For the first time in history, Palestinian fighters have taken over Israeli settlement centers.
We don’t know what the actual purpose of the attack is. However, there is a lot of symbolism associated with the time: the anniversary of the Yom Kippur war of 1973 has just been celebrated, in which the previous big surprise against Israel took place. Now was also a Jewish holiday.
In addition, relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia have become closer recently. It is clear that the attack makes it difficult to heal these gaps, so it is of regional importance.
The third underlying reason is that the situation in the Palestinian territories is extremely bad. There is no hope for peace, and no process to achieve it. The Israeli government is exceptionally right-wing, so there is no factor preventing an attack either.
2. What kind of countermeasures is Israel taking more widely now?
The Israeli leadership was caught by surprise in the attack and they are surely now planning what to do. At the very least, there will be very violent airstrikes on Gaza. It is likely that they will be followed by a large-scale ground operation, even the complete occupation of the Gaza Strip.
The humiliation is so great for Israel, when dozens of Israelis have died, that the political pressure to do something very significant is very high.
It looks like this is going to be worse than the 2014 war, when Israeli ground forces last invaded the Gaza Strip. I fear the conflict will be very bloody for both sides.
3. So this is apparently a very unusual attack?
Yes, for the first time in history Palestinian fighters have taken over Israeli settlement centers on the Israeli side. The symbolic meaning of this is extremely great. It was a very sophisticated, obviously long-planned attack. Therefore, its importance is very great.
4. Is the attack of any use to improve the situation in the Palestinian territories?
The Palestinian issue seems to have been forgotten in the world. Israel is improving its relations with Arab countries without taking the Palestinian issue into account. One can only hope that the conflict would bring the Palestinian cause to the center of world politics.
However, peace seems to be very far away now.