On March 31, the press service of the Israel Defense Forces reported that Israeli tanks had hit the Gaza Strip. It is noted that the object of the attack were the positions of the Palestinian movement Hamas, in whose hands is in power in the region. According to the press service, the attack was a response to the rocket attack on Israeli territories.

Earlier, the Israeli military detected the launch of five missiles from the Gaza Strip, which fell on the territory of the Eshkol Regional Council adjacent to it. Information about the destruction and injuries have been reported. None of the Palestinian factions claimed responsibility for the incident.

Protests, missiles and tanks

Exchanges of strikes between the Israelis and the Palestinians were preceded by many thousands of protests on the Gaza Strip’s border on March 30. So the Palestinians celebrated the anniversary of the “Great March of Return” - a series of demonstrations against the blockade of Gaza, which took place last year.

To gallery page

During the Saturday demonstration along the Israeli border, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, Israeli soldiers used weapons to shoot four Palestinians, three of whom were 17-year-olds. At least 300 people were injured.

At the same time, as reported by Times of Israel, the Israeli military, represented by the spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, Ronen Manelis, was forced to admit that the Hamas movement that had organized the protests "showed restraint unprecedented in the past year." Most of the Palestinians, according to the Israelis, kept their distance from the barriers and only a few were “aggressive”.

Since the beginning of March, Israeli aviation has launched air strikes across the Gaza Strip every few days in response to launches of rockets and explosive balloons.

The most powerful Israeli attack took place on March 15, when, after the flight of a Palestinian rocket in the direction of Tel Aviv, the armed forces of the Jewish state hit about 100 targets in Gaza.

Tensions on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip are also worrying foreign observers. Among them, the executive director of Eurovision Jon Ola Sand. May 14 in Tel Aviv should start this music competition, and the Palestinians have demonstrated that their missiles are able to reach the current site.

Therefore, on March 27, in an interview with the Norwegian publication Aftenposten, Sand expressed concern about the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation.

According to the Turkish Agency Anadolu, on the same day, reinforcements, including tanks and other armored vehicles, came to the Israeli military on duty at the Israeli military border. On March 28, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the information on reinforcement. He also said that Tel Aviv is ready for a military campaign against the Gaza Strip.

“Recently, I ordered the reinforcement of units (the Israel Defense Forces at the border. - RT ), to provide additional weapons in preparation for an ambitious campaign,” according to Netanyahu Jerusalem Post. “All Israelis know that if a large-scale campaign is needed, then we, having exhausted all other options, will conduct it.”

On Saturday evening, March 30, before the beginning of new attacks from Gaza's territory, Netanyahu, as reported by the Israeli Channel 7, said that he was ready for “any development of events.”

“Our approach is the following: we use force when necessary, and if possible we avoid wars, which are not necessary,” the Israeli leader’s television channel quotes.

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
  • Reuters
  • © Yiannis Kourtoglou

Rhetoric "hawks"

However, there are those in Netanyahu’s government who consider the Prime Minister’s policy towards Gaza too soft. Thus, Justice Minister Aelet Shaked stated on the eve of the same “Channel 7” that Hamas no longer fear Israel, and offered to increase the attacks on the Palestinians.

  • Israeli Minister of Justice Aelet Shaked
  • Reuters
  • © Amir Cohen

Former Cabinet member Netanyahu, leader of the New Rights Party, Naphtali Bennett, also criticizes the prime minister and offers to “open the gates of hell” for Hamas. Ex-Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman, in turn, proposes to eliminate "all without exception" the leaders of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and, as noted by the Russian-language Israeli newspaper Cursor, calls Netanyahu's actions a "chronicle of surrender."

Both Bennett, Shaked, and Lieberman will participate in the elections to the Knesset on April 8, and not on the side of Netanyahu's Likud party. But they are not the greatest threat to the Israeli prime minister, but the opposition White-and-Blue Coalition led by the former Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Beni Ganz.

According to public opinion polls, this political force may receive as many mandates in the new parliament as the Likud - 30, which means it may well try to remove Netanyahu from the post of prime minister.

Ganz led Israeli armed forces in 2014 during Operation Unbreakable Rock in the Gaza Strip. Now his political force, which was also joined by General Gabi Ashkenazi, Ganz's predecessor as Chief of the General Staff, and General Moshe Ya'alon, another former Chief of the General Staff and former Minister of Defense of the Jewish state, are actively criticizing Netanyahu for being gentle with Gaza.

