FROM THE ENCOUNTER IN BEIRUT. Israeli air forces continued to hit Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, and demolished several buildings shortly before dawn. However, the armed forces are also preparing for a possible land invasion, the first since 2014. The Chief of Staff, General Aviv Kohavi will present the plans this afternoon to the political leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz. Planning is entrusted to the Gaza Division and the Southern Army Command. The raids in the night targeted a series of buildings in Gaza and suburbs, where Intelligence has identified strategic Hamas centers. The headquarters of the central bank were destroyed, where the dollars arriving from Qatar are kept, the house of a high commander and a building that housed the headquarters of the Islamist group’s Security Services. The goal is to paralyze the functionality of the armed arm, especially the missile arm. So far the militant groups have fired 1,500 rockets. There are seven Israeli victims, including a five-year-old child, 67 Palestinian victims, including 14 minors.
On the home front, Netanyahu intervened late at night. He announced the dispatch of the army, as well as the already mobilized border police, to Arab cities in revolt. The premier denounced “anarchy” and also warned right-wing Jewish extremists: “Nothing can justify the attacks of the Arabs against the Arabs and nothing can justify the attacks of the Jews against the Arabs”. Instead, Gantz has already moved ten border police companies, usually engaged in the West Bank. The clashes spread from Lot to Accra, where a 30-year-old of Jewish descent was seriously injured. Arab-Israeli protesters clashed with police, 374 arrests. Serious unrest also in Kafr Kassem. The attention on Lod and other suburbs of Tel Aviv is very high.
If the tension is not handled properly, Israel could slide for the first time in its history into a sectarian war within its recognized borders. The alarm has also reached the other side of the Atlantic. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called Abu Mazen and called for a stop to rocket launches. “I expressed my condolences for the loss of life and stressed the need to stop the rocket attacks to lower the tension. Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve freedom, dignity, security and prosperity ”. The last sentence marks a break with the positions of the old Trump administration. It alludes to the “two-state” solution, which has returned to the negotiating table with Biden.