Gaza -

With the aim of "neutralizing" the Gaza Strip and preventing the situation from slipping into a new large-scale war, the past hours witnessed intense contacts by mediators with the resistance factions, during which exchanged messages were transmitted with Israel, which confirmed that it is keen to maintain the "state of calm on the Gaza front."

A reliable source close to the resistance factions affiliated with the "joint operations room" in Gaza - to Al Jazeera Net - estimates that prominent leaders from the first leadership ranks in the Islamic Resistance Movements (Hamas) and Islamic Jihad, in Gaza and abroad, received and made about 150 phone calls with mediators during the past 48 hours.

The same source, preferring to keep his identity, reveals that unfamiliar parties have entered the mediation line for the first time, and are making efforts alongside traditional mediators such as Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations, to ensure that Gaza does not militarily enter the "front line" in light of the escalation of heat in the West Bank. Especially in Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.

He says that Israel initiated the request for the intervention of these mediations, which intensified its efforts and contacts with the resistance factions, following the last meeting in the office of Hamas President Yahya Al-Sinwar in Gaza, a few days ago, and the previous announcement of "general mobilization", and that the "operations room" will remain in A permanent state of meeting, to monitor developments in the situation and take the appropriate decision to protect the Palestinian people and their sanctities.


Resistance messages

The resistance factions were not satisfied with the messages that reached Israel through mediators, and they themselves delivered messages of a different kind, through “missile tests” towards the sea, and the same source says that the resistance wanted to tell the occupation and mediators that it “has a surplus of missiles, and it will not hesitate to be its next destination towards the cities.” Israel, not toward the sea.

The prominent leader of Hamas in Gaza, Dr. Ismail Radwan - for Al Jazeera Net - defines the messages of resistance to the occupation through mediators, with the following points:

Jerusalem is Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic, and we will not accept any new facts that the occupation seeks to impose through plans for the temporal and spatial division of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Allow freedom of movement and free access for worshipers to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Stopping Israeli crimes in occupied Jerusalem and the cities of the West Bank.

Completely and permanently withdraw from the plan to "slaughter offerings" and the efforts to desecrate the Temple Mount.

Completely lift the siege on Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

The release of all detainees, who were arrested by the occupation in the midst of the latest developments, most of whom are stationed in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Gaza is part of the "Palestinian geography" and the resistance adheres to the "unity of the field" in response to the crimes of the occupation.

Radwan says that the resistance informed the mediators of its adherence to what it described as the "Gaza-Jerusalem equation" as one of the "effects of the Battle of the Jerusalem Sword", and that the "joint operations room" is in permanent session, to follow up on developments of events, and to take the position it deems commensurate with the "occupation's behavior."

He stresses that Gaza is inseparable from Jerusalem and the West Bank, and the areas of the interior occupied in 1948, and the "resistance will remain the shield of the Palestinian people", and it will be present and at its responsibility at any time, and will not accept changing the rules of engagement, which were drawn by the battle of Saif al-Quds last May, when A victory for the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood erupted in Jerusalem.


Resistance options

In turn, Zaher Jabarin, a member of Hamas' political bureau and its deputy head in the West Bank, confirms that the resistance has set "red lines" for mediators, and it cannot remain silent about any violation of it by the occupation.

He reiterates, to Al Jazeera Net, that "there is no truce with the occupation as long as its attacks in occupied Jerusalem continue, and Hamas encourages all Palestinians to resist and teach the occupation lessons on any transgression of these lines, foremost of which is the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Regarding the intensity of contacts with Hamas during the past hours, Jabareen says that the movement has become "the headline of the political movement and the backbone of the resistance", as it is "the ruler of Gaza," emphasizing that it "is not alone in the field and is in one trench with all the resistance factions."

The mediators’ efforts, according to Jabarin, are focused on searching for exits and preventing the outbreak of a new war in Gaza. He says, “We have many means to pressure the occupation, and opening a new war on the Gaza front is one of the options, which we have not dropped off the table.”

Jabareen added that there are other fronts in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the areas of the interior occupied in 1948, and "we innovate in the means of resistance, and Gaza remains the pinnacle of these fronts."

Returning to Radwan, he says that Hamas encourages "qualitative guerrilla operations" in the West Bank and inside the cities of the occupation, and is looking forward to "a comprehensive revolution everywhere on the Palestinian land, whose title is Jerusalem."

The resistance factions are ready for the option of war in case the crisis rolls over to them (Reuters)

War possibilities

The writer and political analyst Dr. Thabet Al-Amour suggested that "Israel does not want to go to war with Gaza, realizing that the cost bill will be very high this time."

He tells Al Jazeera Net that there is a situation that he described as "benign competition" between the resistance factions in Gaza, especially Hamas and Islamic Jihad, in terms of raising the "ceiling of demands" through mediators, while maintaining the state of "reconciliation" and taking unanimous and consensus positions, to determine the nature of the response to Occupation crimes.

Al-Amour believes that the options of the resistance factions this time are directed towards igniting the flame of the resistance in the West Bank and the occupied interior, and it is likely that they can succeed in this if they employ the “organizational structure” in the cities of the West Bank, which can “shuffle the cards” by escalating specific individual operations.

In Al-Amour's opinion, the resistance prefers until this moment that Gaza remain outside the circle of direct engagement, as long as there is no unprecedented development, and then the field will have different accounts, or the war may break out on an Israeli initiative if the ruling coalition faces the danger of collapse, and at that time the war will be one of its options as a lifeline.