Senior Israeli security officials have told the Security Cabinet that the current situation in Gaza resembles the one that existed just before Operation Protective Edge in 2014, warning that it might lead to a new military conflict with Hamas.
Hamas’ latest effort to join a Palestinian unity government is little more than a facade. Instead, the terror group’s top immediate objective is to seize control of Judea and Samaria and turn it into a second Gaza, according to the assessments of Israeli defense experts.
Hard-line Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar said on Thursday that the reconciliation deal with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction was collapsing, just 10 weeks after the agreement was reached.
Hamas and Fatah on Wednesday asked Egypt to postpone the transfer of responsibility for the Gaza Strip from Hamas to the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority.
A second round of reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas, attended by representatives of other Palestinian Arab organizations, began in Cairo on Tuesday.
An outbreak of violence between Israel and extremist groups in Gaza could destroy the fledgling agreement to end the 10-year rift between Fatah and Hamas, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov told The Jerusalem Post.
Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas vowed to the Palestinian people that the free and independent state of Palestine within the June 4, 1967 borders, with eastern Jerusalem as its capital, would be established with absolute certainty.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was unexpectedly summoned this week to Saudi Arabia for impromptu meetings with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed. The Palestinian leader received the call while in Egypt, where he discussed with his counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi efforts to jump-start peace negotiations with Israel as well as the unity deal recently forged between Abbas’ Fatah faction and Hamas, which was brokered by Cairo.
Former government sources have told The Jerusalem Post that Israel’s Operation Harpoon, carried out by a range of Mossad, Shin Bet and other operatives, was revolutionary in that it was ‘not just about following the money, but about destroying terrorists’ money networks.’
Hamas is ‘begging Iran’ for help in its armed resistance against Israel, a senior Trump administration official said on Monday, addressing the visit of several Hamas leaders to Tehran over the weekend.
The United States called Thursday for the Hamas terror group to disarm and renounce violence before being allowed to implement a highly touted unity deal with Palestinian rival Fatah, in a first detailed response to the agreement.
As part of the intra-Palestinian reconciliation, Hamas has pledged not to perpetrate terrorist attacks from Judea and Samaria, the London-based pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Sunday.
Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have reached agreement on aspects of their reconciliation bid during talks mediated by Egypt in Cairo this week, Hamas said on Thursday.
High-level Hamas and Fatah delegations are scheduled to participate in reconciliation talks in Cairo on Tuesday in a bid to start work on ending the decade-long territorial division between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
With the ink on the reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas not yet dry, with the mutual declarations of ‘real reconciliation on behalf of Palestinian national strength’ still reverberating in the background, the first signs of division over the implementation of understandings began to surface over the weekend.
A new round of Palestinian reconciliation talks experienced its first sign of trouble on Tuesday as the Hamas terror group said it would not give up its vast weapons arsenal, putting it at odds with both the rival Fatah movement and Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday spoke out against efforts by the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and the Gaza-ruling terror group Hamas to form a unity government.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that he would not be prepared to accept Hamas keeping its armed forces in Gaza like Hezbollah does in Lebanon and demanded ‘full control’ of the Strip, including over the border, security and all the ministries.
PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and several other government ministers are set to travel to Gaza Monday morning in a historic bid to work on ending the territorial division between the West Bank and Gaza.
Despite an all-time low in relations between the Riyadh government and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, a leading Saudi newspaper has offered a cautious welcome to the current reconciliation process between Hamas and its rival Fatah as they prepare for next week’s session of the Palestine National Council in Gaza — the first such meeting in three years.