Dr Bassim Na’im, a Hamas leader, about Israeli escalation

For some time, the situation between the Zionist entity and the Gaza Strip has been volatile and tense. This has primarily been due to the failure of the Israelis to implement what was agreed upon between the two sides in the Egyptian brokered negotiations. Each time, the Israelis come up with a different pretext. At one time it is the elections, at another it is the formation of the government and at another it is Netanyahu’s personal crisis. They may even use trivial excuses such as the claim that someone within Gaza damaged the barbed wire or burnt a tyre. The purpose of these excuses has been nothing but to stall and gain more time. It is obvious that they have been evading their commitments. Evidently, many of the points that were agreed upon between the two sides have not been implemented including resolving the electricity problem once and for all, allowing funds in whether for salaries or for social welfare needs and defining the parameters of the fishing zone. The latter has not been determined all this while and whenever something happens they change their mind and close the entire zone not to mention the repeated attacks on fishermen.

All this comes within a general context marred by a state of tension and frustration in the shadow of leaks about the so-called deal of the century. From what has been declared so far, it is now certain that what’s coming is much worse than anything in the past or the present. There would be no Jerusalem, no refugees and no Palestinian state. Furthermore, the West Bank would be annexed. It would be impossible for the Palestinian public in Gaza to ignore any of this. It would be unimaginable for Gazans to be concerned merely with securing some war or some medicines or some electricity while the entire Palestinian issue is being blown away.

Yet, what led to the recent flare up has to do with Israel’s continuing violations. Despite all the efforts made to control the marches and maintain their peacefulness over the past weeks – to which media and international agencies’ reports testify, the Israelis deliberately adopt a policy of shoot to kill Friday after Friday. Israeli snipers aim directly at demonstrators with the intention of killing them. Last Friday, snipers shot dead a young woman in North Gaza and a child in Khan Younis, both received bullets in the head. This inevitably stirred up a reaction. Fire was opened at some Israeli soldiers and the Israelis responded by assassinating a number of field commanders inside Gaza.