A second escalation round between Israel and the Palestinian factions, more particularly the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, occurred Feb. 23-24 in the Gaza Strip. This followed the Nov. 12-13 November military confrontation between the two sides that was marked by the Israeli assassination of Islamic Jihad commander Bahaa Abu al-Atta.

Although the Hamas movement did not take part in the confrontation round at the military level, it provided the involved factions with media and political support. This has prompted Israel to express satisfaction with Hamas’ conduct, and to claim that it managed to keep the movement away from the armed confrontation through its incentives. These are, namely, the monthly Qatari financial aid channeled to the Gazan poor and what implementation there has been of the 2018 understandings.

The way Hamas is dealing with the factions in the Gaza Strip that have been involved in the recent confrontations with Israel raises many questions. Why was Hamas unable to prevent the Islamic Jihad and other factions from firing rockets toward Israel? Does it not have the will to do so? Did Hamas' inaction occur out of fear of an internal conflict in Gaza, or of losing Iranian funding, since the factions involved are backed by Iran? 

Hamas' representative in Tehran, Khaled al-Qaddumi, told Al-Monitor that “resisting Israel is legitimate in the eyes of Hamas. Hamas has neither suppressed said resistance nor prohibited it, although the resistance factions have repeatedly agreed that [such a resistance] should be a part of a collective consultative mechanism to deter Israel." He said that Hamas-Islamic Jihad ties run deep, and that Islamic Jihad "appreciates our position, and in turn, we understand their actions. Dialogue has always prevailed over all complicated situations, and we are not in a conflict against each other. Rather, our steps are coordinated at the joint operations room where the outstanding and ambiguous issues are resolved.” Qaddumi also said, “Iran is a supporter of the Palestinian resistance and shares with us the same enemy, namely Israel. Our relations [with Iran] are based on countering [this enemy].”