Palestinian Factions Vow To Respond to Israeli Operation Shield and Arrow
The most likely scenario is a response by the Palestinian factions that will lead to an open, fierce confrontation with Israel, political analyst says
[Gaza City] Early on Tuesday, Israeli warplanes carried out predawn airstrikes on several areas of the Gaza Strip, killing 13 Palestinians, including three Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) commanders along with their wives and some of their children.
Six women and four children were among the dead while at least 20 other Palestinian civilians were injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Israel, which named the operation “Shield and Arrow,” claimed that it targeted PIJ members who were responsible for the firing of more than 100 rockets into Israel last week, following the death of the Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan in an Israeli prison.
However, this was neither the sole nor main motive behind the targeted assassinations, the Gaza-based political analyst Hossam Aldajani told The Media Line.
“First, there is a lot of pressure on [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu from [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir and other extremist members of the government, especially after the suspension of his vote and his party in the Knesset until their escalatory demands are met,” Aldajani said.
“On the one hand, Netanyahu is exporting his government’s internal crises by hitting Gaza targets, and on the other hand, he is trying not to allow a confrontation whose title is Jerusalem, which could open several military fronts, such as what happened in the battle of Saif al-Quds [Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2021] so he chose the assassination path.”
Netanyahu is trailing in the polls. His voter base wants Palestinian blood and that is what he actually delivered, knowing full well that there are unlikely to be any international consequences to targeting families in their sleep and killing children and women and other civilians, including the director of a very important Hospital in Gaza.
Ramallah-based political analyst Nour Odeh shares this opinion.
“Netanyahu is trailing in the polls. His voter base wants Palestinian blood and that is what he actually delivered, knowing full well that there are unlikely to be any international consequences to targeting families in their sleep and killing children and women and other civilians, including the director of a very important Hospital in Gaza,” she told The Media Line.
Among those killed in the airstrikes was prominent Palestinian dentist Jamal Khaswan, along with his wife and a son, according to the Health Ministry. Khaswan served as the chairman of the Board of Directors for Al-Wafa Hospital in Gaza City.
What occurred overnight in Gaza, she said, “could involve war crimes. The targeting of civilians, even if they include a so-called military leader, is not excused and it is not permissible under international law, so [with] these civilian casualties [and] the fact that this was a surprise attack, I think we’ll have consequences. We might be looking at a very intense period of escalation and we’ll see what kind of mediation happens internationally.”
Egyptian sources familiar with the mediation efforts say that Egypt is outraged by the Israeli actions and that it intends to suspend its mediation between the Israeli government and the Palestinian resistance factions in light of the Israeli attack.
Within the framework of Egypt’s role as a mediator and its continuous efforts to curb violence by all parties to the conflict, one of the three assassinated PIJ members, Tareq Izz ed-Din, was invited to come to Egypt for talks on containing the situation after last week’s escalation, Aldajani said. However, “Israel’s actions continue to embarrass Egypt, most notably after it [Israel] promised, days ago, to abide by the cease-fire, which it broke today.”
We swear that we will respond to the assassination of the martyred leaders with full force, and the response will be unified from all factions
The PIJ movement and other Palestinian factions vowed to retaliate vigorously.
“We swear that we will respond to the assassination of the martyred leaders with full force, and the response will be unified from all factions,” PIJ spokesperson Jihad Dawoud Shehab said on Tuesday.
The [Israeli] occupation and its leaders who initiated the aggression must prepare to pay the price
Also on Tuesday, the Joint Room of Palestinian Resistance Factions, a coordinating committee of armed groups in Gaza, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, issued a statement that held Israel fully responsible for the repercussions of the attack, saying, “The [Israeli] occupation and its leaders who initiated the aggression must prepare to pay the price.”
In light of current circumstances, the most likely scenario is a response by the Palestinian factions that will lead to an open, fierce confrontation with Israel, Aldajani believes.
“Perhaps after the funerals are over, Palestinian rocket fire may begin, as happened after the assassination of Ahmed Jabari, the operational commander of Hamas’s armed wing, in 2012. If Israel succeeds in containing the response of the Palestinian factions, the battle may not last more than a day or even hours,” he suggested.
Nevertheless, Aldajani argues, there remains the less likely possibility that “the experience of the ‘unity of the squares’ will be repeated, meaning that Hamas will be neutralized from the battle and the response will be postponed until the upcoming Jerusalem Day Flag March so that the reply will be doubled and from several fronts.”
Imad Abuawwad, head of Alquds Center for Political Studies, told The Media Line, “Today’s targeting … enabled it [the Israeli government] to market itself again to its right-wing audience. Even the opposition praised what the government did today.”
He said that Israel was well-prepared for its attack, first “evacuating” Israelis who lived within 20 kilometers of the Gaza border. “Any response that comes after that will be within the usual rules of engagement, followed by the intervention of mediators, and finally, calm,” he noted.
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Israeli government body responsible for coordinating civil and humanitarian affairs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, announced the closure of the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel shortly after the strikes began.
Bomb shelters have been opened in a number of towns and cities in southern Israel, including Ashkelon and Beersheba, in light of the situation. In addition, roads and train lines in southern Israel near the Gaza Strip have been closed to civilian traffic.
