The eruption of mass protests in the West Bank has raised the prospect of a new intifada and sent shockwaves across the region.

Israel and its backers in Egypt and Saudi Arabia wanted to use this war to crush what they considered to be an isolated and vulnerable Hamas. Instead, the savage Israeli assault and Hamas-led resistance in Gaza has united the mass of Palestinians and forged a new determination to resist Israel and put an end to siege and occupation.

Hamas initially agreed to the unity government from a position of weakness. Starved of funds and allies after the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt, it was forced to go crawling to Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Today the terms of Palestinian unity have been reversed. Under intense pressure, Abbas has been forced to issue a strong statement defending the military struggle of Hamas in Gaza, and endorsing its opposition to a ceasefire unless the blockade of Gaza is lifted.

The Palestinian Authority is the one force standing between Israel and a full-blown intifada. It was silent when Hamas leaders called for precisely that as thousands of Palestinian youths fought running battles with Israel across the West Bank.

Abbas is a loyal enforcer of the Israeli occupation, but his current rhetoric indicates how much the political terrain has shifted.

The dramatic protests in the occupied territories and across Israel are only one indication of how the latest Gaza war is turning into a strategic disaster for the Zionists.

When Israel invaded Gaza at the end of 2008, the West Bank was silent. Not this time.

In 2008, Hamas was incapable of mounting serious resistance. Not any more. Since the last war, Hamas has transformed itself into a serious fighting force capable of engaging and taking on the IDF.

The efforts of Hezbollah in the 2006 Lebanon war are held up as the standard necessary to take on the Israeli military. In this war, Hamas has managed to inflict daily casualties on Israeli forces comparable to what Hezbollah did in 2006. Israeli troops have dismantled tunnels on the outskirts of Gaza, but at much greater cost than they anticipated and without inflicting significant damage to the core military strength of Hamas, which they are yet to confront.

The criticisms Palestinians have of Hamas – and there is no shortage – have been completely subsumed by this war. Netanyahu’s ludicrous appeal for Gazans to “rise up” against Hamas is either utter cynicism or utter lunacy. The population of Gaza is today as united as it has ever been in support of a policy of resistance to the mass slaughter that is being unleashed against them.

The US, which backs Israel to the hilt, is nonetheless increasingly fearful of the broader impact this war will have across the region. The image of a united Palestinian resistance cannot but strike fear in the hearts of the reactionary regimes in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which have enthusiastically backed Israel in this war.

Across the world, the Israeli propaganda machine is facing increasing levels of opposition. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in protest. Even the ultra pro-Israeli US media have been pushed to show more of the horror that exposes Israeli lies.

Palestine supporters in the West need to do everything we can to deepen the campaign against Israeli apartheid. But it is the heroism of the Palestinian resistance itself that is unravelling the plans of the warmongers.