2023-09-26 17:57:50
After the fourth Israeli attack on targets in Gaza in just a few days, concerns are growing about a major escalation of the conflict. According to the Israeli army, the military attacked a military post of the militant Islamist Hamas, which rules the coastal strip, on Monday evening after shots were fired at Israeli soldiers during riots. A Palestinian was hit during the riots and two suspects were arrested while trying to cross the border with Israel.
The Israeli military had already attacked several Hamas military posts in the Gaza Strip over the weekend. The Israeli army said the positions were attacked with a drone as a result of violent riots at the security fence. According to the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, at least six Palestinians were injured by shots fired by Israeli soldiers during the unrest. Several Palestinians had already been killed by Israeli soldiers in clashes last week; Last Wednesday, another five Palestinians died when their own explosive devices exploded. According to the army, Israeli soldiers were not injured.
Closure of the border crossing
Tensions on the border with Gaza have been increasing for more than a week. Large groups of Palestinians have been demonstrating at the enclave’s border fence for days, including with incendiary devices and burning tires. Since last week, numerous incendiary balloons have been sent to Israel from Gaza, which started several fires in the south of the country.
The recent unrest was preceded by an announcement by Israel that it would close the Erez border crossing to around 17,000 Palestinian workers “for security reasons”. Many of Gaza’s more than two million residents, most of whom live in poverty, are being hit hard by this. They are partly dependent on the income from Israel for their existence. The border crossings to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank remained completely sealed off during the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur on Sunday and Monday. The Israeli military also increased its troops on the border.
According to Palestinian information, the sometimes violent demonstrations at the border fence were also about protesting against the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and against Jewish visits to the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem. Muslims consider the Al-Aqsa Mosque to be the third holiest place, but Jews also consider the plateau – as the site of the First and Second Temples – to be sacred. For the Yom Kippur celebrations, religious Zionist Jews were once again there under police protection.
On Sunday, according to Palestinian media reports, representatives of Hamas, the militant Islamist organization “Islamic Jihad” and the “Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine” agreed to further escalate the security situation and continue violent actions against Israel. A meeting in Beirut discussed how to counter “increasing Zionist aggression” and “ongoing Israeli attacks, annexation policies and aggression against Jerusalem.” The three Palestinian leaders reiterated their support for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and expressed their “proud of the resistance in the occupied West Bank and the role that the resistance fighters have played against the crimes of the occupation,” according to a statement.
Missing payments from Qatar
There have been repeated escalations on the border with the Gaza Strip for years. The Israeli army and militant Palestinians recently fought a major exchange of blows in Gaza at the beginning of July. Several rockets were fired from the coastal strip, and Israel responded with attacks on Hamas weapons production facilities. Shortly before, the Israeli army carried out a two-day military operation in Jenin in the West Bank in which at least 13 Palestinians were killed and more than 120 injured.
In the past, outbreaks of violence in Gaza were often preceded by escalations in the West Bank and Jerusalem. However, the increasingly tense situation in recent weeks could be due to another development. Experts see the recent outbreaks of violence on the border with Gaza as a result of a dispute between Hamas and Qatar, which is one of the coastal strip’s most important donors. In the past few years alone, the Gulf state has supported the impoverished enclave with hundreds of millions of dollars, including for construction projects, energy supplies and the payment of public sector wages.
Published/Updated: Christian Meier, Tel Aviv Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 23 Christian Meier, Tel Aviv Published/Updated: ,
Now the Gulf state is said to have significantly restricted its monthly payments of $30 million. According to Hamas officials, Doha had already reduced subsidies for salary payments in Gaza by half in May, and then stopped payments altogether. This apparently has immediate consequences for the Hamas government, whose financial situation is already becoming increasingly dramatic due to falling tax revenues and increased expenses: As the Reuters news agency reports, it has no longer been able to pay the salaries of tens of thousands of employees since July.
As a result of its so far unsuccessful attempts to exert direct pressure on Doha, Hamas may now pursue a different strategy. Observers suspect that the unrest at the border is intended to pressure Israel into getting Qatar to give in and thus prevent an escalation.
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