In Cairo, the talks continue between Mohammed Al-Hindi, the head of the political bureau of the Islamic Jihad, and the Egyptian intelligence officials in an attempt to reach a cease-fire agreement.
The Secretary General of the Islamic Jihad, Ziyad Al-Nakhallah, who sits in Beirut, refused to come to Cairo.
According to sources in the Gaza Strip, he is angry with the Egyptians and accuses them of exerting pressure on Hamas not to enter the battle and discussing a cease-fire agreement that is to the detriment of the Islamic Jihad.
The Islamic Jihad embarked on a counter-operation in response to the assassination of the senior members of its military arm, called “The Revenge of the Free” and it set 3 conditions for agreeing to a cease-fire with Israel.
- Israeli commitment to stop targeted killings in Gaza strip and Judea and Samaria.
- Canceling the flag march in Jerusalem next week.
- The return of the body of Hader Adnan, the Islamic Jihad activist who died in an Israeli prison on a hunger strike.
Israel rejected these conditions outright, the Israeli position is that “silence will be met with silence”, Egypt proposed a compromise proposal last night and passed it on to Mohammed Al-Hindi who is holding consultations with the leadership of the organization abroad.
The Egyptian goal is to build a ceasefire mechanism that will last for a long period of time and that it will be possible to apply it to the Hamas movement as well.
Israel is satisfied with its achievements in the “Shield and Arrow” operation, despite the Israeli death and several wounded last night, the goals it set for itself were achieved, but the Islamic Jihad felt humiliated, its dignity as a resistance organization was severely damaged on the Palestinian street, in addition to the pressure exerted on it by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to continue with all its might to launch Rockets towards Israel.
The Islamic Jihad is looking for a “victory image” that will allow it to maintain its prestige and honorably exit the current round of fighting and claim that it has won.
It is already boasting that it is holding on in the current round of fighting and succeeding in hitting the Israeli depth with its rockets and causing casualties.
Hamas movement sits on the fence, officially it is a member of the joint coalition of the Palestinian factions that conducts the round of fighting against Israel, but it does not participate in the fighting despite the pressures exerted on it by Iran and the Palestinian street.
Hamas bears responsibility for more than two million Palestinians living in the Strip and it does not want to lose its achievements since the “Guardian of the Walls” operation in May 2021, such as the humanitarian relief, the entry of 17 thousand Gazan workers into Israel, the entry of goods into the Strip and receiving the monthly financial grant from Qatar in the amount of 30 million dollars.
Islamic Jihad is angry with Hamas for sitting on the fence, Islamic Jihad sources say that Israel will not succeed in driving a wedge between Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The Islamic Jihad is left alone in the battle against Israel, despite the announcements by Iran and the terrorist organizations during the month of Ramadan about a new strategy of war against Israel from several fronts at the same time, so far all members of the axis of resistance led by Iran have refrained from attacking Israel from southern Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
It is possible that this will change if the round of fighting is prolonged and the Islamic Jihad receives more strong blows, but at the moment this is the picture of the situation, the top of the Islamic Jihad is disappointed and angry.
Israel has a bank of targets and can continue to strike at the Islamic Jihad, but Israel’s interest is to end the current round of fighting without the Hamas movement entering the battle, which would further complicate the security situation.
Operation “Shield and Arrow” revealed Israel’s operational and intelligence superiority over the Islamic Jihad, the Islamic Jihad suffers from poor combat infrastructure, about 30 percent of the rockets it launched at Israel fell in the Gaza Strip and hit the Palestinians, and it was not able to hit Ben Gurion airport in Israel and paralyze the traffic of Israel’s planes.
The leadership of the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip has gone underground and is hiding for fear of being eliminated by Israel, every time an official in the military branch emerges from his hiding place he risks being killed by Israel.
The end of the round of fighting now will be an Israeli victory, the Islamic Jihad is taking time trying to achieve more achievements, namely harming Israeli soldiers and civilians, international pressure and Egyptian pressure are increasing to reach a ceasefire but in the background of things there is another target date for a renewed escalation and that is the parade of flags in Jerusalem next week.
