On Saturday October 7, 2023 the Hamas Palestinian Militant group launched a rocket attack, ground assaults, and balaclava-clad fighters from paragliders in Israel. This surprise attack killed hundreds of people and many were taken as hostages. As of right now it has been reported that at over 1000 people were killed and dozens of soldiers and civilians which include women and children have been taken as hostages. On Tuesday White House officials confirmed that 14 U.S citizens were killed in the attack and about 20 U.S. citizens were missing.
The Hamas group is a classified terrorist organization by the United States and other nations. The group took control over Gaza in 2007 after it defeated its rival Fatah in the Palestinia’s elections in 2006. Gaza is a strip of land in Israel where about 2 million Palestinians have been after many fled or were expelled from their homes when the creation of Israel occurred in 1948. Israel had also occupied Gaza but pulled out its troops and settlers in 2005 leaving only Palestinians in that territory. Although when Hamas won the 2006 Palestinia’s elections Israel imposed an air, land, and sea blockade on Gaza and Egypt then closed its border crossing with Gaza.
The blockade has worsened the living conditions in Gaza, leaving over 2 million people with very little resources and in poverty. This blockade has restrictions on imports of goods, including electronic and computer equipment that would help them make weapons. The blockade has also prevented or more specifically restricted many Palestinians from leaving the territory and returning to their homes. Due to the blockade the people of Gaza suffer because there is a severe shortage of resources which include hospital equipment and medicine. It has forced Gaza Palestinians to fully rely on international aid, the people have received aid from Qatar through Hamas which Israel allows, and agencies such as the UN( autonomous international organizations working with the United Nations) have given aid as well.
Israel has received support from the United States after 14 U.S citizens were killed in the attack and about 20 U.S citizens reported missing. According to the Israeli president’s office, President Biden stated that the United States would stand alongside Israel. Political leaders in the U.S. have also vowed to support Israel. President Biden addressed the attack by stating that the United states would provide Israel with what it needed to keep its citizens safe and be able to defend themselves. The President also warned any country and organization to not try to take advantage of the situation. President Biden stated “this is about the security of our world, security of the United States of America.”
- Dayrin Camey
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-44124396
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/10/09/world/israel-gaza-war-hamas
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/07/world/middleeast/gaza-blockade-israel.html
https://www.npr.org/2023/10/10/1204873146/what-is-gaza-strip
https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3553040/us-flowing-military-supplies-to-israel-as-country-battles-hamas-terrorists/
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-american-deaths-hostages.html
2 comments:
I know that this post is more centered on the tensions that led to Hamas' assault on Israel rather than if the attack on Israel was militarily a surprise. However, I wanted to mention that in terms of logistics, Israeli intelligence had lots of information that was warning them of the attack. Israeli intelligence detected a surge of activity on militant networks in Gaza during the hours leading up to the attack. Yet, this warning was not acted upon by Israeli soldiers at the border. Additionally, Egypt warned Israeli officials that "something big" was going to happen in Gaza on the days leading up the the attack. If this data had been interpreted differently, it likely could have allowed Israel to better prepare for any actions taken from Hamas, and possibly could have reduced the severity of the attack. Unfortunately, many military and surveillance officials in Israel simply assumed that Hamas would not stage such an attack, both because they thought Hamas would be afraid of Israeli retaliation and in respect to political agreements. Evidently, their assumption allowed for a possibly preventable assault to become a devastating surprise attack.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-security-failure.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/12/israel-hamas-war-egypt-warned-foreign-affairs-gaza
My knowledge regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict may not be as robust as others, but I understand that in 1948, a zionist militia drove out 750,000 Palestinians in an attempt to establish an independent Jewish state, and as a result, the remaining Palestinians were forced to occupy the territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The situation that I described before was called the Nakba and since then, Palestinians have been the victims of mass poverty and struggle. Although Gaza is made up of (basically) only Palestinians, Israel has established a blockade on the territory, thus, depriving Gaza's citizens of socioeconomic growth and contact with the outside world. Given this knowledge, the Palestinian experience in Gaza is far from humane. I completely condemn Hamas's violent approach, though, as no innocent citizen should be subject to torture or murder, but that does not mean that the Israeli response to the attacks is any better. In recent times, Israel has sent numerous air strikes on Gaza and has not only killed innocent Palestinians but also subjected hundreds of thousands of Gaza citizens to circumstances like homelessness and starvation. After witnessing all the horror and violence committed by both sides in recent news, I can only hope that a larger war will not birth itself.
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