In lieu of dialogue, Hamas is playing with fire

Explosion in Gaza City after Israeli airstrike

Avi Issacharoff writes in Times of Israel, “The drums of war are again beating in Gaza. Blasts from the Israeli Air Force’s strikes echoed almost throughout the Strip early Monday, while again alarms blared on the Israeli side of the fence shortly after 4 a.m. Three rockets were launched, one of which landed inside Gaza. It is like a bad movie that the viewers — Israelis and Palestinians alike — are forced to watch over and over, and whose dire ending, barring any unexpected development, everyone already knows.”

“The military says it struck nine targets associated with Hamas and other terror groups. Among them were a structure belonging to Hamas’s maritime forces that Israel has already blasted many times, a training facility for Hamas’s military wing, and a weapons manufacturing facility. This list seems to have already featured in previous rounds of combat.”

“The headline of this round is of course the fire kite terrorism. It has turned into a serious threat to southern Israel, and a main weapon in Hamas’s arsenal, with a variety of explosives and incendiary devices rigged to kites and balloons. Hamas, causing immense damage in Israel, along with helpless outrage in the face of such a primitive weapon, seems to have found its enemy’s weak spot: The kites look great in local and international news reports and have even become the subject of a sketch in “Eretz Nehederet,” Israel’s most popular comedy and satire show. …But still, the bottom line is that there were no casualties on either side in this round. Israel and Hamas have formulated an undeclared but clear policy — that they aren’t interested in an escalation of tensions or an all-out war — but are continuing to “exchange messages”: In the absence of a diplomatic process, the strikes and rocket launches have become the primary form of dialogue between the sides. Israel may be striking Hamas targets, but it is also doing everything it can to preserve Hamas’s rule over Gaza. There are no strikes on manned targets, and no targeting of senior members of the terror organization.” (more…)