Hamas has always insisted, contrary to claims by Binyamin Netanyahu, that it did not know who kidnapped and killed the three Israeli teenagers whom the Israeli prime minister used as a pretext for his onslaught on the Gaza Strip. That was not the sort of operation Hamas would have carried out given that its goal was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Many Palestinians believe Netanyahu had been planning an offensive against Hamas for months before that kidnapping. After deadlocked negotiations with Israel prompted the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to seek rapprochement with Hamas, the indirect US and EU positive response to the Palestinian reconciliation enraged the Israelis. The offensive on Gaza was Netanyahu's last trick, having tried to cripple the new unity government and to block payment of salaries to thousands of Gaza employees.
This may yet prove to be another disastrous miscalculation. As early as last winter Israelis were privately talking about messages from the new military authorities in Egypt to the effect that now was the best time to attack Gaza and unseat Hamas. The Cairo regime, which toppled the first democratically elected president in the history of Egypt, had been tightening the siege on Gaza by maintaining the closure of the Rafah crossing with Egypt and destroying the tunnels that kept the people of Gaza going while Israel imposed sanctions and a ground, sea and aerial siege.
As always, Israel tries to convince the world which is watching with horror the savagery that Israel's weaponry is exacting on Gaza's civilians that it is only responding to Hamas missiles firing on its towns and cities. Yet since the last truce was brokered under Egypt's then president Mohamed Morsi, Hamas not only restrained itself but also tried to restrain other smaller factions from responding to Israel's frequent assassinations or missile bombardments. Everyone's priority was to end the siege rather than be drawn into a new war.
Israeli leaders have justified the bombing of houses and killing of women and children by claiming that these civilians are used by Hamas as human shields. But the Israeli fighter planes did not even spare a
centre for the disabled. Undoubtedly these attacks, which cannot be described as anything but war crimes, have been an embarrassment even to some of Israel's staunchest supporters in the west. The longer this military offensive lasts, the more damaging it will be for Israel and its western patrons such as the US and the EU
