Hamas is getting it from all sides from Qatar’s isolation to getting their electricity cut off and having their tunnels destroyed. The IDF and the GSS are preparing for an increase in violence from Gaza. The difficult situation in Gaza makes the security establishment believe that another battle is on its way.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is difficult. The Palestinian Authority which is at odds with the Hamas decided to stop paying for electricity in Gaza. Poor infrastructure also impacts the residents.International funding earmarked for aid to Gaza and its infrastructure was spent on tunnels and weapons. Abu Mazen himself is happy to tell us what Hamas is up to as he hopes to regain control in Gaza if he can successfully delegitimize the Hamas.
Qatar’s isolation in the world also seriously impacts Hamas who is losing their number one funder and supporter of terrorist endeavors. The Hamas foreign leadership is situated in Qatar which is dealing with isolation and international pressure to desist from supporting the Hamas and this pressure is bound to affect their ability to function and get funding. This lack of funding will intensify the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and turn it into an explosive situation.
The fear is that Hamas will aggressively try to defend its status as a champion of Arab causes especially to raise the moral of the residents of Gaza who are already pawns in their man made humanitarian crisis. Some gory pictures of harm inflicted on Israel will boost Hamas’s image in the eyes of those unfortunate enough to live under Hamas control.
In addition to all this, Israel is making an underground barrier against future terror tunnels from Gaza to Israel which will stop the Hamas tunnel project. They may try hard to protect the tunnels they already built with hard labor and massive foreign funding over the past few years.
A security official says that the Hamas is trying their utmost to carry out terror attacks in the Judea and Samaria regions and have no red lines about this. They’re also intensifying their protests opposite the security all around Gaza and last week a protester was killed by IDF gunfire.
The potential for a rise in violence is great especially since the new Hamas leader over such an undertaking is Yihya Sinuar the new extremist leader of the group. For Sinuar known for his hawkish views, this will be his first test of leadership. This is not the type of leadership we are used to where a leader actually cares about his people. Rather it is how much enemy blood can he spill.