So, last week, Ganz stated that rocket attacks on Israel are evidence of Netanyahu’s “bankruptcy”. Earlier, he promised that in the event of coming to power, he tightened the policy towards the Arab enclave, including returning to the tactics of killing the leaders of the movements opposing the Jewish state. General Ashkenazi also came out in support of this plan.

On Wednesday, March 27, Ganz, speaking to his supporters, recalled that he and General Yaalon, after conducting a successful operation in Gaza in 2014, provided the country with "three and a half years of complete peace".

“Containment is achieved through the use of force,” the politician emphasized.

"Show muscles"

As Sergey Balmasov, an expert from the Institute of the Middle East, noted in an interview with RT, Israeli politicians on the eve of the elections are trying to “show muscles”.

“But in reality, Israel is now afraid of serious losses - they will be a disaster for politicians who participate in the elections,” said Balmasov in a conversation with RT. “But it’s quite possible to demonstrate the force crossing the border of the Gaza Strip at a certain distance without seriously diving into urban areas.”

Also, according to the expert, in the event of increasing tensions, Tel Aviv can increase the number of air strikes, artillery and tank attacks on Gaza territories. To this, the Israeli leadership pushes both criticism from the opposition and the expectations of its own voters, who are focused on a rigid policy towards the Palestinians.

  • Pre-election campaign of the party "Likud"
  • Reuters
  • © Ammar Awad

“Netanyahu needs to show that he is a hawk, not a crow,” says Sergey Balmasov. - And here it is important not to overdo it with possible losses. After all, the political moods of Israelis are changeable. ”

According to Yuri Zinin, a leading researcher at MGIMO, new strikes on Gaza "are playing into the hands of Netanyahu."

“So he shows his influence that he controls the situation,” the expert notes.

Persuasion and violence

According to the Israeli media, against the background of the incessant shelling of Gaza, the authorities of neighboring Egypt’s Palestinian enclave are trying to establish a negotiation process between Hamas and Israel. According to the Jerusalem Post, General Ahmed Abdel Halek arrived in Gaza at the head of the Egyptian delegation last Wednesday.

  • Representatives of the military wing of Hamas
  • Reuters
  • © Mohammed Salem

Egyptians are trying to mediate between Israelis and Palestinians in order to establish a peaceful dialogue. However, so far their efforts have been unsuccessful. So, on Monday, March 25, the truce between the Jewish state and Hamas entered into force, concluded through the mediation of Egypt, but on the night of Tuesday the Israelis said they launched 30 rockets on them and they responded with air strikes on Gaza.

Nevertheless, the Israeli media are actively discussing an agreement between Tel Aviv and Gaza with Egyptian mediation, the essence of which is to stop Israeli shelling in exchange for easing the Israeli blockade of Gaza, restoring power to the enclave and getting Gaza funding from Qatar.

However, the Israeli opposition criticizes Netanyahu’s intentions to reach an agreement with Hamas, believing that the “terrorists” cannot put conditions on Israel and that the prime minister’s actions are allegedly paying off from the militants ’.

In turn, in Gaza itself, if you believe the statements of the official representatives of Hamas, not everyone is ready to abide by the agreements with Israel. According to the information made public by the Palestinians, neither Hamas nor the other major group, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, were behind the strike on March 15 in Tel Aviv. However, the Israeli military believes that the Palestinians could launch missiles unintentionally, by mistake.

“Now a lot depends on how Hamas representatives will act,” said Sergey Balmasov. “Israel’s actions will be equally proportional to the threats posed by Gaza.”

At the same time, according to the expert, how the situation will develop further depends not only on Tel Aviv and Gaza, but also on external players who are fighting for influence on Hamas - Turkey, Iran and Qatar.

In turn, Yuri Zinin notes that the actions of Israel and its allies, such as the recognition of Jerusalem by the United States, the capital of Israel, and then the Golan Heights as part of this country, “play into the hands of radical forces and heighten tensions” in Palestine.

“All this reduces the effectiveness of any peace initiatives in the Middle East,” emphasizes the expert. “Exchanges of blows on the border of Gaza and Israel have already become mundane, and until another, constructive path, a path of dialogue is found, the violence will continue.”