Publications

The current situation in the Gaza Strip is marked by several primary phenomena, led by Gaza’s severe economic plight and deteriorated infrastructure. These hardships aggravate humanitarian distress, which in turn motivates belligerent tendencies and heightens the danger of security escalation between Israel and Hamas and other terrorist forces operating in the Strip. Additional parameters include Hamas’s comprehensive and stable control of the region; the organization’s proven capacity for destructive activity, both in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and vis-à-vis Israel’s regional and international standing; and the limitations stemming from reconstruction of the Strip that hinges on concrete progress toward an Israeli-Palestinian settlement, including “reconstruction in exchange for demilitarization,” which would strip Hamas and the other factions of their military capabilities, particularly the rocket arsenal and the capacity for high trajectory weapons fire.