Report: Hamas believes war with Israel will break out in the coming days
The report claims a potential war would involve Israeli combat units across ground, naval and air forces.
By JULIANE HELMHOLD, AVRAHAM GOLDUpdated: FEBRUARY 4, 2018 11:22Hamas picks Yahya Sinwar as new Gaza leader (credit: REUTERS)
Hamas and other Palestinian organizations believe there is a "95 percent chance" that Israel will launch a war as part of an IDF exercise in Southern Israel in the coming days, according to a report published by Al-Hayat on Sunday, quoting sources from various factions in the Gaza Strip, including Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.The terrorist organization, which controls the Gaza Strip, as well as other organizations declared a shift to the highest level of alert and evacuated most of their command echelon from their facilities in the Palestinian enclave. Hamas also placed police and security forces around the Gaza Strip, in fear of an escalation.The report claims a potential war would involve Israeli combat units across ground, naval and air forces.Sinwar was arrested in 1989 and sentenced to four life sentences for terrorist activities but freed in 2011 in a swap of 1,047 Palestinian security prisoners for abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.On the Fatah front, the same report said that Ramallah had received preliminary details of United States President Donald Trump's peace plan, which proposes transferring neighborhoods, suburbs and Arab villages where there are no Israeli outposts to the Palestinian side, creating a Palestinian corridor to Jerusalem and providing a humanitarian solution for Palestinian refugees.Meanwhile, a Western official revealed that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas presented an alternative version of the plan to US officials through a third party, according to which a Palestinian state would be established in stages within the 1967 borders, with future territorial exchanges allowing Israel to incorporate the main settlement blocs. According to the official, "Abbas asked to agree on the preliminary border in exchange for the approval of the establishment of a Palestinian state in stages," but the American side rejected the proposal.Yesterday it was reported that Abbas had asked his government to prepare a plan to sever all ties with Israel, according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency. According to the report, the executive committee of the magistrate demanded the establishment of a supreme committee to implement the decisions of the Central Committee to freeze the recognition of Israel until it recognizes a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, cancels the annexation of Jerusalem and a freezes the construction in the settlements.The Executive Committee met on Sunday at the PLO headquarters in Ramallah, headed by Abbas, who is scheduled to address the Security Council this month and reiterate his position on the two-state solution on the basis of international legitimacy.