Hamas takes Israeli threats seriously
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip In mid-March, Palestinians and Israelis fought another round that included the launching of dozens of rockets at Israeli settlements and Israeli attacks on Gaza.
This latest fight was expected to end in a fashion similar to previous ones, with an exchange of statements between Gaza and Tel Aviv. However, this time around, the latter raised the bar and issued threats about possibly occupying the Gaza Strip anew and purging it of its military arsenal and rocket-launching capability, as Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has called for.
Concerns increased in Gaza amid the escalatory rhetoric by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and Army Commander Benny Gantz.
In conjunction with these threats, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades published a video showing its monitoring of an undated visit by Yaalon to Gazas eastern border, where he was within range of the brigades snipers.
snip*For its part, the Palestinian press has focused in the last few days on the threats to occupy Gaza. News shows have hosted military experts to speculate about the nature of the supposed occupation, as there is a prevalent fear that Israel might choose to suddenly escalate matters if a limited confrontation were to take place against Hamas. This could result in an escalation, perhaps with Arab support and funding, with the aim of ending Hamas rule of Gaza, as well as push forward an agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. This would require doing away with the main obstacle standing in its way, namely the Hamas-led government of Gaza.
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http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/hamas-israel-tunnel-threat-gaza-resistance.html#ixzz2xY2EDaO7