Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement which governs in Gaza, has agreed to reengage in a reconciliation process with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and move toward elections in the West Bank and Gaza.

This may all sound familiar. The parties have started down this road before, but this time it just might happen. Why? Well, for one, economic conditions in Gaza are grim, as we wrote last month, and a recent UN Conference on Trade and Development report warns that Gaza’s economy is "near collapse.” There are almost zero prospects that there will be a change for the better, absent a dramatic change in Gaza and the regional environment.

The larger issue for Hamas is its isolation, which is increased by the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan; US-brokered reconciliation among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states; and a new push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace conference, led by Abbas and Egypt.

With a new US administration coming in, Iran, Hamas, Syria and Hezbollah find themselves even more on the outside looking in with regard to regional trends. So Hamas is looking to play as many cards as possible, to stay relevant and engaged as events unfold.