BICOM

Palestinian military groups in Gaza have called for protests and acts of “popular resistance” along the Israeli border today.

Yesterday, Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said that they are “calling the other military wings to act the same and raise the alert to the highest level”. They said: “Israel will pay a high bloody price for its crimes against the Palestinian people.”

Hamas has threatened to avenge the deaths of three fighters killed on Wednesday evening during an Israeli attack on a Hamas outpost east of Gaza City. The attack was in response to Palestinian snipers injuring an IDF soldier earlier in the day.

The IDF’s Southern Command is anticipating small numbers of protestors but a high level of violence. Last Friday Palestinian snipers killed Staff Sgt. Aviv Levi on the border, the first IDF fatality in Gaza since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Alex Fishman said: “All assessments indicate that we are facing another stormy weekend on the Gaza border – and that this time it could be critical for the fate of the Gaza Strip. Both Israel and Hamas have identified the coming 48 hours as crucial.”

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman spoke yesterday with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov, and passed a message to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh that quiet must be reinstated and that there must be a return to previous understandings, including no terrorism on the border, no missile fire, and no flying kites and firebombs.

Haniyeh met with Egyptian intelligence head General Abbas Kamel, who recently returned from Washington and is expected to visit Gaza and Ramallah soon to advance Palestinian reconciliation efforts.

Nine missiles were fired from Gaza into Israel early Thursday morning, most of them falling in open areas close to the border. Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted one missile.

Haaretz reports that the Israeli military inquiry into its response to the violent protests along the border fence in May in which 153 Palestinians were killed is likely to conclude that none of the deaths resulted from the unlawful use of military force.