An Extenuating Requirement

A five-hour "humanitarian" break in the nine days of artillery strikes against Gaza in which over 200 Palestinians were killed and one Israeli at the request of the United Nations took place on Thursday with Israel agreeing to a unilateral holding of its fire from ten in the morning to allow for Palestinians the opportunity to restock their food supplies and other necessities. In the brief lull Israelis under siege across the border from Gaza were enabled as well to do the same.

This initiative was in response to the request of Robert Serry, UN special co-o9rdinator for the Middle East process asking Israel's agreement for a "unilateral humanitaian pause" to allow the United Nations to deliver supplies to Gaza. Hamas was asked as well to respect that brief pause in the violence. This, after Hamas had rejected a ceasefire proposal brokered by Egypt which Israel had accepted.

Sami Abu Zuhri an official with Hamas complained of the misery of having scant support from the Arab world at Hamas's latest assault, drawing Israel into a conflict in Gaza. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attempted to persuade a senior Hamas functionary to rethink the Egyptian proposal, to no avail. Had it gone forward it would have led to the restoration of authority to some degree for Mr. Abbas in Gaza. The border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would also have been included, allowing oversight by Fatah.

With no movement on the ceasefire front, and the continued unyielding barrage of rockets from Gaza into Israel, the Jewish State's security cabinet approved a call-up of an additional eight thousand reservists to augment the 45,000 that have been summoned and stationed on the Gaza border. With the clear message that Israel was preparing to carry out a ground invasion, an event it had no real stomach for, but felt compelled to mount under the circumstances.

An Israeli soldier directing a Merkava tank, at an army deployment area near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, on July 17, 2014. (Gili Yaari/Flash90)

And finally, this is precisely what has occurred. Protective Edge has gone one step further. An incursion by a "large IDF force" entered Gaza following the order delivered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Moshe Yaaolon. "A new phase of Operation Protective Edge has begun."

The entry into Gaza has a distinct and direct purpose: according to the IDF the operation is limited to tanks targeting ten tunnels in Gaza. Ten among the hundreds of tunnels interlacing the Gaza strip, reaching from Gaza into Israel, Gaza into Egypt. "Our goal is to taget Hamas/ tunnels that enable terrorists to infiltrate Israel and carry out attacks. This requires precise operations", said an IDF spokesman.

It can be assumed that among other issues that brought Israel once again into direct and violent conflict with the terrorist group whose mandate is the destruction of Israel, is the attempt to send a platoon of Hamas combatants into Israel by use of one of those tunnels. Their secretive and destructive plan was aborted when the IDF became alerted to the situation, shooting the Hamas operatives as they emerged, then finally blowing up the tunnel.

Now, there are other tunnels used to convey weapons and terrorists, due for similar destruction. Perhaps it's a start to eliminating as many of those tunnels as possible. Possibly including some known to harbour the Hamas elite commanders and their command centre,k although it is known to be a fully functioning enterprise given haven to and command opportunities to Hamas, which was constructed under central Gaza City.

A journalist source who is close to security sources in the Middle East says 'Hamas' leadership is taking advantage of the underground structures underneath the Shifa Central Hospital in Gaza as a hideout for commanders and Hamas leaders to protect them against attack by the Israel Air Force.
"In the ongoing battle between Hamas and the Israeli army," the source further related, "Hamas leaders aren't just using the underground facility at Shifa Hospital as a hideout, but also as a command center for Hamas' leaders and commanders, and from here all orders are issued to Hamas activists in the field. Shifa Hospital, which is in the Rimal district in Gaza, is one of the main absorption centers for treating the sick and wounded in Gaza." Source: Israel Matzav