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After cease-fire, Israel and Hamas revert to calibrated routine of provocation and reprisal
Source: Washington Post
After cease-fire, Israel and Hamas revert to calibrated routine of provocation and reprisal
By Steve Hendrix
June 19, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
JERUSALEM — Like many Israelis, Ohad Zwick had his eyes on the sky over Gaza on Tuesday night and wondered how Israel's new government would handle its first confrontation with Hamas, the militant group that rules the enclave.
On just the second day of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s tenure, Jewish nationalists marched through East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 war, yelling, “Death to Arabs.” In what Hamas said was a response, the group launched incendiary balloons from Gaza, injuring no one but burning crops and wildlands. Hours later, Israeli warplanes struck two “military sites” in Gaza, injuring no one but unnerving residents.
This was a version of the finely calibrated dance of provocation and reprisal well known to residents on both sides of the Gaza-Israel border.
“We laugh about it, to be honest,” said Zwick, who lives with his wife and three children just miles from Gaza City in the port city of Ashdod, one of the communities in southern Israel where the tit-for-tat rituals have long shaped life. “They hit a few sand dunes, kill some ants, and nothing ever changes.”
Nearly a month after a cease-fire ended 11 days of intense fighting, neither side is eager for a return to a full air war, according to military and political analysts, although the situation remains volatile. Hamas launched more fire balloons Thursday and Israel hit additional sites in Gaza, again with no reported injuries. But so far, Hamas has not resumed rocket fire, which would all but ensure a more muscular response from the Israeli military.
-snip-
By Steve Hendrix
June 19, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
JERUSALEM — Like many Israelis, Ohad Zwick had his eyes on the sky over Gaza on Tuesday night and wondered how Israel's new government would handle its first confrontation with Hamas, the militant group that rules the enclave.
On just the second day of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s tenure, Jewish nationalists marched through East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 war, yelling, “Death to Arabs.” In what Hamas said was a response, the group launched incendiary balloons from Gaza, injuring no one but burning crops and wildlands. Hours later, Israeli warplanes struck two “military sites” in Gaza, injuring no one but unnerving residents.
This was a version of the finely calibrated dance of provocation and reprisal well known to residents on both sides of the Gaza-Israel border.
“We laugh about it, to be honest,” said Zwick, who lives with his wife and three children just miles from Gaza City in the port city of Ashdod, one of the communities in southern Israel where the tit-for-tat rituals have long shaped life. “They hit a few sand dunes, kill some ants, and nothing ever changes.”
Nearly a month after a cease-fire ended 11 days of intense fighting, neither side is eager for a return to a full air war, according to military and political analysts, although the situation remains volatile. Hamas launched more fire balloons Thursday and Israel hit additional sites in Gaza, again with no reported injuries. But so far, Hamas has not resumed rocket fire, which would all but ensure a more muscular response from the Israeli military.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israel-hamas-gaza-airstrikes-balloons/2021/06/18/c8e70c44-cebb-11eb-a224-bd59bd22197c_story.html
1 replies
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