"We will do whatever it takes to defend our people."
On Friday August 5, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced the launch of a military operation against the Palestinian armed group Islamic Jihad, accused of planning attacks against the Jewish state.
After three days of hostilities that cost the lives of dozens of Palestinians, including civilians, fighters and two leaders of the Islamist group in Gaza, the two parties signed a truce on Sunday evening, which allowed the reopening on Monday of crossing points into the Palestinian enclave.
This operation is the first major military offensive by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who succeeded Naftali Bennett as head of government in June.
A "preventive attack" which intervenes in a particular context, in the middle of the electoral campaign, three months before the legislative elections.
Yair Lapid, the warlord
The military operation against Islamic Jihad served as a baptism of fire for Yaïr Lapid, a former journalist, sometimes criticized for his lack of experience on the security issue.
An offensive during which Israel killed two of the group's main military leaders in Gaza, Tayssir al-Jabari and Khaled Mansour, and destroyed a cell that was "preparing an anti-tank missile attack against Israel", in the words of the Prime Minister.
At the same time, Israeli forces carried out operations in the West Bank, territory occupied since 1967 by the Jewish state, during which 19 members of Islamic Jihad were arrested.
Another notable fact, this flash operation, which did not generate any human loss on the Israeli side, did not provoke a military response from the Islamist movement Hamas, despite the Israeli strikes on the enclave it controls.
"With this operation, it was for Yaïr Lapid to strike the Islamic Jihad in a global way, in Jenin, in the West Bank, and especially in Gaza, which constitutes its main anchoring", underlines Jean-Paul Chagnollaud, president of the Institute Middle East Mediterranean Research and Studies Center (iReMMO).
"The Prime Minister thought that Hamas would not move. It is clear that his bet worked."
In the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas in May 2021, 260 Palestinians and 14 Israelis died in eleven days of hostilities.
A few months later, Yaïr Lapid, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, proposed a plan aimed at "improving" the living conditions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for a commitment to "calm" from the movement controlling the enclave.
Since then, the Israeli government has announced an increase in the number of entry permits to Israel for Palestinians from Gaza.
"Hamas is well aware that the last war against Israel did not allow progress on the ground for Gaza", analyzes Hugh Lovatt, coordinator at the think tank European Council on Foreign Relations in London.
"The current situation of calm in exchange for an easing of Israeli restrictions is far from satisfactory in view of the plight of the people of Gaza. But for Hamas, it is still preferable to war, provided that these easing of restrictions continues."
A sham military victory?
On Sunday, Yair Lapid expressed his thanks to the Israeli forces, describing the operation as an "extraordinary success".
Defense Minister Benny Gantz, for his part, had promised to continue operations until the "elimination of threats" hanging over the Israeli area adjacent to the Gaza Strip.
For Vincent Lemire, historian and director of the French Research Center in Jerusalem (CRFJ), Israel won a battle against Islamic Jihad, but not the war.
"It is a non-pyramidal movement: unlike Hamas, it is made up of autonomous, separate cells," he explains.
"Islamic Jihad is unlikely to stop after this offensive since it is designed to be able to continue operating even when its leaders are neutralized."
By accepting a ceasefire, the Palestinian armed group hopes, for its part, to obtain the release of several of its leaders detained by Israel.
According to him, negotiations in this direction must take place between Egypt and the Jewish state.
01:46
Political impact uncertain
Yair Lapid's lightning operation comes in a context of political crisis in Israel.
On June 30, Naftali Bennett, then Prime Minister, was forced to throw in the towel, his political bloc having become a minority after losing the support of one of its members.
In accordance with the coalition agreement between the two men, Yaïr Lapid succeeded him, with his sights set on the November legislative elections during which he hopes to beat the coalition led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
For Vincent Lemire, there is no doubt that the war against Islamic Jihad has allowed the current head of government to score points against his adversary.
“By hitting Islamic Jihad, Yair Lapid is hitting Iran, which finances it. It is important domestically because Iran is Netanyahu's pet peeve. (…) This war has also given him the opportunity to stand out from his rival in terms of communication, which he masters perfectly."
Israel has published several videos aimed at showing how the army avoids hitting civilians.
Israeli forces also released footage of a failed firing from Gaza, claiming it had killed several Palestinians.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported a death toll of 46 Palestinians, including 16 children, and 360 others injured.
Watch this failed rocket launch which killed children in Gaza.
This barrage of rockets was fired by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in Gaza last night.
The rocket in the red circle misfired, killing Palestinian civilians—including children—in Jabaliya in northern Gaza.
pic.twitter.com/55zSU3fsRY
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 7, 2022
If he recognizes a benefit for Yaïr Lapid's image, Jean-Paul Chagnollaud believes that the political impact of the war must be largely put into perspective.
"The latest polls show the coalitions of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yair Lapid neck and neck. In this context, it is impossible to predict what may happen in three months. Yair Lapid is at the head of a very heterogeneous coalition which includes people from the left as well as people in favor of the annexation of the West Bank, which prevents the implementation of a real political project. In my opinion, the military operation against the Islamic Jihad is a very short-term tactic that is not very effective, both politically and militarily," said the specialist in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, deploring the absence of a strategy for lasting peace.
"Until real negotiations take place, no military operation will guarantee the security of Israel. In this war, there is no winner, neither political nor military, just a loser, always the even the Palestinian people."
While the situation remained calm on Tuesday in Gaza, a new Israeli raid took place in Nablus in the West Bank, killing three Palestinians, including a senior member of the Fatah movement, suspected by the Jewish state of having carried out anti-Israeli attacks.
The summary of the
France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 app
google-play-badge_EN