What is happening now?
Fighting between Israel and Hamas has entered its third week and thousands of Palestinians have been killed or wounded and it has left much of Gaza City damaged from heavy shelling by the Israel Defense Forces.Many people have seen terrible images of dead women and children and are opposing Israel assaults seen as acts of violence against innocent civilians.
How did the war start?
The western media call it a conflict but violent air trikes started on July 8, when Israel launched "Operation
Protective Edge" in response to Hamas launching rockets toward Israel. Since the war began, 1,423 Gazans have died and 8,265 have been
injured while 59 Israelis have died, according to the Palestinian Health
Ministry and IDF, respectively.
What's the Latest?
Israel has been criticized by the United Nations and other world leaders for bombing a U.N.-sponsored school sheltering civilians in Gaza.
The Israeli Government says they had to bomb the school because there were weapons being kept there.The United States has supported Israel by donating £300 million dollars to buy more weapons according to LBC news yesterday.
A British MP, resigned yesterday over UK policies on the war. Also, London's Mayour Boris Johnson called himself a staunch Zionist but condemned the indiscriminate act of shelling by the Israelis.
This week, the IDF called up 16,000 additional reservists to join some
65,000 that were already fighting, a sign that the mission could be
expanded further. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
said that Israel will not stop the operation in Gaza until all of the
tunnels constructed by Hamas leading from Gaza to Israel have been
destroyed.
The U.N. has said a quarter of Gaza’s population is displaced, with 225,178 Palestinians in 86 U.N. shelters.
What Is Gaza and Who Controls It?
The Gaza Strip is a Detroit-sized area on the border with Egypt
up against the Mediterranean Sea that is one of the most densely packed
places on Earth with 1.8 million people living in just 139 square
miles. Technically part of the Palestinian Authority, it has been governed since 2007 by a group known as Hamas.
Hamas, which rejects the existence of Israel, recently agreed to form a
unity government with the other main Palestinian political faction, Fatah.
The new Palestinian Unity Government recognizes the state of Israel.
But the outbreak of current hostilities pitting Hamas against Israel has
left the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority on the sidelines.
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How did Gaza get sandwiched in the state of Isreal?
This is a long story and you will have to read my next post.
What Sparked This Violence?
Tensions were ignited
in June when three Israeli teenagers, one with American citizenship and
all seminary students, were kidnapped while hitchhiking in the West Bank (Gaza)
and killed. They were kidnapped on June 12 and their bodies were
discovered June 30. Israel accused Hamas of kidnapping the three teens,
which the militant group denied. Within days, Israel arrested more than
300 Palestinians, many of them members of Hamas. At least 10
Palestinians were killed and more than 1,000 private homes were raided.
On the night the boys' bodies were found, a barrage of rockets were
launched from Gaza at Israel and Israeli warplanes carried out numerous
air strikes in Gaza.
On July 2, a Palestinian teenager was kidnapped and burned to death in
apparent retaliation. The death triggered riots in East Jerusalem, a
largely Palestinian area. Three Israelis have been arrested and charged
with his death.
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| PHOTO: Thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square on June 29, 2014 for a rally calling for the release of the three Israeli boys who were kidnapped on June 19 near the West Bank settlement of Gush Etzion. . Laura Chiesa/LightRocket via Getty Images |
The attacks quickly escalated. The Isrealis say Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have
fired rockets with a reach that Israel had not previously seen, with air
raid sirens going off as far away as Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Many of the missiles have landed in desert areas or been intercepted by
Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system.But they is no evidence apart from a few photos.
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Who Are the Key Players?
Hamas controls the Gaza Strip and is considered a terrorist group by
Israel and the U.S. But while there is no Israeli military presence
inside Gaza anymore, the effective control of Gaza’s sea, air and
borders is under Israeli control.
The Israeli Defense Forces are the military arm of Israel and are well
armed and exceptionally large given Israel’s population. Most Israeli
residents must go through compulsory military service and are
automatically enrolled in the IDF’s reserve forces.
Benjamin Netanyahu is the prime minister of Israel. After the Israeli
teens were found dead, he said they were victims of "terrorists" and
"human animals." When the Palestinian teen was found murdered, he
telephoned the boy's father and said the murder was "abhorrent." Three
Israelis have been indicted for the murder.
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What Is Notable About This Outbreak of Violence?
The current fight comes after almost two years of relative calm between
Israel and the Palestinians and just months after the latest round of
peace talks collapsed.
The technology being used by both sides is more advanced than in earlier
periods of violence. Hamas has publicly claimed responsibility for
using a drone, and went on to say that it actually has two types of
drones: one to gather intelligence and another to fire munitions. Hamas
has been able to reach cities that are much further north in Israel than
they ever have before, instilling a new fear for Israeli residents.
Israel claims some 5 million people now live within striking distance of
Hamas’ newest rockets.
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