This past Tuesday, for the first time in three months, an incendiary balloon was sent from the Gaza Strip to Israeli territory, where it caused two fires in the Kissufim Forest. For Israel, this incident was additional proof that Hamas has decided to stop playing by the rules and has given the green light to its operatives to renew the launching of incendiary balloons. This is despite the fact that Hamas agreed last November to stop the incendiary-balloon campaign and limit the number of protesters participating in violent demonstrations every week along the length of the Gaza-Israel border — in exchange for numerous easements of the closure and Israeli consent for the transfer of Qatari monetary aid to the Strip.

These understandings were supposed to be the first stage of a wider arrangement, but as many people anticipated, the first stage is, as of now, the last stage. Israel began its election campaign, Hamas revealed that it has no one to talk to, and no arrangement will be realized in the near future, if at all.

As far as Hamas leaders are concerned, if Israel does not meet its commitments, they too are not beholden to the understandings. Their goal is to focus international attention on the hardships of Gaza and its residents. Israel’s defense system updated its periodic situation-evaluation this month: Now it seems that Hamas is gearing up for an all-out confrontation with Israel in order to cause international intervention in the Strip, no matter the price. (This was mentioned in a previous Al-Monitor article.)