BICOM

Key Points

• Hamas triggered the conflict with a massive rocket barrage on 7 July and rejected repeated ceasefire proposals.
• With weapons and technology from Iran, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad greatly expanded their threat to Israel, firing 4,500 rockets and mortars which reached nearly every city in Israel.
• Israel tried to distinguish combatants from civilians in the Gaza Strip whilst Hamas and other armed groups used the civilian population as human shields.
• Following the ceasefire the UN announced an agreement between Israel the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the UN on large scale reconstruction with monitoring and the PA taking the lead role.

What were the immediate causes of the conflict?

• The ceasefire established after Operation Pillar of Defence in November 2012 began to erode in the first few months of 2014, as armed groups in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip began to gradually increase rocket fire into Israel.
• Tensions increased in June 2014 following the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers by Hamas operatives. Israel arrested hundreds of Hamas operatives in the West Bank during the course of their investigation (named Operation Brother’s Keeper) and Hamas responded with increased rocket fire into Israel.
• On Monday 7 July, over 100 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza and the Israeli Security Cabinet launched Operation Protective Edge in an effort to restore quiet.
• Hamas, facing regional isolation and an economic crisis, declared it would keep up its firing until its demands were met. These included Israel and Egypt dropping their restrictions on Gaza’s borders; payments of salaries to its 40,000 employees; the opening of sea and airports; and the release of its operatives arrested in the West Bank.

What was the nature of the threat Hamas posed to Israel?

• Southern Israel has been enduring rocket fire from Gaza since 2001 and in kibbutzim and towns close to the Gaza Strip, residents have 15 seconds or less to seek refuge in bomb shelters when rockets and mortars are fired.
• With weapons and technology from Iran, the rockets held by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have become more potent. The majority of rockets are fired within 40 km, but rockets can now reach the whole of Israel. Some 4,500 rockets and mortars were fired in the 50 day conflict.
• Israeli civilian fatalities were kept low (6 killed and 250 wounded) due to the effectiveness of its Iron Dome missile defence system, and the use of early warning air raid sirens and bomb shelters.
• Hamas also attempted incursions into Israeli territory for the purpose of killing and abduction. An extensive network of underground tunnels was uncovered during the conflict filled with ammunition, weaponry, IDF uniforms to be used as disguises, tranquilizers and motorbikes. Hamas made repeated attempts to launch attacks through these tunnels, with one attack killing two IDF soldiers. Israel suspected plans to launch large scale killing and abduction raids against kibbutzim and towns near the border. Hamas also attempted infiltrations using naval commandos and aerial drones.

How did Israel try and bring about a ceasefire?

• From the outset, Israel’s central goal was to re-establish the ceasefire which had been in place since November 2012, and as such Israel engaged constructively with repeated ceasefire efforts.
• Most significantly, on 15 July, one week into the conflict, Israel agreed to an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire that called on both sides to stop firing and come to Cairo for indirect talks. Israel suspended operations for six hours but Hamas rejected the proposal.
• In the following weeks, Israel agreed to a series of humanitarian ceasefires which were repeatedly breached by Hamas.
• On 1 August, Israel agreed a 72-hour ceasefire brokered by the US and UN, only for the ceasefire to collapse within an hour after Hamas carried out an attack on Israeli troops near Rafah.
• A series of ceasefire arrangements which began on 11 August collapsed on 19 August after more rockets were fired from the Gaza strip into Israel.
• On 26 August Israel and Hamas agreed an open-ended ceasefire with two stages: an initial period in which firing would stop and restrictions on crossings would be eased for humanitarian aid, with long term issues to be addressed in subsequent indirect talks between Israel and Palestinian factions in Cairo.
• On September 16, UN Special Coordinator Robert Serry announced an agreement between Israel, the PA and the UN on a mechanism for large scale reconstruction with monitoring, with the PA taking the lead role.

How did Hamas use the Gaza civilian population as human shields?

• In its attempt to target the infrastructure of Hamas and other armed groups, the IDF tried to distinguish between the combatants and the civilian population of Gaza. Hamas, by contrast, deliberately positioned their military infrastructure within the civilian population in order to make it harder for the IDF to target.
• On three occasions UNRWA announced it had found rockets hidden in its schools.
• IDF soldiers captured copies of a Hamas manual which recommended storing explosives in civilian homes and called for bringing the battle into populated areas. In an interview with Palestinian station al-Aqsa TV on 8 July, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said openly: “the policy of people confronting the Israeli warplanes with their bare chests in order to protect their homes has proven effective against the occupation … we in Hamas call upon our people to adopt this policy in order to protect the Palestinian homes.” Captured Hamas fighters confirmed that Hamas used mosques as bases for recruitment and training, whilst tunnels built underneath mosques were used for weapons storage and meetings, along with hospitals and schools.
• The most intense concentration of armed activists and infrastructure was in the neighbourhood of Shejaiya, which consequently saw heavy fighting and destruction.
• Between 8 Julyand 5 August, there were 260 rockets fired from schools, 160 rockets from religious sites and 50 rockets fired from hospitals. Mosques, schools, hospitals and homes were also used as a base for firing at IDF soldiers.

How did Israel attempt to counter these threats?

• On Monday 7 July the Israeli Security Cabinet decided to pursue a staged military operation against Hamas and other armed groups to degrade their capabilities and re-establish deterrence. The IDF directed air strikes at rocket launchers, weapons stores training camps and buildings used by Hamas leaders. Many of these were hidden in civilian areas and buildings.
• On 17 July, after Hamas rejected an Egyptian proposed ceasefire, IDF ground troops entered the Gaza Strip to locate and destroy the underground tunnel network used by Hamas to infiltrate Israel. IDF troops left the Gaza Strip by around 5 August, once the tunnels were destroyed. They continued air operations against armed groups and their rocket capabilities.
• The IDF encountered fierce resistance in the Gaza Strip from armed groups fighting within and underneath the civilian buildings, many of which were rigged with explosives. Some 66 Israeli soldiers were killed and 469 wounded in the fighting.

What steps did Israel take to minimise civilian casualties?

• In an effort to avoid civilian casualties when striking these targets, the IDF made phone calls and sent text messages to civilians residing in buildings designated for attack. The IAF also utilised a tactic known as “roof knocking,” wherein buildings were targeted with a loud but non-lethal bomb which warns civilians that they are in the vicinity of a weapons cache or other target. This was used to allow residents to leave the area before the site was targeted with live ammunition. No other armed force in the world employs these methods.
• The IDF also repeatedly dropped leaflets with specific instructions to evacuate areas in which areas the IDF was planning to operate. Hamas instructed civilians to ignore these instructions.
• The exact proportion of civilians among the Palestinian casualties is still being investigated. An initial investigation by the Terrorism Information Centre into 667 names of the approximately 2,000 Palestinians killed concluded that 46 per cent were combatants.
• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Hamas of killing more than 120 youths for violating “curfew and house arrest orders” and 30 to 40 Palestinians on suspicion of “collaboration” with Israel.

What is the background?

• Israel unilaterally withdrew all settlements and military forces from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and signed an Agreement on Movement and Access with the PA which gave the Palestinians control over their borders for the first time in their history.
• In 2007, Hamas violently ousted forces loyal to PA President Mahmoud Abbas and took complete control of the Gaza Strip. Israel and Egypt imposed restrictions on the borders.
• Hamas is an armed Islamist group ideologically opposed to the two-state solution and committed to the destruction of Israel through armed struggle or Jihad. It has a long records of terror attacks include suicide bombings and its 1988 founding charter is virulently antisemitic.