JERUSALEM – The Israel Defense Forces announced Tuesday morning it carried out a drone strike in Judea and Samaria, which it assesses eliminated at least six Palestinian terrorists, including two senior commanders.
Confirmed dead are Ashraf Nafeh, the commander of the local wing of Hamas’ Qassam Brigades, and Muhammad Awad, a chief in Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.
“An aircraft attacked armed terrorists during an operation in Tulkarem in the Menashe Brigade sector. Forces are exchanging fire,” the army said.
It has been reported the IDF used a ruse to lure the terrorists – which included an armed female combatant dressed up as a medic – to the location, where it was easier to target them.
Israel’s military released footage of the strike in which these top commanders and several gunmen were killed. Ground troops also engaged terrorists in gun battles immediately prior to the strike. They also successfully destroyed several IEDs planted under roads.
במהלך המבצע, כלי טיס מאויש מרחוק תקף מחבלים מארגוני הטרור במרחב, בהם מבוקשים שקידמו והוציאו לפועל פעולות טרור נגד כוחות צה״ל ומדינת ישראל ממרחב מחנה טול כרם>> pic.twitter.com/aRzRgjHGF5
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 23, 2024
The IDF raid in Tulkarem Tuesday, was part of a series of operations against terrorist activity in northern Samarian refugee camps, which has grown increasingly restive since Hamas’ Oct. 7 onslaught against southern Israel – and the ensuing war which followed it.
Israel’s military claimed Nafeh was responsible for preparing and planting explosive devices to be detonated against troops as well as participating in other attacks. He was also thought to be involved with recruiting fighters to Hamas, as well as having contact with the group’s operatives abroad.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Awad – also known as Abu Abdo – was said to be involved in several shooting attacks, as well as fundraising for terrorist attacks.
Fatah-Hamas rapprochement in Beijing?
In further evidence of China’s growing involvement in the Middle East, the Chinese Communist Party brought together several Palestinian factions to Beijing – including Fatah and Hamas – inducing them to agree to end their disagreements and come together to form a “government of reconciliation,” according to Chinese media and reported on Israel’s Ynet.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted the talks. He described the agreement as the “most significant development,” noting an interim government would be established.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz blasted the move and accused Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) the Palestinian Authority President and Fatah chairman – now in the eighteenth year of his four-year term – for “embracing murderers and rapists.”
Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement in China for joint control of Gaza after the war. Instead of rejecting terrorism, Mahmoud Abbas embraces the murderers and rapists of Hamas, revealing his true face. In reality, this won’t happen because Hamas’s rule will be crushed, and Abbas… pic.twitter.com/JZMqeMqH5J
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) July 23, 2024
Senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzuk announced the terror group signed a national unity declaration with other Palestinian groups, including rivals Fatah.
“Today we sign an agreement for national unity and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity. We are committed to national unity and we call for it,” Abu Marzuk said.
Fatah itself – which heretofore has been an implacable enemy of Hamas – poured scorn on the Chinese initiative with an official saying, “This is a Chinese public relations effort imposed by China. They are trying to influence the Middle East, but the rift between Fatah and Hamas cannot be bridged.”
This seems to contradict statements earlier in the year, which suggested a thawing of relations between the two Palestinian factions
Following Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Fatah and Hamas fought a bloody campaign for control over the coastal enclave – with Hamas eventually coming out on top. The fighting was vicious – Hamas combatants were known to have tossed Fatah opponents from rooftops. And since the misguided 2007 election, which Hamas infamously won, it has ruled the Gaza Strip with a rod of iron.
While Fatah controls the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have grown increasingly bold – especially since Oct. 7 – and seem to enjoy more widespread support than the 88-year-old Abbas. Indeed, according to recent polls, 89% of Palestinians support establishing a government including or led by Hamas. Only around 8.5% said they favor one controlled exclusively by Fatah, reported the Jewish News Syndicate.
Having fought a war now deep into its tenth month against Hamas, the prospect of the terrorist organization being involved in any way in the governance of the Palestinian parts of Judea and Samaria is not something any Israeli government or Israelis themselves could countenance. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also made it clear he does not view a path to the Palestinian Authority governing Gaza as part of the “day after” plan.
“I will not allow us to replace Hamastan with Fatahstan, that we replace Khan Yunis with Jenin,” he said. “I will not allow the State of Israel to repeat the fateful mistake of Oslo, which brought to the heart of our country and to Gaza the most extreme elements in the Arab world, which are committed to the destruction of the State of Israel and who educate their children to this end.”
As the U.S. has increasingly withdrawn from the region, China and other state actors – including Russia – have increasingly filled the vacuum the American absence has left.
Beijing was instrumental in the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two competing Islamic giants of the Middle East – Iran and Saudi Arabia – in a deal brokered in Beijing in 2023. Although the two had not directly come to blows, the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen launched waves of drones and missiles against the Saudi mainland, including the key Aramco refinery in 2019, and again in 2022.
Evidence of greater Russian involvement could be seen in February, as the country hosted a two-day “national dialogue” on forming a unity government under the auspices of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
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