Yet another stormy weekend has shaken up the Israel-Gaza border. On Aug. 17, just when it seemed southern Israel was settling into a period of calm following the cease-fire reached with Hamas in May, sirens blared throughout the border communities. The Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted two of three rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. Shortly after, Israeli troops foiled an attempt by five armed militants to infiltrate Israel from the northern part of the Gaza Strip, killing three and wounding a fourth.

Israel’s reaction to these attacks was very restrained. The air force bombed several Hamas targets of marginal importance and was careful not to inflict Palestinian casualties. Such actions are known as “real estate attacks” designed to cause symbolic damage to buildings and nothing more. When the Israel Defense Forces really wants to deter the Hamas leadership, it takes more extreme actions such as flattening several multi-story buildings in May.

This time, it was almost as if the IDF were saying, “We are forced to react, but if you stop the next rocket or assailant, we can return to business as usual.” That was indeed the case. Calm was restored quickly but the rhetoric from Gaza was upped a notch. On Aug. 19, armed Gaza militias announced that the latest clashes near the border fence signal an escalation and called on Palestinians to “set fire to the ground under the Zionists’ feet.” A day later, a Hamas official quoted in Lebanon's Al-Akhbar threatened Israel with further escalation.

In recent weeks, the IDF has shot dead and injured several armed Palestinians who approached the Gaza-Israel border intending to cross into Israel. After each incident, Hamas insisted the would-be-attackers were “rogues” ousted from its ranks. Following the weekend clashes, Hamas is now calling them “rebellious angry youth.” Unlike “rogue” elements who take actions in violation of the organization’s orders, Hamas is portraying these angry young people as motivated by despair.