TV: Israel preparing for possible flare-up in Gaza Strip

Israeli military forces are preparing for the possibility of a flare-up with fighters from Palestinian resistance groups based in the Gaza Strip following repeated incursions by the regime troops and Israeli settlers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Old City of al-Quds.

Channel 12 news reported on Saturday that if the Tel Aviv regime’s decision to close its pedestrian crossing with the besieged coastal enclave does not curb rocket attacks, the Israeli military would resume strikes or even begin a wider operation against the sliver.

The unsourced report said the military is preparing for the possibility that the situation could escalate into several days of combat between Israel and Gaza-based resistance fighters.

Tel Aviv launched a brutal bombing campaign against the besieged Gaza Strip on May 10 last year, following Palestinian retaliation against violent raids on worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque and the regime’s plans to force a number of Palestinian families out of their homes at the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East al-Quds.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, 260 Palestinians were martyred in the Israeli offensive, including 66 children and 40 women. At least 1,948 others were also wounded.

In response, Palestinian resistance movements, chief among them Hamas, launched Operation al-Quds Sword and fired more than 4,000 rockets and missiles into the occupied territories, killing 12 Israelis.

Apparently caught off guard by the unprecedented barrage of rockets from Gaza, Israel announced a unilateral ceasefire on May 21, which Palestinian resistance movements accepted with Egyptian mediation.

MG