BICOM

What happened: Rockets were launched yesterday from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel for the second consecutive day.

• Three mortar shells were reportedly fired yesterday at Israeli border communities, drawing a retaliatory Israeli strike against a Hamas military compound.
• On Tuesday, two rockets were fired at the southern Israeli city of Ashdod during a campaign rally held by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defence system.
• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded by striking approximately 15 military targets inside Gaza, including Hamas naval assets, a weapons depot, and a tunnel.
• Hamas denied responsibility for the recent attacks, although the IDF said it continues to hold Hamas “accountable for events transpiring in the Gaza Strip and emanating from it.”

Context: The increase in violence from Gaza in recent weeks follows a period of relative calm after the last major escalation in May. A tentative Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement brokered by Egypt and the United Nations is believed to be fraying amidst a backdrop of continued economic difficulties inside Gaza.

• Israeli politicians from both the government and opposition vowed this week to launch a military campaign in Gaza after the 17 September general election.
• Blue and White leader Benny Gantz said yesterday: “We have to change our policy…If necessary we will intensify our assaults by air and to targeted assassinations.”
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this morning on Reshet B radio that: “There will not be a choice but to head to a large campaign against Hamas in Gaza to stop the attacks….we are preparing for a different kind of war.”

Looking ahead: Israeli threats of a wider military campaign against Hamas in Gaza have been made repeatedly in the past, and any action will likely wait until after Tuesday’s election. Yet with five days left until Israelis go to the polls, Gaza is back at the top of the agenda and this was epitomised by footage of Prime Minister Netanyahu being evacuated from a campaign event during a rocket attack. The UN and Egypt will restart efforts to secure a ceasefire and work towards a wider agreement between Israel and Hamas but many Israelis believe that Netanyahu’s Gaza policy, limited Israeli military retaliation and the pursuit of a ceasefire deal with Hamas, isn’t working and requires a much tougher approach.