A senior Fatah official has said in an interview with an Egyptian news entity that another, “more violent explosion” is on tap for the West Bank. Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestinian Football Association and secretary of the Fatah Central Committee, was apparently buoyed by the euphoria of the Hamas invasion of Israeli communities along the border with the Gaza Strip when he suggested that the formula of surprise invasion and hostage-taking will next manifest in the West Bank.
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Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005, leaving it in the hands of the Palestinian Authority. The Iranian-backed armed Islamist group Hamas won a plurality of votes in a Palestinian legislative election in January 2006. Hamas then forcefully seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, ousting the Fatah party and the Palestinian Authority from the coastal enclave after several days of intense fighting. Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, has remained in charge of the Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank.
As the list of hostages kidnapped on October 7 is scrutinized to ascertain which captives might be included in the hostages-for-terrorists swaps, it has been learned that some hostages, including a toddler, have been handed off to other terrorist organizations, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad—also an Iranian proxy. Rajoub’s comments on Tuesday underscore the gargantuan task facing the Israeli military if it is to rescue the remaining hostages.