Israeli media sources have reported that Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, has allegedly decided to resume direct political talks with Israel in the near future, and that an understanding was reached on the issue between Abbas and U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry. Military analyst of Israel’s Channel 10 claimed that Abbas also received a call from Kerry promising him to talk to Israel regarding the possibility of releasing some Palestinian political prisoners as a gesture of “good will”.
The analyst added that it seems that the political process between Israel and the Palestinians could resume in the coming few weeks.
Furthermore, Channel 10 said that the recent shells that were fired from Gaza into adjacent Israeli areas were not fired by the Hamas movement or the Islamic Jihad, and added; “that’s why the Israeli response was not harsh on Hamas or the Islamic Jihad”.
It added that the Israeli leadership is closely following the tension between Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, after a senior Islamic Jihad fighter was killed by live rounds, fired by Hamas security forces in Gaza while attempting to arrest him.
The Military analyst claimed that there are serious tensions between Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, and that some Islamic Jihad fighters fired shells into Israel without the knowledge of the political leadership of the movement.
He added that Hamas deployed 600 fighters across the border with Israel to prevent the firing of homemade shells.
On his Facebook page, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar stated that the death of Islamic Jihad fighter Raed Jondiyya “was caused by tension between the Police and a member of the Islamic Jihad”.
He added that leaders of the Islamic Jihad and the Hamas movements formed a joint committee that also includes the Police in order to discuss the issue, and denied any tension between the two movements.
As for the position of Hamas regarding the firing of five shells into Israel on Monday morning, Zahar said that Hamas would discuss the issue with the Islamic Jihad to see whether the shells were fired in retaliation to Israeli violations, or were motivated by the death of Jondiyya.
