The Gaza Strip's various terror factions were to meet Monday night to decide on a response to what they called “Israel’s evasion of the agreements" that led to the end of the 11 days of fighting in May.
The groups set an ultimatum demanding that Israel open the border crossings into the Hamas-controlled enclave and transfer all the Qatari funds by Monday night, or they will resume violence.
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Hamas militants display their rocket arsenal during a parade in the Gaza Strip shortly after a ceasefire ended 11 days of deadly conflict with Israel in May
(Photo: AFP)
The factions said that Israel was preventing the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and the transfer of aid to put pressure on them.
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas figure, said over the weekend that the organization would not give Israel more time and that it must meet its obligations.
Sources in Gaza estimate that the factions will decide to renew the riots on the border and expand the launching of the incendiary balloons at southern Israel communities and farmlands as part of the decision to expand the “popular resistance.”
The factions in the Gaza Strip say that the concessions announced by the IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), including entry permits for 1,000 traders from the Gaza Strip to Israel, are also meaningless and are intended to allow Jerusalem to evade the demands made on them.
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A Palestinian man stands next to a truck carrying clothes for export, at Kerem Shalom crossing in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
(Photo: Reuters)
Sources in Hamas say the organization is determined to restore the civilian situation in the Gaza Strip as it was on the eve of the May fighting.
Hamas also claims that the Palestinian Authority is deliberately working to delay the transfer of the Qatari aid to Gaza, although the PA minister of social development has said it is working to ensure that no entity will be harmed by any possible lawsuit over support for terrorism.
Various sources report that humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip are deteriorating, with Israel limiting the entry of necessary material and goods and fishing to only 12 nautical miles.
Mediation efforts are continuing, mainly through Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
A Hamas spokesman told the media Saturday that, “the siege policy on the Gaza Strip is unacceptable and the conditions are difficult, so Hamas will not be able to restrain itself and Israel will be held accountable.”