkingskracht van Israël weg is gevallen. En dat Hamas de toegeving van Netanyahu om nonkel Quatar cadeautjes voor 30 mio dollar per maand te laten uitstrooien als pure zwakheid ziet.
Nog andere opiniemakers gaan mee met de these dat Netanyahu nu beperkt reageerde, omdat hij het onvermijdelijk volgende conflict liever pas tegen de zomer zou starten.

Gaza fighting made Islamic Jihad a major player
Analysis: The small Gaza-based terror group has been upgraded and is now an equal partner in any negotiated agreement - a major achievement that compensates for the physical losses of the campaign
For an entire month Islamic Jihad tried to execute a major terror attack against Israeli targets or otherwise bring about an escalation in violence, in order to derail any long-term agreement between the Palestinians and the Jewish state.
After a few attempts, they finally succeeded in dragged Hamas into this latest round of fighting in Gaza.
Now that the smoke has cleared, it appears that this small organization has emerged as the most substantial player both in Gaza in particular and in the Arab sphere in general.



Egyptian negotiators are now obliged to accept Islamic Jihad as as equal partner, represented not only by its leader Ziad Nahala, but also by its field commander Bahu Abu al-Ata, who now also has a seat at the table.



Despite the heavy price that Islamic Jihad payed in the course of the fighting, and in the resulting ceasefire agreement, from a long-term perspective, it has had an upgrade.
Since the end of the 2014 Gaza war (known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge), Israelis have come to rely on the Iron Dome defense system to provide near perfect cover from rockets and missiles.



Hamas and Islamic Jihad, trying to break through this defense, fired many rockets at the same target and at the same time, calculating - correctly - that one at least would be able to reach its destination inside populated areas and cause civilian casualties.
Israelis should realize the Iron Dome can no longer provide the protection they had come to expect, and they should also understand this is a preview of what a war with Hezbollah may look like.
It has been years since targeted killing was used against terror chiefs in Gaza. The killing this week of money-man, Hamed Ahmed Khudari, was meant to remind the Palestinian factions of a time not so long ago when their leaders were regularly targeted. Hitting Khudari in the middle of a busy street was a warning.

We have now ended the eighth round of violence this year. At the end of each round, Israelis are left feeling nothing has been achieved and that the next round is inevitable.

It is time for the decision-makers to take a stand. Any stand.

bron : https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,...505643,00.html

Blijkbaar heeft IDF nu toch haar tactische keuzes vrij sterk aangepast, na de harde kritiek die ze kregen in het vorige rondje dat ze vochten met Hamas. (kritiek was toen dat de luchtmacht vooral lege observatieposten bombardeerde, lege basissen en nauwelijks echte schade bij de Hamas operatives kon bekomen).

Nu zijn ze gericht buildings gaan platgooien die Islamic Jihad gebruikt, plus de privé woningen van militaire commandanten. (goed wetende dat die samen met hun familie in ondergrondse bunkers verscholen zitten). Maar het signaal was er : als ze uit hun put kruipen, vinden ze enkel puin in plaats van hun woning. Leuk om uit te leggen aan de familie

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,...505129,00.html