The surprise attack by Hamas on Israel has left the government embattled over its security “failure”, but more violence against Palestinians is unlikely to resolve this, experts have told The National.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared “war” after the attacks on Saturday morning, in which more than 500 rockets were launched into Israel and dozens of Palestinian gunmen crossed into the south of the country.
“I have ordered an extensive mobilisation of reserves and that we return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known. The enemy will pay an unprecedented price. We are at war and we will win it,” said Mr Netanyahu.
About 700 people have been injured in the attacks, and 44 Israelis have been killed according to the latest figures from Israeli media.
Palestinian authorities have said that more than 198 people have been killed and 1,618 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said it launched strikes against 17 military compounds and locations connected to Hamas’s leadership in Gaza.
Western leaders have condemned Hamas' attacks and backed an Israeli response, with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin pledging to give “Israel what it needs to defend itself”.
Yet questions about how such attacks happened in the first place are emerging – and appear to be changing the game.
However, Husam Zomlot, ambassador to the Palestinian Mission to the UK, warned that unwavering international support for Israel risked escalating the conflict.
“Statements about 'Israel’s right to self defence' will only be interpreted by the most fanatical Israeli government as a green light to commit further massacres against the occupied people of Palestine,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Israel's security 'failure'
Israel’s government is formed by a coalition of right-wing and far-right parties that have been vocal about ensuring the country’s security.
“It is so unprecedented that [Hamas] managed to infiltrate inside Israel, entering towns, villages and kibbutzes,” said Yossi Mekelburg, associate fellow of the Mena Programme at Chatham House.
“Israel was caught asleep in many ways. On any level from an Israeli point of view, it’s a complete failure.”
The attack, named Operation Al Aqsa Flood, comes at a time when Israel has been divided over Mr Netanyahu’s rule and judicial overhauls, with growing calls to resolve the Palestinian issue.
“Hamas sensed that Israel is weak, because of the political weakness of Israel with Netanyahu,” Mr Mekelburg said.
It is believed to be an attempt to jeopardise US-brokered talks between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which would see the two countries establish ties for the first time. An aggressive Israeli retaliation on Gaza, and assaults on its civilians, would make it harder for Saudi Arabia to follow through with a potential agreement.
Yet internal political dimensions are more likely to bear on the scale of Israel’s response, experts say. “In order to re-establish the terms, Israel will retaliate massively,” Mr Mekelburg said.
“They’ve poked the bear, and when you poke the bear it hits back, not always proportionately.”
While Hamas’s objectives are still unclear, the secrecy of the planning could signal a rift within the organisation itself. “Given that it was a surprise attack, one would have to think that only very few people in Hamas knew about this. It begs a question whether all parts of Hamas are fully signed up to this action,” said Chris Doyle, director of Caabu, the Council for Arab-British Understanding.
Questions have also emerged as to whether the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which like Hamas also receives Iranian backing, will get involved in the conflict, thus putting Lebanon at risk of war with Israel.
The group described Hamas's attack as a “decisive response to Israel’s continued occupation and a message to those seeking normalisation with Israel”.
Escalating cycles of violence
Yet experts believe that a military solution to the conflict is not possible, as fears emerge of a possible ground invasion of Gaza. “Nobody can win this militarily. You can kill a lot of people but you cannot resolve it. There is only a political solution, but nobody wants to listen,” Mr Mekelburg said.
Instead, Israel's military response could perpetuate existing cycles of violence on the Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded since 2005 by Israel and Egypt. “It’s hard to think that it won’t be a very aggressive action on Gaza,” Mr Doyle said.
He anticipated “massive clampdowns” in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. “Israeli security will be very nervous about potential attacks. Given the nature of this Israeli government, its going to be a very tough crackdown.”
Reports of Israeli civilians and soldiers being held hostage in Gaza could complicate the situation.
The violence was linked to the “long-term failure” on Gaza, said Mr Doyle. “There is a long-term failure on Gaza and on the issue of Palestine. The assumption that you can leave that small strip of land to fester and it can stay contained, it won’t,” he said.
“The international community as a whole has to take stock of this. We have a long-term situation in Gaza which is completely unsustainable, two million under blockade with no horizon.
“Whilst you maintain that there’s an inevitability to have these conflagrations. If we go back to the status quo, we can be assured there will be further lives lost and ruined,” he said.
Without a resolution “things are only going to get worse", he added.
Waseem, a 25-year-old Gaza resident, described scenes of chaos and uncertainty to The National, as he braced himself for the possibility of Israel forces once again entering the Palestinian enclave.
“No one in Gaza has an answer as to what’s happening. We woke up at 6am to the sounds of bombs everywhere,” he said.
“The press and politicians in Gaza are just trying to understand what’s happening but there’s no clear answer.
“My family went to my grandfather’s house which is in the centre of a camp. It’s not safe. Nowhere is safe. In this house we have four children, one of them is a newborn. They are terrified but we are trying to keep them calm.
“We are scared. We know how bad the occupation is."
The years Ramadan fell in May
MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
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ENGLAND SQUAD
Joe Root (captain), Dom Sibley, Rory Burns, Dan Lawrence, Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes (wicketkeeper), Moeen Ali, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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The biog
Name: Samar Frost
Born: Abu Dhabi
Hobbies: Singing, music and socialising with friends
Favourite singer: Adele
How to become a Boglehead
Bogleheads follow simple investing philosophies to build their wealth and live better lives. Just follow these steps.
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What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation refers to the issuance of a blockchain token, which represents a virtually tradable real, tangible asset. A tokenised asset is easily transferable, offers good liquidity, returns and is easily traded on the secondary markets.
Company Profile
Company name: OneOrder
Started: October 2021
Founders: Tamer Amer and Karim Maurice
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Industry: technology, logistics
Investors: A15 and self-funded
Key facilities
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'The Ice Road'
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh
Stars: Liam Neeson, Amber Midthunder, Laurence Fishburne
2/5
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
The specs: Fenyr SuperSport
Price, base: Dh5.1 million
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 800hp @ 7,100pm
Torque: 980Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 13.5L / 100km
The results of the first round are as follows:
Qais Saied (Independent): 18.4 per cent
Nabil Karoui (Qalb Tounes): 15.58 per cent
Abdelfattah Mourou (Ennahdha party): 12.88 per cent
Abdelkarim Zbidi (two-time defence minister backed by Nidaa Tounes party): 10.7 per cent
Youssef Chahed (former prime minister, leader of Long Live Tunisia): 7.3 per cent
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Baby Driver
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Lily James
Three and a half stars
RESULT
Leeds United 1 Manchester City 1
Leeds: Rodrigo (59')
Man City: Sterling (17')
Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moreno (Leeds)
Mane points for safe home colouring
- Natural and grey hair takes colour differently than chemically treated hair
- Taking hair from a dark to a light colour should involve a slow transition through warmer stages of colour
- When choosing a colour (especially a lighter tone), allow for a natural lift of warmth
- Most modern hair colours are technique-based, in that they require a confident hand and taught skills
- If you decide to be brave and go for it, seek professional advice and use a semi-permanent colour
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 3 (Kroos 4', Ramos 30', Marcelo 37')
Eibar 1 (Bigas 60')
'Morbius'
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Stars: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona
Rating: 2/5
The%20specs
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
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