Israel Escalates Strikes Against Gaza Families Resisting Israeli Rule

Strategic Insights -

As the US administration and Arab and Islamic states discuss the future of Gaza, Israel has intensified airstrikes against families whose elders rejected cooperation with Israeli attempts to form local governing bodies. These bodies are modeled on armed groups previously established and supported by Israel in parts of Gaza. The targeted strikes have focused on communities that resisted involvement in Israeli-backed efforts to establish local authorities, leading to the deaths of at least 36 people, including children, and injuring many more.

Key Takeaways:

  • Israel has launched a series of airstrikes against families in Gaza who refused to cooperate with Israeli attempts to form local governing bodies, modeled on armed groups previously established and supported by Israel.
  • The targeted strikes have focused on communities that resisted involvement in Israeli-backed efforts to establish local authorities, including the Bakr and Doghmosh families.
  • The Bakr family elder stated that Israeli intelligence had contacted the family's leaders and asked them to form an armed group to control the al-Shati camp, which the family categorically rejected.
  • The refusal to cooperate with Israel was a principled national decision, not an expression of support for Hamas or any other faction.
  • Israel's strategy involves fostering armed groups drawn from families and clans, or from individuals with criminal or security backgrounds, to exert local control.
  • Several families in Gaza have been killed in the current war and in previous conflicts, including members of the Bakr family.

Statistics:

  • 30 people were killed in a single Israeli airstrike on the Doghmosh family in the Sabra neighborhood of southern Gaza City.
  • At least 20 more people remain trapped under the rubble, beyond the reach of rescue teams.
  • 6 members of the Bakr family were killed, and 11 were wounded, in a bombing of their house in the al-Shati refugee camp.
  • Several other family members were injured in the same vicinity.
  • The Bakr family is one of Gaza's largest, with members affiliated with Fatah and Islamic Jihad.

Sources:

  • Asharq Al-Awsat
  • Saudi Research and Publishing Co.