Israel aimed to eradicate Islamic Jihad, bring resistance groups to knees but failed: Analyst

The Israeli regime, by its recent onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip, aimed to eradicate the Islamic Jihad resistance movement and bring other Palestinian resistance groups to their knees, but failed, according to a Lebanese political analyst.

Faysal Abdel Sater made the comment in an exclusive interview with Press TV Website after the Tel Aviv regime launched a deadly bombing campaign on Gaza on May 9, sparking the firing of over 1,000 rockets by the Islamic Jihad toward the occupied territories.

The two sides agreed after five days of fighting to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that took effect on Saturday night.

Israeli aerial assaults killed at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza, including six children, and wounded 147, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Several Islamic Jihad leaders were also among the Palestinian martyrs of the latest conflict, which marked the worst episode of fighting between Gaza’s resistance factions and Israel since a 10-day war in 2021.

“Israel tried to bring the Palestinian resistance forces to their knees by [seeking to] destroy the Islamic Jihad movement,” Abdel Sater said.

Describing the aggression as part of Israel's measures to eradicate the Islamic Jihad movement by assassinating its commanders, the Lebanese analyst said, “The criminal and extremist cabinet [of Benjamin Netanyahu] did not achieve its goals because the Islamic Jihad movement managed to engage Israelis by continuous firing of missiles within six days and creating nights full of fear and worry for the settlers.”

Abdel Sater said the retaliatory response proved the readiness of the Islamic Jihad and its operational power, adding that the Israeli onslaught indicated that the regime is no longer capable of controlling the situation in Gaza.

“The recent aggression showed that this regime no longer has the full capability and power to control the situation in the Gaza Strip and even the West Bank and inside the occupied territories because the Palestinian combatants have increased and will continue to increase the scope of their retaliatory attacks in occupied Palestine,” he said.

“On the other hand, the Palestinian people have shown that they will never surrender and will not surrender to the will of Israel,” he added.

Israel raided Gaza to restore its ‘hallucinatory’ deterrence against Palestinians: Islamic Jihad

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement says Israel launched the onslaught on the Gaza Strip in a bid to restore its deterrence.

Asked whether Israel would think twice before launching another assault on Gaza, Abdel Sater said, “During the six days of fighting, the regime was powerless against the Islamic Jihad movement, which was under siege and provided its aid and needs with difficulty."

"Now, how will it be able to do something if the scope of the battle is expanded in the northern and southern borders of Lebanon?” he asked.

The analyst underlined, “As Israeli commanders know very well, if other fronts are activated, Hezbollah's missiles will rain down on the Israelis. The recent battle shows the weakness of this regime.”

Abdel Sater said the Israeli regime also failed in its attempts to affiliate the Islamic Jihad resistance movement to the Islamic Republic.

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