The quiet round of fighting that lasted three days in a row took a turn at six in the afternoon with the IDF's offensive move in which the commander of the Northern Brigade of the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, Taysir Jabari, was eliminated.
Since the blow dealt to the organization with the elimination of its predecessor, Baha'i Abu Al-Ata, the Islamic Jihad in Gaza has tried to recover and restore its organizational-leadership framework at the command and field levels.
The goal was to restore the blush to the cheeks of the jihad fighters after the morale blow they suffered, and secondly to maintain operational competence.
The other thing, perhaps even the most necessary, was to maintain the organizational hierarchy, and convey to the field levels that there is a commander who runs the business, a leader who is followed.
Taysir Jabari did not have time to complete the task to the end.
He was halfway there.
His elimination leaves Jihad with a predicament similar to the one experienced by the organization in 2019 after Operation Black Belt when the Jihad members lost one of their senior commanders in a targeted counterattack and faced an organizational vacuum.
shooting from the strip,
An explosion after an IDF attack in the Gaza Strip, photo: Reuters
In less than three years, the Islamic Jihad in Gaza finds itself facing the exact same challenge.
The final assassination was carried out by surprise, without Jihad having the time or opportunity to crown a successor to Jabri and prepare a replacement to take command in his absence.
This space is temporary, and most likely sooner or later someone will be found to fill his place.
Hamas wants this to happen as soon as possible, thinking that in an organization with an orderly structure and a clear framework, there is less chance of anarchy and "discipline problems" on the part of potential rebels.
Criticism towards Hamas
Hamas is letting Jihad take the lead in the meantime in the opening phase of the current round against Israel.
Israel decided in this case that it is interested in "separate and rule", differentiation between Hamas and Jihad in the Gaza Strip.
This is a double-edged sword for Hamas, which on the one hand apparently enjoys the fact that it is not on the receiving end of the Israeli attacks, but on the other hand is portrayed as letting others fight "and die for Palestine" without taking part.
The Hamas leadership apparently closes their eyes and loosens the rope for jihad, but only hopes that it will not be stretched too much.
They intend to join the fighting.
Hamas operatives, photo: Reuters
As the round gets longer, Hamas will not be able to stand back, and will be forced to move from talk to action.
In Gaza, they estimate that if the escalation increases, it will no longer be able to afford to watch from the sidelines and content itself with statements to the media that speak of unity of action between the resistance organizations.
It is already possible to detect voices of criticism towards the organization that controls the Strip, claiming that its passive behavior is tantamount to betrayal of the resistance project.
In order to shake off the accusations, the Hamas leadership will have to prove that it is not abandoning its brothers in jihad to "base themselves" in the campaign against Israel.
Any other action would present the Hamas organization as a collaborator of Israel, which is not something that Sanwar can tolerate.
Certainly not when in the background there is increasing pressure from the street due to the worsening economic distress in the Strip.
The current round did not exactly fall at the most convenient time for Hamas, precisely when it is at the peak of a process to expand the number of work permits in Israel for Gazan workers, in addition to other measures in the economic-civil sphere.
Hamas did not choose the campaign nor did it initiate it, but from the moment it began to unfold, the game changes, and so do the interests.
Maintaining its prestige as a resistance organization, curbing internal criticism, and relations with the Jihad are more important than a few more economic toffins from Israel.
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