Gaza -

3 days after the military operation that Israel "suddenly" launched on Gaza last Friday, it appears clearly that the Palestinian resistance is conducting the "battle" with a different approach than usual in the previous four Israeli wars.

This approach is centered on the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and its military arm, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the largest among the resistance factions in Gaza, which raises questions from the Israelis about its real role in managing the battle without being "directly involved in it until the moment."

The Al-Qassam Brigades is the most numerous and well-equipped military formation among the 12 armed formations affiliated with the "Joint Operations Room", which declared a "state of maximum alert" after the current aggression initiated by Israel with the assassination of the northern region commander of the Al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of the Islamic Jihad movement, Taysir Al-Jabari.

The successive developments in the field pose several questions, perhaps the most prominent and most important: How will the role of Hamas develop?

And what is the moment when the movement will have to enter the battle with its full force and directly?


war of attrition

From the first moment of the aggression, Israel was keen to "neutralize" Hamas, by declaring that the attack targeted the Islamic Jihad movement only, but the response from the resistance was swift through an official statement signed by the "Joint Operations Room."

And the joint room put itself in a state of alert and permanent meeting, to coordinate efforts and take appropriate decisions, according to the developments of events in the field.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told Al Jazeera Net that "the resistance is planning and working through the joint operations room, and the management of the battle is taking place in agreement with the factions."

Qassem exported the intensity of the rockets fired from Gaza at targets in the occupying country as evidence that "the resistance is present with strength and boldness, manages the battle ably, and can confuse the enemy's calculations."

The writer and political analyst close to Hamas, Ibrahim Al-Madhoun, confirmed to Al-Jazeera Net that "Hamas is at the heart of the battle," and the response to the Israeli aggression is carried out in high coordination between the factions and the military wings through the "joint operations room."

In Madhoun's opinion, the resistance is running a "gradual battle" through which it achieves two main goals, the first: "managing its military capabilities and not exhausting them all at once", and the second is depriving Israel of the privilege of determining the timing and method it has chosen for the current escalation.

It seems that Israel wants from behind this "surprise escalation" to avenge what was inflicted on it by the Palestinian resistance, which had the preference for the "starting word" in the "Battle of Saif al-Quds" last May, according to al-Madhoun.

The security expert and professor of strategic studies, Dr. Ibrahim Habib, agrees with Al-Madhoun, and tells - to Al Jazeera Net - that the resistance is running a "war of attrition", to remove any excuses from Israel to increase its "destructive strikes", and on the other hand, increase pressure on the "Israeli home front", which cannot be tolerated. A long attrition battle.

Hamas' operational participation in the battle is still "symbolic" through small armed formations that fire locally-made rockets at Israeli targets in "short ranges" located in the vicinity of the so-called "Gaza envelope settlements", according to Habib, adding that "Saraya al-Quds is leading the scene, with the participation of Other small wings, according to a plan, it seems that the joint operating room has found it most appropriate at the moment."


moment of explosion

Regarding the event that will push Hamas to engage strongly and directly in the battle, Habib says that “Hamas’ entry into the battle has serious consequences for both sides,” noting that Israel “realizes that Hamas is leading the confrontation, and it also realizes that the course of this confrontation will differ if Hamas rushed in.” To participate in it in full force and directly."

The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, published an article saying, "As long as Hamas is out of the battle, the damage (which Israel will sustain) will be limited, so it is better to stop" the military operation.

Habib said that Israel wants to end this process quickly, and to stand at this point, and in the way it appears victorious, by its success in assassinating prominent figures in the resistance and in an abrupt manner that changes the rules of engagement with the resistance, which is what Hamas and the resistance do not want, and insists on continuing the "unity of squares" operation. , launched by the Islamic Jihad movement in response to the Israeli raids, and for Israel to pay the price for its aggression, but with minimal losses on Gaza.

In the opinion of Habib and Al-Madhoun, Hamas may exceed the considerations that prevent its actual participation in the war, and rush to lead the battle directly and engage in its field activities, in the event of a major event, whether resulting from Israel’s expansion of the circle of fire and the perpetration of a massacre that expects large numbers of casualties among civilians. Or a major event related to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

At the moment, analysts believe that the current confrontation will quickly escalate into a wide-scale war that may be prolonged.