After days ago a brief flare-up in fighting saw rockets exchanged between Gaza and the Israeli army, the Palestinian hardline Islamist group Hamas conducted what it called joint military exercises as a show of strength with competing militant factions. Israeli media for its part said these unprecedented exercises ultimately had Iran's hand behind them, as Reuters reported, "An array of Palestinian militant groups launched rockets into the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza Strip on Tuesday at the start of what they called their first-ever joint exercise, which Israeli media described as a show of force organized by Iran."