[14][15][16] A local Hamas commander named Nour Baraka spotted the van outside his window in Khan Yunis three kilometers into Gazan territory.
They pulled their dead comrade's body out of the car and continued the flight on foot towards an olive grove where a Sikorsky CH-53 helicopter from the Israeli Air Force's elite Unit 669 was waiting.
[36] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut his visit to France short and returned to preside over a Security Cabinet meeting concerning the clashes that would be held on Tuesday.
[37] Commenting on the situation, he said that "no political solution exists for Gaza, just as there isn't one with ISIS", that he is doing what he can to avoid an "unnecessary war" and also that "we were a step away from exerting maximal force and I think Hamas understood this.
[42] During the night to Tuesday, a rocket directly hit a residential building in Ashkelon, killing Mahmoud Abu Asba, a Palestinian man from Hebron, and wounding two women.
[46] Among them the building hosting Hamas' television broadcasting station Al-Aqsa which was leveled to the ground,[23][45] an attack denounced by Barhoum as "a barbaric, brazen aggression."
"[48] Abu Rukun wrote on the unit's Arabic-language Facebook page a sharply worded warning addressed to the Gazans about "terrorist activity" that ended with "Residents of Gaza, look carefully at the pictures from Operation Protective Edge in 2014 – a picture is worth a thousand words",[49] alluding to the destruction Israeli bombardment caused in the 2014 Gaza war.
Instead of accepting the situation, we must act, but differently", referring to the recently signed deal to allow Qatar to send $15 million in cash to Hamas.
[50] Yesh Atid of Yair Lapid suggested that the government should take better care of persons affected by the violence, by compensating parents that needed to stay at home due to school closures and that mental health centers should receive more backing.
The victims were identified as Khaled Riyadh al-Sultan, a farmer not part of any militant group, Musaab Hoss and Khalid Akram Youssef Maarouf.
An unnamed Israeli official's response to queries from the press was that "Israel reserves its freedom to operate" but confirmed that "requests by Hamas to form a cease-fire came from four different mediators.
In Sderot hundreds gathered, blocking roads and burning tires, to express their dissatisfaction, while in Gaza it was met with joy as thousands took to the streets celebrating and waving Hamas' green flags.
[63][64] On Wednesday morning, calling for early elections, Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman resigned from the government, saying that the ceasefire was "surrendering to terror".
"[70] A Palestinian man was shot and arrested as he was throwing grenades at the security fence in northern Gaza, according to Israeli military sources.
[73] Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi was lambasted for statements he made in an interview with Israeli Army Radio: "Hamas responded [to the botched IDF mission] in a measured manner and attacked only the Gaza border area.
[75][76][77] The day prior to the demonstrations, Kamil Abu Rukun, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), had posted an Arabic language video on his Facebook page, warning the Palestinians that Israel's "patience has run out" and that the military would show "zero restraint.
[75] According to Palestinian sources, a farmer was shot in the leg by Israeli forces as he was working his land in the eastern part of the Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza.
[79] On Monday, Palestinians staged for the 16th time this year a maritime protest using 20 boats while demonstrators gathered on the beach near Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.
[81][82] According to witness reports, he was standing 600 meters from the security fence and was wearing a protective vest with the word "PRESS" written on it.
[80] On Thursday, the Israeli Security Agency Shin Bet announced that it had uncovered a Hamas-connected cell in the West Bank which was planning to launch an attack in Israel.
Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump's envoy to the Middle East put the blame for the recent spur of violence on Hamas, "Gaza terrorists are once again attacking Israel with rockets and mortars.
[87] Czech Republic President Milos Zeman said that Israel reserves the right to an "aggressive response" to the bombardment of its citizens[88] and France's foreign ministry condemned the barrage rockets fired by Hamas "in the strongest terms".
On Monday, the UN Mideast envoy Nickolay Mladenov tweeted that the "#UN is working closely with #Egypt and all concerned to ensure that #Gaza steps back from the brink.
"[49] On Tuesday Kuwait, Bolivia and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas requested an urgent meeting with the UN Security Council to discuss Gaza.
[95][96][12] According to the group, the IDF had previously installed listening devices near the border, under the cover of works done by one of the Palestinian telecommunications companies.
[94] On 22 November, the al-Qassam brigades released photos on social media of the eight operatives they said were involved in the Gaza raid, urging the public to contact them with information about the whereabouts of the "fugitives" and their collaborators.
[citation needed] This way, they gained access to sensitive locations such as rocket launching sites, tunnel entrances and senior Hamas members homes.
[16] In December 2019, Al Jazeera's news program Ma Khafia Aazam sent a one-hour documentary in Arabic about the botched Israeli raid and the subsequent flareup in violence.
[106] On 21 November, the Tax Authority announced that these regulations would be finalized in the coming days and provide compensation to tourism operators, business owners, parents who missed work and beekeepers for losses suffered due to Gaza clashes from May 2018 to the end of the year.
Israeli MKs Shelly Yachimovich and Ksenia Svetlova published details identifying the soldier on their Facebook pages, defying the censor's orders.