Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel

Why in the News?

Israel witnessed the largest attack from Gaza, the tiny Palestinian enclave, resulting in one of the worst security crises in 50 years.

News in Detail:

1. A highly coordinated attack on Israel that involved Hamas militants infiltrating Israeli cities, hitting military bases and killing and taking hostage soldiers and civilians.
2. The attacks were a reminiscent of the 1973 Yom Kippur holiday attack by Egyptian and Syrian troops.
3. The attack has resulted in at killing of 200 people and hundreds injured.
4. Israel’s right-religious government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which holds a key promise of Israel’s security, has declared war on Hamas.

Why did Hamas launch the massive incursion into Israel?

1. Deterioration of Palestine-Israel relations in the recent years.
   1. Military raids almost on a daily basis, has been carried out by Israel in the occupied West Bank, which has so far resulted in death of ~ 200 Palestinians and 30 Israelis in this year.
   2. Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third holiest place of worship was raided by Israeli police, which led to rocket attacks from Gaza.
   3. Israel carried out a major raid in the West Bank town of Jenin, which has emerged as a hotbed of militancy in the West Bank.
2. Accumulation of anger and violence among Palestinians against both the Israeli occupiers as well as the Palestinian Authority.
   1. Thus, a massive attack from Gaza controlled by Hamas is a call for “all Arabs of Palestine”, including the Israeli Arab citizens (20% of the Israel’s population), to take up arms against the state of Israel.
   2. Hamas is trying to emerge as the sole pole of the Palestinian cause by trying to cash in on the public anger against occupation.
3. Divisions in Israeli society
   1. The most right-wing government of Israel is pushing for reforms to overhaul the structures of power so as to gain supremacy over other institutions. 
   2. For instance, the ambitious legislative agenda seeking to curtail the powers of the judiciary through Parliament witnessed massive protests.
   3. There are resenting voices even within the military and rights groups are up in arms showing deep divisions in society.
   4. Hamas could have perceived that Israel was at a weak moment internally and launched an unprecedented attack.
4. Geopolitical angle
   1. Israel and Saudi Arabia are in an advanced stage of normalisation talks which might have led to the Hamas attack.
   2. If Saudi Arabia, the custodian of the two holiest mosques of Islam & the most influential Arab country normalises ties with Israel, it can lead to reset of West Asian geopolitical dynamics and also put Hamas at a further disadvantageous position.
   3. Such a realignment is against the interests of Iran (which backs the Islamic Jihad and Hamas) and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.