Where is Gaza?
Gaza is a coastal strip of land approximately twice the size of Washington, DC.
It runs along the Mediterranean, surrounded on three sides by Israel and at one end borders Egypt’s Sinai.
What is the population?
About 2.3 million people.
Many are descendants of Palestinians who were ethnically cleansed from their homes by Zionist militias to pave the way for the creation of Israel in 1948 – the Nakba.
They fled to Gaza, which at the time was under Egyptian control.
How did Israel capture Gaza?
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza during the 1967 war.
The war led to UN Resolution 242, calling for Israel’s withdrawal from forcibly captured lands.
Did Israel ever occupy Gaza?
Yes, Israel has occupied Gaza since 1967.
When the Oslo Accords were signed between Israel and the Palestinians in 1993, there were high hopes that a Palestinian state would be established on the lands Israel conquered in 1967.
A Palestinian Authority (PA) was created to govern Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza until a Palestinian state was realized.
In 2005, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to withdraw 7,000 Israeli settlers, as well as Israeli troops, from Gaza.
He cited Israel’s disengagement from the security risks of trying to hold Gaza.
So after Israel left Gaza, did things get better?
According to the UN, Israel reoccupied Gaza, besieging it shortly after Hamas won the 2006 elections held by the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas is one of the two main Palestinian parties, the other being Fatah, which was dominant until then.
International actors – especially the United States – rejected the results and cut funding. The US also funneled weapons to Fatah to wrest control from Hamas in Gaza.
A war broke out and Gaza fell under the administration of Hamas, while Fatah – through the PA – controlled the West Bank.
Israel classified Gaza as a “hostile entity” and collectively punished civilians by imposing a land, sea and air blockade.
This severely restricted the movement of people and goods in and out of the enclave, broke up families and devastated the economy.
Since 2008, several UN reports have warned that Israel’s siege was generating a humanitarian catastrophe, worsened by Israel’s routine attacks on Gaza.
Wait, how many times has Israel attacked Gaza?
Five Israeli wars have been launched in Gaza since the country withdrew from the enclave in 2005, in addition to small incursions and bombings.
Before October 7, Israel said its policy was “mowing the grass” – attempts to degrade Hamas’ military capabilities by indiscriminately bombing Gaza every few years.
Hamas had few options to respond to Israel other than rocket attacks or small operations – a “violent balance” he wrote Tareq Baconi, analyst and author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of the Palestinian Resistance, in the New Yorker.
As the siege became a permanent reality – just like Hamas – Baconi wrote, the attacks were also aimed at prodding Israel to ease the blockade from time to time.
One of the first major Israeli wars in Gaza was “Operation Cast Lead” in 2008, which began after Hamas rockets were fired at the city of Sderot in southern Israel.
The fighting lasted 22 days and killed 1,440 Palestinians – most of them civilians – and 13 Israelis.
The disproportionate number of Palestinians relative to Israelis killed has become a pattern.
Six years later, in a campaign that Israel labeled the “Protective Edge,” some 2,100 Palestinians were killed, compared to 74 Israelis, in seven weeks.
The other three major wars occurred in 2012, 2021, as well as Israel’s current war in Gaza.
Is the current Israeli war in Gaza different?
This war has no end in sight.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far refused a ceasefire, saying he wants the right to maintain a low-intensity war – perhaps forever – in Gaza.
Since Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which 1,139 people were killed and 250 taken prisoner, Israel has consistently bombed Gaza.
Israel claims that its objective is to “dismantle Hamas”, despite skepticism from experts, allies and members of the Israeli administration about its viability.
In nine months, Israel killed more than 38,000 Palestinians and uprooted almost the entire population, while reducing Gaza to rubble.
It also strengthened its siege, leading to mass starvation and a UN-recognized state of famine.
Some experts believe that Israel is trying to “depopulate” Gaza, making it unfit for human life.
Israel’s violence may also amount to genocide, according to human rights groups, UN experts and a case brought to the International Court of Justice by South Africa.
International Criminal Court arrest warrants are expected for some Israeli leaders for overseeing war crimes in Gaza, including “extermination.”
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
