Israel responds to Islamic Jihad by killing another of its leaders

After 13 hours of calm, Israel and the Gaza Strip woke up on Friday under the general feeling that the truce, mediated by Egypt, was close.. But the first burst of projectiles from Islamic Jihad in four days of escalation towards Jerusalem, neutralized in the surroundings by the “Iron Dome”, drove it away, although this morning it was still a real option again.. The Israeli leadership, which was in favor of a ceasefire after the death of five leaders of the armed wing of the Palestinian group in its “Shield and Arrow” operation, responded to the attack by ordering more airstrikes.. One of them killed the person in charge of “Operations” of Islamic Jihad, Eyad Al-Hasani, wanted for his role in the attacks from Gaza and also for his participation 26 years ago in attacks in Israel, and his assistant in a flat-hideout in the Gazan neighborhood of Al Nasr.

“The depth of the enemy will receive more attacks as a response to the assassinations. We decide when and where we react,” replied Jihad in the umpteenth chain of attacks and reprisals that this week has caused the death of an Israeli and 33 Palestinians (militants and civilians).. According to the army, four of the dead Palestinians (three children and a man) were hit by failed projectiles from the group also considered a terrorist group by the US and the EU.

Days after the hundreds of rockets against Israeli towns following the death of the Islamic Jihad prisoner, Jader Adnan, after 86 days on hunger strike in a jail in Israel, in the early hours of Tuesday several drones killed three important leaders of Al Quds Brigades targeted by the Tsahal as directly responsible for firing projectiles from Gaza and directing attacks from the West Bank.

Since this initial Israeli attack that also killed ten civilians (including several children and women), Islamic Jihad has launched more than a thousand projectiles against Israel, reaching remote areas around strategic and emblematic cities such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.. The Iron Dome carried out neutralizations with an effectiveness greater than 90%. A fifth of rockets did not cross the border.

Within Islamic Jihad there are disagreements about the truce. On the one hand, its leaders in Gaza are betting on a ceasefire due to pressure from Egypt, the advice of the Islamist group Hamas that controls the coastal enclave, the belief that they have already responded and the logical fear for their lives in the face of the deep and lethal penetration of the Israeli intelligence services that have reached six leaders in four days. On the other, the leadership abroad headed by Ziad Nahale wants to inflict severe damage on the enemy and expand the fronts following the instructions of Iran, the country that finances and arms him.. This Friday, Nahale spoke by phone with the Iranian Foreign Minister about the confrontation with the common enemy.

The main demand of Jihad in the negotiations in Cairo is Israel's commitment not to carry out “selective assassinations” of its leaders. The Israeli response would be summed up as follows: “Everything depends on whether or not the attacks from Gaza continue.. Fire will be answered with fire and calm with calm.”

Israel would like to end the escalation satisfied by the “very hard blow to the Jihad terrorists”, in the words of an official, in an offensive that began with the factor of surprise and which it also hopes will help to restore its deterrence capacity against the Gaza militias, Hezbollah (Lebanon) and Iran. Also because it is aware that if Hamas drags on it will have no choice but to intervene actively, as Jihad asks of it, and not only on a rhetorical level.. Hamas, criticized in some sectors for not contributing to the “resistance against the Zionist enemy”, is also the one with power in Gaza and responsibility for the two million inhabitants of an area that has suffered numerous escalations in the last decade.

Leaks out last night from Gaza and Israel confirmed that despite the rhetoric and attacks, the parties are studying the Egyptian proposal for a truce.

Where a truce is not expected is in the northern West Bank. Two Palestinian militants were killed this Saturday morning in an armed clash with Israeli military forces that surrounded their home during a raid in the Balata refugee camp in the Nablus area.. This week, Israel has detained 25 Islamic Jihad members in the West Bank.