Riots at the Gaza border
Riots at the Gaza borderPhoto: IDF

Hamas in Gaza is reportedly receiving $ 30 million a month from Iran and this money is going in its entirety to the military build-up of both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) according to Israeli TV Channel 12.

In exchange for the sharp increase in financial assistance, Iran wants accurate intelligence from Hamas on the places where Israel has stored its missile arsenal.

The news about the significant increase in financial assistance to Hamas - until 2019, Hamas received only $ 6 million a month - came after a visit from Hamas leaders to Tehran where discussions were held with the top echelons of the Iranian regime.

The Hamas delegation was led by Saleh al-Arouri, a terrorist who previously lived in southern Lebanon and who was responsible for the recent (end 2017) rapprochement with the Islamic Republic.

Hamas and Iran broke diplomatic relations in 2011, after Hamas expressed its support for Islamist groups in Syria who were trying to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Al-Arouri, a terrorist who spent years in Israel jails and founded Izz-a-Din al-Qassam, the military arm of the organization, is currently, the deputy leader of Hamas' political office and now lives in Gaza after Egypt allowed him to end his exile in Lebanon and Turkey.

"We are on the same path as the Islamic Republic - the path of the battle against the Zionist entity and the arrogant powers" said al-Arouri during his visit to Tehran.

Al-Arouri has previously said that Israel is "a cancerous tumor" that must be "uprooted from the region".

Before the visit of the delegation Hamas leader Ishmail Haniyeh predicted that the talks would produce "important results." The Hamas leader did not get permission from Egypt to leave the Gaza Strip in order to travel to Tehran.

The Egyptians, but also the Israeli government, are wary about how Iran is slowly turning Gaza into a second Lebanon and Syria, where Hezbollah, supported by the Quds Brigade of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), now controls the border areas with Israel on the Syrian Golan Heights as well as those in Lebanon.

Hezbollah is currently in the process of forming a second "resistance front" against Israel on the Syrian Golan Heights and has already taken over a number of military lookouts on the mountainous plateau, while recruiting disgruntled members of Sunni militias in the area.

An Israeli official told Channel 12 that the security services in the Jewish state estimate that Hamas and PIJ will try to force the IDF to transfer some of the available defense systems and manpower to the south in the event of war with Iran.

This will be done to undermine the power of the Israeli army in the north of the country.

PIJ recently unveiled how it transforms crude rockets without a GPS system into guided precision weapons.

The Palestinian terrorist group founded by Iran has been in the possession of missiles since 2007 and was largely responsible for the two recent mini rocket-wars against Israel, in November 2018 and May 2019.

A report published by PIJ last week claims that the missiles are a "nightmare" for the Israeli government and that it had made significant progress in the capacities to terrorize "Zionist cities and settlements."

"The circle of fire" is expanding PIJ wrote in her report.

The latter is undoubtedly true. The Palestinian terror-group is now able to reach northern Israel with its upgraded missiles and says it also has vital sites, such as Ben Gurion International Airport, the nuclear installations in Dimona and oil refineries in Ashdod and Haifa, in its sights.

The two Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza are now taking their orders from Qassem Soleimani, the shrewd commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, and abusing the current unofficial ceasefire with Israel to further build-up their military apparatus.

The two Iranian proxies are not interested in improving the dire living conditions in Gaza with the money they receive from Qatar and Iran. On the contrary, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is being abused to stir-up hatred against Israel under the guise of the non-existent ‘blockade’.

The United Nations and Egypt are, furthermore, being used by the two groups to maintain the ceasefire despite sporadic new terrorist attacks against southern Israel.

A report from the TV channel CAN (11) made it clear on Monday that the population of the villages and towns around Gaza has had enough of the alleged Israeli passivity in the context of the constantly growing threat from Gaza.

Israelis living in the Gaza-belt interviewed by CAN said that Hamas and PIJ are laughing at Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu over his policies towards them.

One of the interviewed also criticized the Israeli government for not giving adequate information about the arson fires which have torched thousands of acres in southern Israel. The woman said she got that information from Hamas and PIJ.

Netanyahu sees Gaza as part of the Iranian front against Israel and focuses primarily on the bigger picture while pursuing a conflict-management policy vis-à-vis Gaza.

American commentator and Iran expert Mike Evans called upon Netanyahu last week to launch a massive preventive attack on the Iranian bloc in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Gaza.

Evans compared the situation now with the hostage crisis which cost Jimmy Carter his presidency in 1980 and warned Iran could do the same with Netanyahu since it’s a master in playing chess, the game that was invented by the country.

The Israel Defense Forces, meanwhile, are preparing for a new large-scale military operation against Hamas and PIJ in Gaza. The Israeli military conducted a massive drill in preparation for such an operation last week.

The goal of the drill was to simulate a situation whereby the IDF would deliver a massive blow to Hamas and PIJ in a short span of time, but not conquer Gaza and topple the vicious Hamas regime.

At the same time, Hamas has asked Iran to mediate between the Assad regime in Syria and the Sunni terror group about moving back the organization’s headquarters to Damascus where it would be able to better coordinate its actions with Hezbollah and the Quds Force.