Israel-Hamas war, Day 10Israel about to launch ground incursion into Gaza; Hamas tunnel attack foiled

Published 17 July 2014

The tenth day of the Israel-Hamas war brings matters to a head. On the one hand, efforts to reach some kind of a cease-fire between the warring parties intensify, although Hamas continues to reject the Egyptian proposals and raise conditions – some of them extravagant — which are unacceptable to Israel and Egypt. Hamas continues to receive a measure of support for its demands from Turkey and Qatar, two countries which chafe at the re-emergence of post-Morsi Egypt as leading regional player. •On the other hand, the military wing of Hamas, which is largely independent of the organization’s political wing, has escalated its attacks on Israel, including a repeat of commando-like operation which the organization tried on the first day of the war: sending fighters into Israel, using one of the many tunnels Hamas has dug under the Gaza-Israel border. The goal of the attack was to kill civilians in kibbutz Sufa near the border, and perhaps kidnap two or three Israelis to bring back into Gaza to be used as bargaining chips. The Israeli cabinet will meet in a few hours to authorize a limited incursion into Gaza, the aim of which will be to locate and destroy Hamas tunnels.

The tenth day of the Israel-Hamas war brings matters to a head.

  • On the one hand, efforts to reach some kind of a cease-fire between the warring parties intensify – although Hamas continues to reject the Egyptian proposals and raise conditions – some of them extravagant — which are unacceptable to Israel and Egypt. Hamas continues to receive a measure of support for its demands from Turkey and Qatar, two countries which chafe at the re-emergence of post-Morsi Egypt as leading regional player. Qatar has also been supporting Jihadist and fundamentalist groups in the region, and Hamas, a fundamentalist Sunni group, has enjoyed Qatari support in the same way the Muslim Brotherhood did. PA Leader Muhammad Abbas has publicly criticized Turkey for pushing Hamas to harden its position, and he is now on his way to Ankara to persuade Turkey to support the Egyptian proposal.
  • On the other hand, the military wing of Hamas, which is largely independent of the organization’s political wing, has escalated its attacks on Israel, including a repeat of commando-like operation which the organization tried on the first day of the war: sending fighters into Israel, using one of the many tunnels Hamas has dug under the Gaza-Israel border. The goal of the attack was to kill civilians in kibbutz Sufa near the border, and perhaps kidnap two or three Israelis to bring back into Gaza to be used as bargaining chips. Hamas this morning has also increased its rocket launches toward Israeli tons in the south of Israel, firing some of the heaviest salvos in the war so far.

Tunnel attack
At 04:30 this morning Israel time, thirteen Hamas fighters emerged from a tunnel just inside Israel. Hamas has used materials such as cement, allowed into the Gaza Strip for civilian construction, to build a massive system of defensive and offensive tunnels in the Gaza Strip. The offensive tunnels begin about one or two kilometers inside Gaza, and some end just inside Israel. One such tunnel was used by Hamas on 26 June 2006 to kidnap the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from an IDF position just inside Israel (he was held by Hamas for five years, then exchanged for more than 1,000 Palestinian terrorists in Israel jails).