Israel-Hamas war: Understanding the latest violence in 2023
In the news
Islamabad:
Israel mounted the deadly offensive on Palestianians after the Hamas attack of October 7 taking in hundreds of hostages.
Source: CNN
In response to the Hamas attack, Israel Defense forces (IDF) have bombarded Gaza which killed more than 14 thousand innocent Palestinians. The count of deaths on the Israeli side is about 1200.
Nearly 115 Children are dying every day in this war. As per UN estimates, Two Thirds of the people who died in Gaza are children and women.
Source: AP News
People all over the world have demonstrated solidarity with the Palestianians by carrying out protests and marches everywhere. From Islamabad to London people have come out in support of residents of Gaza innocent civilians.
In a momentary relief, a four-day truce was announced from 24 November onwards. So hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced from their homes.
In Gaza more than half of hospitals are out of service due to the constant attacks from Israel. Nearly 50% of the houses are razed to the ground.
News in context: Israel-Hamas War
Israeli forces are openly violating International Humanitarian Law. They perpetrate crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against an innocent civilian population.
Source: ICRC
Some of the important clauses violated by Israel are:
- Geneva Convention on Civilians
- Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War,
- Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons,
- Chemical Weapons Convention
- Hague Protocol on the Protection of Cultural Property,
- Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Genocide
Israeli is committing genocide in Gaza is feared by United Nations.
Craig Mokhiber Director at UN resigned in a letter to High Commissioner of UN he said, “”This is a text-book case of genocide. The European, ethno-nationalist, settler colonial project in Palestine has entered its final phase, toward the expedited destruction of the last remnants of indigenous Palestinian life in #Palestine.”
Raz Segal, director of genocide studies at Stockton University has categorically categorized the current bombardment of Gaza “as textbook case of genocide”.
It has forcibly stopped supplying your food, electricity, water, and even communication system with a clear intention of destroying the Gaza population. All this is happening with the support of the very countries who were conducting trials of genocide happened in World War II.
Background
In 1917 the British government issued The Balfour Declaration which made a statement about “a national home for Jewish People” in Palestine.
The partition plan based on this was put forward in the United Nations resolution in 1947. It was rejected by Palestinanins.
Source: NYT
The creation of Israel in 1948 was the result of war imposed on Palestinians. It was the first Nakba or catastrophe for the People of Palestine as 700,000 people were forcibly expelled from their ancestor homes. Now the territory of Palestine was divided into three parts: the State of Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank.
In 1967 Israel launched pre-emptive strikes on Syrian and Egyptian forces and expanded its area of occupation.
In 1987, young Palestinians hundreds in number living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip rose up against the military occupation of Israel. This is known as First Intifada as well.
Peace efforts of 1993 Oslo Accords failed.
Again in 2000, the ex-PM of Israel made a visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque which is one of the most sacred mosques in Islam. This event and years of anger and grievances against the illegal and inhumane occupation of Israel led to the launch of Second Intifada. It lasted till about 2005 and also prompted Israel to build a barrier wall around the West Bank despite opposition from ICC.
The year of 2014 also saw 2251 Palestinians and 73 Israeli killed after a Israeli major offensive in Gaza Strip following rockets fired by Hamas.
The unending violence continued by the Israeli military of Israel in 2018 killed 183 Palestinians and injured nearly 6000.
Source: Aljazeera
In 2021 Abraham Accords which led to the normalization of ties between Israel and two other regional countries: Bahrain and UAE. Overall, this huge diplomatic step did not help Palestinians achieve any modicum of peace.
The same year 2021 saw the biggest demonstrations when an Israeli court ruled in affirmation of expelling families from their homes. After firing rockets into Israel, the IDF responded with deadly firepower killing innocents indiscriminately. This wave of violence killed 250 Palestinians, 13 Israelis, and nearly 72000 people were displaced.
The latest far right government of Benjamin Netayahu has further precipitated the expansion drive and settlements in the West Bank.
The decades long conflict started and Palestinians were forced out of their homes which is still happening today. Israeli settlements continue.
The Current
Source: Oxfam Interntaional
After the October 7 attack of Hamas, Israeli military forces launched a retaliatory war and announced to carry out a “complete Siege” of Gaza.
Israel ordered about 1 million residents of Gaza to evacuate leading up to the ground invasion.
Nearly 70 percent of the population of Gaza is displaced, which is a grave humanitarian crisis.
