Israel declared war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas following an unexpected attack on Saturday by air, sea, and land, that has left at least 900 dead in Israel. In retaliation, Israeli airstrikes targeted Gaza on Sunday, resulting in at least 687 casualties. The situation escalated further after Hamas claimed to have taken over 150 hostages and threatened to harm them if Gaza was targeted without warning. Despite the warning, Israel has ruthlessly bombarded Gaza with airstrikes. As of today, the total death toll amounts to at least 1,200 people dead and thousands of others injured.
- An Emergency Government and war cabinet has been formed in Israel following their ongoing war with Hamas.
- Israel has massively mobilized troops near the Gaza border totaling 300,000 reservists.
- Thousands of Gaza residents have been displaced and many hospitals have been paralyzed due to the increased number of casualties.
- The only power station in Gaza has stopped working following air raids from Israel.
The assault began when militants from Gaza fired thousands of rockets towards Israeli towns, on Saturday. The airstrikes breached the heavily fortified border fence allowing militants to infiltrate deep into Israeli territory. This surprise attack pushed Israel to face adversaries in street battles on its own soil for the first time since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It is undoubtedly clear that Israelis have never faced an attack of this magnitude. Despite Hamas having severally attacked Israel before and taken hostages, this appears to be the highest number of both civilian and military hostages taken by the militant group.
Hamas has since claimed the attack and dubbed it “The Al-Aqsa Storm.” According to them, they did so in revenge for the Palestinian women attacked by the Israelis, the desecration of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, and the ongoing siege of Gaza. In response to the attack, Israel’s Military Defense Forces, the IDF has launched a counterattack dubbed “Operation Swords of Iron.” The attack is targeted towards suspected Hamas and Islamic Jihad locations in Gaza. The IDF has warned civilians in Gaza to evacuate the area immediately.
Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, ordered a “complete siege” on Gaza. Consequently, the only thing coming in and out of the Gaza territory is air. Israel has blocked the supply of water, food, electricity, and medical supplies accessing Gaza. This tension between the Israelis and the Palestinians has existed since before Israel came into existence in 1948. However, the scale of violence has seemingly heightened this year, with the number of Palestinians killed hitting a record high in almost two decades.
In 1967, Israel captured Gaza from Egypt during the war. After about four decades, Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza. The territory fell under the Hamas in 2007 after a short war with the Fatah, which is a rival Palestinian Militant group and the backbone of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Gaza has since been an “open-air prison” due to the relentless siege and blockade from Hamas and Israel. According to Human Rights Watch, over half of the Gaza population lives in dire poverty and heavily relies on humanitarian assistance.
Before the attack on Saturday, the last gruesome war between the Israelis and the Hamas was in 2021. The war, which lasted 11 days, claimed about 250 Palestinian lives and 13 Israelis in Gaza. “Al-Aqsa” storm comes after 50 years since the 1973 war between Israel and its Arab neighbors. On October 6, 1973, Israel received a vicious surprise attack on Yom Kippur, which is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Hamas, an Islamist organization, is a military unit that was formed in 1987. It emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist group in Egypt around the late 1920s. The militant group believes Israel is an illegitimate state and is working towards its downfall as much as it is working towards liberating Palestinian territories. Since its formation, it has refused to engage with Israel and has also presented itself as an alternative to the Palestinian Authority.
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In 1993, the Hamas opposed the Oslo Accords which was a peaceful pact between Israel and the Palestine Liberal Organization (PLO). In this pact, PLO stopped its armed resistance against Israel in return for an Independent state. It was also recognized by Israel and the global community at large as the legitimate Palestinian Authority, which is now being led by President Mahmoud Abbas. Despite this, Hamas has relentlessly claimed many attacks on Israel and has since been declared a terrorist group by Israel, the USA, and the European Union.
As it appears, Israel is done “playing nice” with the Hamas. The state has declared war and asserted that the militants will pay dearly. This is despite Hamas stating that they will begin public execution of Israeli hostages if Gaza is to be attacked without warning. Nonetheless, in the past, Israelis have negotiated the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for captured Palestinian, Lebanese, and Arab militants.
In 2011, Israel released 1,027 prisoners for the release of Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. Elhanan Tannenbaum, an Israeli businessman and army reserve colonel, was released together with the bodies of three IDF soldiers in 2004. In exchange, Hamas demanded the release of more than half a dozen of Lebanese and Arab prisoners including senior officials of the Hezbollah militant group. Back in 2008, two bodies of Israeli soldiers were released by the militants in exchange for 200 bodies of Arab fighters and ten Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners.
The Hamas attack on Israel appeared to have been orchestrated quite well and it suspected that they might be getting help from Iran. If so, this war could quickly span into a wider regional war as it is alleged that Iran supports Hamas to the tune of Ksh. 15 billion ($100 million). In 2021, the United States Department reported that Hamas and Hezbollah from Lebanon have been receiving funding, weapons, and training from Iran. Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, on Sunday, made a phone call to Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh congratulating them for their victory. However, Iran has denied any involvement in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
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As a result, the United States of America has deployed fighter jets to the Mediterranean Sea. This was done in a bid to combat any Iranian aggression or expansion of the fighting beyond Israel. At the moment, Israel appears to be at peace with only two of its neighbors, Jordan and Egypt. Unfortunately, the country is at war with not only Palestine but also Syria and Lebanon. The Hezbollah from Lebanon also praised Hamas for their attack on Israel.
