In response to Israel’s security cabinet’s strategic decisions on innovative approaches against Palestinian terrorism in Judea and Samaria, concerns are mounting within Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
There are apprehensions that Israel might plan targeted assassinations of senior Palestinian officials abroad through the Israeli Mossad, while keeping a low profile, a move aimed at making it challenging to trace these actions back to Israel, thereby amplifying Israeli deterrence.
Egypt has intervened to mitigate this Israeli strategy.
Despite Hamas sources indicating that Egypt’s attempts were met with resistance, Israel refused to assure the Egyptians that it would abstain from revisiting the targeted assassination approach.
Egypt escalated its diplomatic efforts to prevent any security escalation that could potentially spill over to the Gaza Strip border and spark fresh rounds of conflict.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have conveyed their messages to Israel through Egypt, warning that any assassination of high-ranking Palestinians in Gaza or abroad could lead to “unprecedented and explosive” repercussions, potentially even triggering a regional war.
Within this complex context, sources from the Gaza Strip disclosed that Hamas rejected an Israeli proposal, relayed through Egypt, which demanded an end to terrorist activities in Judea and Samaria.
Meanwhile, leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not banking on the outcome of Egyptian mediation.
Fearing Israeli assassinations, they’ve gone into hiding both within the Gaza Strip and abroad.
Hamas officials stressed that the armed struggle against Israel would persist in Judea and Samaria until there’s a complete Israeli withdrawal from the region, similar to Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Their stance maintains that in any future confrontation with Israel, a full Israeli pullback from Judea and Samaria would be a primary condition for a ceasefire.
Saleh al-Arouri, the commander of Hamas’s military wing in Judea and Samaria, asserted in an August 24th statement to Al-Aqsa channel that “resistance against the occupation will endure until its eviction and the removal of settlers from the entire West Bank, mirroring their expulsion from the Gaza Strip.”
Al-Arouri, along with Ziad Al-Nakhala, the Islamic Jihad’s Secretary-General, and Akram al-Ajouri, the head of the “Saraya Al-Quds” military wing, tops the list of potential Israeli assassination targets.
Prominent Israeli security officials contend that Hamas bears responsibility for the upsurge in terrorism across Judea and Samaria.
The Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, reportedly thwarted numerous Hamas-orchestrated attacks from Gaza, while the group engaged in vigorous anti-Israel incitement on social media platforms.
On the Israeli political front, a consensus has emerged that reverting to targeted assassinations is an inescapable measure due to the wave of Hamas-led terrorism against IDF soldiers and settlers in Judea and Samaria.
