The civil war in Syria and the subsequent realignment of alliances between Iran and Hamas in the Gaza Strip may well have resulted in Israel readjusting its strategic war plans.
Up until recently, Israel had planned on using its attack against Iran as an opportunity to attack both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza on the pretext that such attacks would be necessary to pre-empt retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah and Hamas against Israel. In March 2012, however, Hamas announced that it would not support Iran if Israel attacked Iran. This effectively changed Israel’s game plan forcing them to rethink their strategy.
The last few days have seen an upsurge in Israeli actions against Hamas and the Gaza Strip. As well as provoking Hamas and other Jihadi groups to launch missiles against Israel in retaliation to Israeli strikes against the Gaza, Israel has also been disturbed by the recent visit to the Gaza of the Emir of Qatar who has promised hundreds of millions of dollars worth of support to the Gazan people as well as yet another attempt by a group attempting to sail to Gaza despite Israel’s blockade. As a result, Israeli commanders have threatened to launch an invasion of the Gaza ostensibly to halt the rockets being fired into Israel.
Since Israel’s original plan was to use attacks against Iran as a pretext to invade and fully occupy south Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank destroying both Hezbollah and Hamas for good with the intention of annexing south Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, it now seems that Israel may be considering taking on the weakest and smallest of its enemies, Hamas in the Gaza Strip, prior to reverting to their original plan scheduled for after the US elections.
If this is the case, the Gaza Strip can now look forward to an imminent invasion and possible full-on occupation.
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