Beyond 1,200 Israelis killed and 251 taken hostage, almost 42 thousand Palestinians died in the Gaza Strip and more than two thousand Lebanese lost their lives. But also 200 workers from the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and more than a hundred journalists. This is the death toll since, on 7 October a year ago, Hamas launched an assault on the south of the Jewish state which for the Israelis is “the worst massacre since the Holocaust”.
Since then, the Israeli retaliation has caused victims among Palestinians and Lebanese, as well as displaced people and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis according to the UN. And 110 hostages remain in Gaza, of whom fewer than 70 are believed to be still alive.
The October 7 attack by Hamas
It all began at 6.30am on October 7, when the anti-aircraft sirens began to sound in Jerusalem, warning citizens of the ongoing attack and to take shelter immediately. The Israel Defense Forces estimate that around 2,200 rockets were fired towards southern and central Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, by Hamas militants. Hamas gunmen, many of them on motorbikes, stormed the kibbutzim, Israeli communities on the border and the Nova rave party that had been organized in the Negev desert. More than a thousand Palestinians, from Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, carried out what the UN called a ”coordinated and complex attack” that cost the lives of 809 civilians, at least 280 women and 40 children, according to the United Nations , and 314 soldiers. Almost 15 thousand injured.
Shortly after the attack, Mohammed Deif, commander in chief of the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, released a video statement in which he claimed responsibility for the action. The operation was dubbed ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ and, by Hamas, was described as ”a defensive act” and ”a necessary step to end the unjust siege of the Gaza Strip, to address all Israeli conspiracies against the Palestinian people and their cause”.
Unprecedented military operation against the Gaza Strip
Around 6pm, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that “Israel is at war”. It is the first time since the Arab-Israeli war of 1973 and marks the beginning of an unprecedented military operation against the Gaza Strip, with the mobilization of 300 thousand reservists. Israeli jets take off and begin bombing Gaza. Among the first targets razed to the ground was the Al-Sousi mosque in Gaza City. On the day, October 8, Hezbollah launches rocket attacks against Israeli communities in the north on the border with Lebanon.
US President Joe Biden calls Netanyahu and expresses US ”condemnation” and support for Israel. “Israel has the right to defend itself and its people,” Biden says in a televised address from the White House. On October 14, Egypt, Israel and the United States agreed to allow foreigners in Gaza to pass through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, prompting a chaotic rush to the southern border by Palestinians and foreigners hoping to escape.
OCTOBER 18 – American President Biden arrives in Israel and is welcomed with a hug by Prime Minister Netanyahu on the tarmac of Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv. I am “proud to be here”, says Biden, “I want to tell the people of Israel that their courage, their commitment, their audacity are exceptional”, says the US president, promising to provide Israel with everything it needs to defend themselves. At the same time, Biden tells the Israelis: ”Don’t make the same mistakes we made after September 11th”.
NOVEMBER 24 – A seven-day ceasefire is declared and it is the only truce the war has known so far. During that week, and thanks to an intense international mediation process, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 105 civilians abducted by Hamas. It seemed to be a first push towards the end of the long-lasting fire, as expected, which ended up collapsing. The end of the truce meant the intensification of Israeli bombing of the enclave, the acceleration of its ground operations and the certainty that the consequences of the war were finally slipping out of the hands of the international community.
JANUARY 26 – The International Court of Justice, the United Nations tribunal, has ordered Israel to ”take all possible measures” to prevent a genocide in Gaza. The United Nations Security Council has been trying to promulgate a ceasefire resolution for months, but the United States’ veto makes it difficult. With fourteen votes in favor and the United States abstaining, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on March 25 calling for a temporary ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. On the ground, however, the situation is only getting worse and is heading towards ever greater escalation.
APRIL 13 – Iran launches 300 drones and ballistic missiles towards Israel, 99% of which were shot down, according to Tel Aviv. This is Tehran’s response to the killing, two weeks earlier, of the commander of the elite Pasdaran force, al-Quds, Mohammad Reza Zahevi together with 15 others in the consulate in Damascus.
This escalation is linked to Israel’s parallel operations to decapitate the leadership of the armed movements it faces. Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed on July 31 in Tehran. Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah was killed on September 27 in the southern Beirut suburb that is the group’s stronghold. A few days earlier, dozens of Hezbollah militiamen lost their lives or thousands were injured due to the coordinated explosion of pagers and walkie talkies.
SEPTEMBER 30 – Israel announces “a targeted and limited incursion” into southern Lebanon, unleashing a wave of bombings south of Beirut.
OCTOBER 1 – 180 Iranian missiles are launched towards Israel. The fear is that the escalation will continue, with Tel Aviv’s announced response.
#IsraelGaza #year #war #Hamas #massacre #October