IDF prepares response to Gaza Nakba Day protests
The Israeli army estimates that Hamas plans to continue with the protests along the Gaza border long after their original deadline of Nakba Day, on May 15.
Israel's security apparatus has decided that if the mass protests along the Gaza border and the Hamas-inspired violence continue to escalate, the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) response will not remain limited to the area close to the border. In other words, the IDF will not only address the threats to breach the border, but will attack Hamas targets as well.
The intensive riots near the border and Hamas' intention of continuing them has returned the "target bank" term to the IDF lexicon, which includes Hamas' training camps, control positions, police stations, ammunition and rocket-production plants, and storage facilities for military equipment including rockets.
The decision to reinstate the target bank was made in mid-April based on the assumption that Hamas intends to wage an extended war of attrition along the border. Despite the protest organizers noting specific dates for the "Great Return March" — from Land Day, on March 30, to Nakba Day, on May 15 — the Israeli assessment is that Hamas intends to prolong the border protests to create an ongoing cycle of violence, even after Nakba Day and its planned culmination during the transfer of the US Embassy to Jerusalem.
The border protests are a success as far as Hamas is concerned, despite the many victims involved. The siege on Gaza and the tribulations of the Gaza Strip have been returned to the global agenda, although the recent developments in Syria have shifted international attention away from Gaza. Hamas has succeeded in creating a show of unarmed demonstrators protesting their distress, while the Israeli army indiscriminately uses live ammunition.
