The situation in the Gaza Strip has snowballed into a full-blown military confrontation between Hamas and Israel, following Israeli provocations in Jerusalem, namely the increasing settler incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Israeli pressure on the Palestinians of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood to evacuate their homes, claiming they are not their legal owners.

It all started when Mohammed al-Deif, the commander of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, made a brief statement on May 5 threatening Israel and warning it against evicting the residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Then Israeli security forces undertook a raid on Al-Aqsa Mosque. This prompted Hamas on May 10 to fire rockets at Jerusalem for the first time since the 2014 war.

Bassem Naim, a former health minister in the Gaza government and a member of Hamas’ international relations office, told Al-Monitor, “Hamas did not start this battle based on partisan motives; the movement was to respond to the Israeli provocations and [to preserve] the cause of Jerusalem. Hamas has trained its forces and increased its military capabilities [in the past years] not only to defend Gaza, but to also protect Jerusalem and all of Palestine. Hamas handled the Jerusalem issue rationally and gave the regional countries and the international community a chance to demand Israel to stop its settlers from storming Al-Aqsa Mosque, but Israel ignored the warnings without even taking into consideration that we are in the Muslim holy month [of] Ramadan.”

Naim added, “Hamas achieved several goals through this confrontation, the first of which is preventing settlers from storming Al-Aqsa Mosque. The second is forcing Israel, even temporarily, to back off of the residents of Sheikh Jarrah, and the third is to unify and rally all Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and the Palestinians of 1948 (Arab citizens of Israel) behind the Jerusalem cause.”