How Israel Took Islamic Jihad by Surprise

A week ago, Israel captured Bassem Saadi, the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the West Bank city of Jenin, after he had been involved in planning a number of terrorist attacks, most of which were foiled. PIJ, which is backed entirely by Iran, responded by threatening to fire anti-tank weapons at Israeli towns from its home base in Gaza. Then, on Friday, the IDF launched Operation Breaking Dawn with the successful assassination of PIJ’s chief of operations in the northern Gaza Strip, and not long thereafter killed his counterpart in the south, while the terrorist group began bombarding Israel with rockets and mortars. As of yesterday afternoon, local time, it had fired 780 rockets at both Tel Aviv and at border communities, 180 of which fell short and landed in Gaza—causing several tragic deaths. An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire took effect in the evening, but whether it will hold is anyone’s guess.