Itongadol.- Two weeks after Operation Protective Edge ended with an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire, Hamas is already preparing itself for the next round of fighting with Israel, a a senior diplomatic source said Sunday.
“They are already preparing themselves,” the source said, adding that Israel has detected Hamas smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip.
Likewise, he said, Hamas is working to restore the terror tunnels in Gaza, as well as restore Gaza\’s rocket manufacturing capabilities.
The source said that Gaza\’s rocket manufacturing capacity is currently 40% of what it was at the outset of Operation Protective Edge, and that the Palestinians were continuing to build rockets.
The official said that just as Hamas prepared itself following Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012 “step-by-step” for the next round, they are already starting to do the same thing now.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said that preventing Hamas from re-arming was a key condition to ensuring prolonged quiet for the south, one of the two objectives he set out at the beginning of Operation Protective Edge. The other objective was to hit Hamas hard and significantly denigrate its military capabilities.