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Egypt considers Gaza, Hamas security threats

Egypt’s present government is more hostile to the Palestinian issue than any in recent memory, outlawing Hamas and giving top priority to keeping the border with Israel quiet.
Members of the Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas inspect the damage after Israeli air strikes on smuggling tunnels in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip March 13, 2014. Egypt brokered a ceasefire on Thursday aimed at ending a flare-up of rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli towns and Israeli air strikes in the Palestinian enclave, the Islamic Jihad militant group said. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3GY2E

TEL AVIV, Israel — Since the beginning of the year, Israel, under the direction of Defense Minister Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon, has pushed the envelope of understandings reached through Egyptian mediation that produced one of the more durable cease-fires in the aftermath of "Pillar of Cloud" in the waning days of 2012.

Ya'alon’s toolbox apparently includes a revived policy of targeted assassination. This time, the focus is not prominent Hamas leaders like Ahmad Jabari, whose assassination in November 2012 sparked the opening of Israel’s “Pillar of Cloud” attack, but less prominent jihadist "rebels" who answer to no one.

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