"Hamas does not want to spark an Israeli military invasion and yet it
won't stop the missile attacks," an official said. "That's where Islamic
Jihad comes in. They take the responsibility and get Hamas off the hook."
Jihad has claimed responsibility for missile and mortar strikes on the
Israeli city of Sderot. Jihad has also fired mortars at Israeli military
bases along the border with the Gaza Strip.
At a July 4 briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee, Col. Ronen Cohen, a senior military intelligence officer, said
Hamas has limited operations against Israel. Cohen said Hamas wants to focus
on accumulating weapons, technology and money in an effort to form a
Palestinian army, now estimated at between 7,000 and 10,000 soldiers in the
Gaza Strip.
Cohen, deputy chief of military intelligence's research division, said
Hamas wants to bolster its forces to ensure a strategic threat to Israel
from the Gaza Strip. He said Hamas has also secretly established a chain of
command of its Executive Force in the West Bank.
"As long as the Israeli military is in the [West Bank] territories,
Hamas can't reach the same military level as in Gaza," Cohen said.
Still, Cohen said, Hamas lacks sufficient forces in the Gaza Strip. As a
result, the ruling Islamic movement has been recruiting former PA officers
and Fatah fighters as well as hiring professional security guards to protect
the border crossings with Egypt and Israel.
Officials said Hamas has been engaged in serial production of the Kassam
missile as well as improvised explosive devices. They said Hamas has
acquired a large arsenal of anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles seized from
Fatah-aligned PA facilities in the Gaza Strip in late June.
Officials said Hamas was expected to reconcile with the Fatah movement
despite its defeat. They said Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas,
who in June ordered a crackdown on the Islamic movement, has been moving
toward coordination and cooperation with Hamas political bureau chief Khaled
Masha'al, based in Damascus.
"They have a joint interest," Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi
Ashkenazi said.
