This week on The Inside Story, Israel suffers a deadly large scale coordinated attack at the hands of the terrorist group Hamas.
Militants turned kidnappers holding hostages as collateral while allies say they stand with Israel.
What's happened so far? And what's next in the conflict?
Now, on The Inside Story, Israel at War.
Welcome to The Inside Story. I am Anita Powell, White House Correspondent for VOA. Last Saturday, Hamas militants crossed into southern Israel, attacking both civilians and soldiers and killing more than 1-thousand people, and kidnapping at least 100 Israeli civilians, including children. Israel’s response, a massive airborne barrage into Gaza, has been swift and significant and Palestinian authorities report the death toll in Gaza has surpassed a thousand people, with over five thousand wounded. Israeli says this is just the beginning of their military response.
International reaction has been overwhelming in its condemnation of the attacks. President Joe Biden said, "This was an act of sheer evil" and pledged to support Israel. In the wake of the attack, Iran’s support for the Palestinian group Hamas is in the spotlight. VOA’s Henry Ridgwell reports.
The Hamas attack on Israel Saturday took most regional powers by surprise, but many analysts say Iran would have approved the assault in advance.
Iran has been for several years supporting Hamas through funding and through training and through military equipment. Decisions to engage in war by these groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and others can only happen with explicit prior direct agreement from Iran. But this is very different from saying that Iran ordered these groups to do these attacks.
Iran has described Hamas’s actions as ‘the manifestation of resistance’ – but denied any responsibility.
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, blamed “an evil axis whose base is in Iran.” Israeli officials say there is no direct evidence that Tehran directed the attack.
This is an operation that was launched by a Palestinian group for its own Palestinian reasons. Hamas is not an operative or a proxy of the Iranian regime. Although there may be convergences of interests.
What interest would Iran have in renewed conflict between Hamas and Israel? Geopolitical alliances are shifting fast. Saudi Arabia and Israel are attempting to normalize diplomatic relations, supported by the United States.
The Palestinian Authority – a domestic rival to Hamas – is taking part in the talks.
The deal involves Saudi Arabia talking to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas was not part of this discussion and therefore Hamas felt first of all that it needed to be part of any solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict. And so, we're talking about a geopolitical context in which Hamas - and also its backer, Iran - want to set the political agenda.
Meanwhile, Tehran’s negotiations with the West over a return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal – and a lifting of sanctions - have stalled.
Troublemaking is negotiating by other means. And I believe that this is applicable to this situation. I'm not sure Iran is seeking a larger confrontation. As I said, it's probably seeking attention and seeking basically, to convince the big powers involved in the region, particularly the United States, to take the Iranian role in the region seriously.
Washington should reassess its Iran policy, argues Khatib.
U.S. foreign policy has focused on Iran's nuclear file and has in a way pushed Iran's regional role to the margins. I think there is now no denying that Iran's regional role needs to be central to U.S. policy.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday he had not yet seen direct evidence of Iranian involvement in the Hamas attack.
Meanwhile, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Monday his country’s response would "change the Middle East." He did not elaborate on what this meant.
Henry Ridgwell, VOA News, London.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compares Hamas to ISIS in a call for international unity against the organization. His counterpart, US President Joe Biden, echoes that description and outlines America’s support to its staunch Middle East ally. Repeating live on air, “We stand with Israel. We stand with Israel.”
President Joe Biden minced no words in describing the shock and horror of Hamas’ surprise weekend attack on Israel.