Hamas won’t blink first this time if IDF threatens ground operation:
...It seems Hamas also has demands on Egypt and the Palestinian Authority: easing movement through the Rafah crossing, which has been almost completely closed, and the transfer of money to pay the salaries of Hamas government employees in Gaza. It seems Hamas’ financial and strategic woes are serious enough to risk an escalation, despite the chance that a direct confrontation with the IDF will exact a heavy price and that Egypt, now ruled by generals, won’t come to the rescue.Hamas: No calm until Israel halts aggressions, lifts siege
Senior Hamas official Ismail al-Ashkar said the group would not agree to a ceasefire until aggressions against Gaza end. According to the official, Hamas' demands are an end to air strikes and an end to the Israeli-Egyptian blockage on the strip.The prisoner release demand on Israel, also as of yesterday:
Hamas is demanding the release of all Palestinian prisoners re-arrested after their release in the Shalit exchange deal before returning to ceasefire, Israeli media reported Monday. Israel's Hebrew-language Walla news website cited a high-ranking Hamas official who denied Hamas' involvement in the recent kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers weeks earlier. The official, Walla reported, added that if Israel wanted to return to ceasefire it would have to release all these prisoners and return to a 2012 Egypt-brokered ceasefire.Not clear if Hamas wants every terrorist released -- since that is not likely to happen since Israeli killed on Passover eve was murdered by Palestinian freed in Shalit deal
The killer of Baruch Mizrahi, the senior Israeli police officer killed in a Passover eve terror attack near Hebron, was a Palestinian released in the prisoner exchange deal which saw Gilad Shalit freed in 2011 in return for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, it was cleared for publication Monday.
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| A trail of smoke is seen as a rocket is launched from the Palestinian Gaza Strip towards southern Israel Photo: Jack Guez/AFP. Credit: The Telegraph |
One has to question how serious Hamas is about a ceasefire, when it imposes concessions over which Israel has no control.
Furthermore:
- If the Palestinian Authority was unable to pay for Hamas "government" employees when the Fatah-Hamas Unity government was relatively "stable" -- what are the chances that it will do so now?
- What are the chances that Egypt, which fears jihadists will use the Rafah to ease movement through the Egyptian-Gaza border, will agree to making travel for Hamas terrorists easier?
- Why should Israel lift security-based restrictions on imports and exports to the Gaza Strip, at a time when Iran is continuing to try to deliver advanced missiles to Hamas.
- Would Israel release the prisoners arrested after the murder of the three Israeli teens at a time that it is seeking to deter future kidnappings/murders?
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