After the arrests: Violent attacks by air The Israel/Palestine conflict

Bloodiest attacks on Gaza since the eleven-day war  

Of: 

Marcus Bornlid Lesseur 

Published: Less than 1 hour ago 

Updated: Less than 20 min ago 

NEWS 

At least eleven people have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. 

The attack is directed against the fundamentalist group Islamic Jihad, whose support from Iran has come to be seen as an increasing threat in the eyes of the Israeli state. 

At the same time, Israel is in a political crisis – this autumn the country is going to elections for the fifth time in four years. 

Israel launched an airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Friday, marking the start of the most violent border clashes since last year's 11-day war between Hamas and Israel. 

On Saturday, at least eleven people, one of whom was a child, were killed in the Israeli bombings. These were this time directed at the militant group Islamic Jihad, which has recently come to be regarded as an increasing threat by the Israeli government. 

One of Islamic Jihad's commanders has been killed in the attacks, and earlier this week two high-ranking members of the group were arrested in the West Bank, prompting Israel to close its two border crossings with Gaza and, citing security concerns, restrict the freedom of movement of Israeli civilians living near the border.

Wants to establish an Islamist state 

Who then are Islamic Jihad? And what actually triggered the current violence? 

According to a review in the Washington Post , the group was formed in 1981 with the stated goal of establishing an Islamist Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel - and today operates in the shadow of the much stronger Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007. 

Islamic Jihad, like Hamas, is classified as a terrorist organization by, among others, the US and the EU, and the two groups have been in conflict with each other from time to time since Hamas took power. But even if Islamic Jihad is a weaker player in Gaza, the group's military power has increased in recent years through support from Israel's arch-enemy Iran. Today, the group is considered to be in possession of weapons as powerful as Hamas, including missiles with the capacity to hit the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. 

Does not take responsibility 

Islamic Jihad, the Washington Post points out, has benefited in its actions against Israel from not holding the administrative power in Gaza. For that reason, they have been able to concentrate their activities against Israel and, by breaking the truce between Israel and Hamas - through rocket fire for which they have rarely claimed responsibility - have tried to increase their reputation among the Palestinians at the expense of Hamas. 

The latter group, in turn, has found itself in a situation where, on the one hand, they do not want to escalate the conflict with Israel, while the Israeli government places the responsibility for all attacks from the Palestinian side on Hamas, and on the other hand, they do not want to lose their support in Gaza by punishing Islamic Jihad. 

For several months now, Israel has been carrying out operations to arrest Palestinians it suspects of these missile attacks. But when the airstrikes against Gaza began on Friday, it was also against the background of the crisis that currently characterizes Israeli politics. 

Fifth election in four years 

After the country's government collapsed earlier this summer, Israel is led by a transitional government, fronted by Yair Lapid who is considered by many Israelis to lack the security background required for the job, and this autumn, for the fifth time in four years, elections to the Israeli parliament Knesset will be held. 

Whether the situation is to escalate further, writes the Washington Post, depends to a great extent on how Hamas chooses to respond to the attacks. So far, they don't seem to have made a decision on the matter.