Why Hamas stayed out of Gaza battle
This is not the first time that the Hamas movement leaves Islamic Jihad alone in a military confrontation with Israel.
From Aug. 5 — the day Israel killed Taysir al-Jaabari, commander of Al-Quds Brigades’ Northern Brigade — until Aug. 7 — the day Israel and Islamic Jihad announced a cease-fire under Egyptian mediation — the Hamas movement, which is the largest armed faction in the Gaza Strip, left Islamic Jihad alone in its battle that came in retaliation to Jaabari’s assassination.
Islamic Jihad dubbed the operation against Israel the “Unity of Battlefields,” in reference to the strategy of unifying the battlefields of the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, the West Bank and the territories inside the 1948 Green Line, in a bid to thwart Israeli plans to separate the resistance in Gaza from the rest of the Palestinain territories.
This battle was triggered by Operation Breaking Dawn, which Israel launched against Islamic Jihad only, under the pretext of “ending a tangible threat to the citizens of Israel and [the settlements] in the Gaza envelope,” a joint statement by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz read as reported by the Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth paper Aug. 5.
On Aug. 8, Israel’s Makan Public Service radio reported that at the start of Operation Breaking Dawn, Israel delivered to Hamas the message that this military operation was not directed against the movement. It called on Hamas not to join Islamic Jihad in the fighting, in exchange for refraining from attacking any of Hamas’ positions inside Gaza.
