It was a one-way truce anyway, as Hamas and other jihadist groups continued to lob rockets into Israel all the while. The world never expected or demanded Hamas to act like a real government, while demanding a level of restraint from Israel that would allow virtually no response to the jihadist faux-state in Gaza but inaction.
Under Islamic law, a hudna is never intended to last, and its purpose is to allow the Muslim side to regroup and re-arm until they think they are in a position to succeed when hostilities resume. Hamas has spent its time doing just that, stockpiling all the weapons and explosives it could — all the more so since the Egyptian revolution.
Israeli intelligence estimates that “Hamas and Islamic Jihad have obtained more than 10,000 rockets and missiles — including a large stockpile of Iranian Fajr-5 rockets that can reach Tel Aviv.” Longer-range rockets can be stored farther from the Israeli border, so that “in order to effectively stop rocket fire into Beersheba, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Tel Aviv, the IDF will have to operate throughout the entire Strip.” Hamas’ propaganda machine will be standing by to peddle its wares to international news outlets, of course.
Eventually, however, Hamas will bite off more than it can chew in the current round of the conflict as well, and plead again to return to the ceasefire to repeat the process, just as it did in March, after the Israeli response when one of Hamas’ more advanced rockets struck a school bus.
One question remains: will the Hamas fighters cut and run as badly this time, or fire poorly while paralyzed with fear? “Hamas calls off truce as rocket fire continues from Gaza,” from the Jerusalem Post, August 20:
Hamas announced early on Saturday they were no longer committed to a more than two-year de facto truce with Israel since the end of a war in early 2009.
They may also suppose that a renewed conflict may give them the chance to angle for sympathy at the U.N. ahead of the statehood spectacle looming in the coming weeks.
The statement was broadcast over a Hamas radio station in Gaza after Israel pounded the Strip for two days with air strikes in response to rocket salvoes and attacks on Thursday that killed eight people.
“There is no longer any truce with the enemy,” the statement said in a move seen as paving the way for Hamas to escalate the violence with Israel.
The IAF launched an airstrike late Friday night against a terrorist cell in the central Gaza Strip after the cell fired a rocket into Israeli territory, the IDF Spokesman’s Office said in a statement. A direct hit was identified in the strike, the statement added.
Minutes earlier, the Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip toward Ashkelon.
Earlier, three rockets exploded in the Eshkol Regional council Friday night over a period of several hours. No injuries or damages were reported.
In the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, an explosion occurred near a local kibbutz Friday evening. Local officials said a Kassam rocket landed in an open area. No injuries or damages were reported.
An hour earlier, two rockets fired from Gaza fell in northern Lachish not far from Kiryat Malachi. No injuries were reported although the explosion sparked a fire, which spread to an empty building. The building was lightly damaged before firefighters put out the fire.
Police have asked members of the public in the affected areas to follow instructions from the home front command. […]
“If anyone thinks the State of Israel will resign itself to this, they are wrong,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in a brief television address about the most deadly attack in Israel since 2008.