Dozens of rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip on May 29 — the heaviest barrage since the 2014 Gaza war. Just after midnight, reports emerged in Gaza that Hamas and the Islamic Jihad had reached Egyptian-mediated understandings with Israel on a cease-fire. Israel denied the reports, which cited sources in both movements. However, even if the reports were premature, they indicated that Hamas and the Islamic Jihad felt they had accomplished the goal they had set for themselves following 24 hours of armed clashes with Israel, and that the time had come to end the flare-up before it was too late.
In October 2017, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) blew up an Islamic Jihad tunnel dug into Israel, killing 12 operatives inside and taking some of the bodies to use as bargaining chips for the remains of two Israeli soldiers — Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul — killed in the war in 2014. Since then, Hamas has been exerting heavy pressure on the smaller Islamic Jihad movement to avoid retaliating and dragging Gaza into another war. Hamas leaders understood the consequences of an additional military adventure in the Gaza Strip, and with Egypt’s help managed to prevent the Islamic Jihad from firing rockets at Israel. Instead, it focused on organizing mass protests along the fence that began March 30.
That was the situation until May 27, when an IDF tank killed three armed militants of the Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades, who tried to plant explosives adjacent to the Gaza fence with Israel. The organization, which enjoys direct Iranian support, rushed to vow revenge, and carried out its threat this week with barrages of mortar shells and rockets at Israel. This time, Hamas did not try to stand in the way.
More than 110 Gazans have been killed in ongoing clashes with Israel over the past eight weeks, and thousands have been injured. The popular protests of which the Hamas leadership boasted as reflecting the anger of the besieged populace generated international condemnation of Israel and focused attention on the dire plight of the 2 million Gazans. At the same time, however, the Hamas leadership also came in for harsh criticism for sending unarmed civilians to fight the war of its armed battalions.
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