The Israeli military is beating the living daylight out of Gaza. It’s bombing right, left and center across the Strip’s geographical north, center and south. Israeli politicians and its military have gone completely mad. In the first six days of the conflict 6000 bombs were dropped on Gaza, carrying 4000 tons of explosives. And the situation is getting worse with a human tragedy unfolding.
In just seven days around 1799 civilians - women, children and the elderly have been killed as 6838 are also badly injured. Now 10th day the number of those killed stands at 2800 and rapidly rising. Over 1 million people have been displaced from the homes they left after being turned to rubble. Meanwhile neighborhoods - like Al Rimal - have been turned into craters of destruction. People no longer recognize the terrain of their neighborhoods where they previously lived. Homes desecrated into mortar.
Ferocious bombing
These places include those like Gaza city and places like Beit Lahya Beit Hanoon, Deir al-Balah, Jabalya, Khan Younis and Rafah have been horribly scarred for life. This is not to mention the neighborhoods of Gaza which include Tal Al Tuffah, Tel Al Hawa, Sheikh Radwan, and Shuja’iyya. They are under round the clock bombing.
The Israeli prime minister promises there would be no let up and the war on Gaza is expected to last for a long time as he emphasized.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army is telling 1.1 million people living in north Gaza to leave to the southern part of the strip or face the consequences. They have been given 24 hours to do so. The United Nations have been warned but these Palestinians are staying put for where would they go as the whole of Gaza is being bombed.
Indeed, the bombing continues to be ferocious. But this is maybe because Israel has already received a bloody nose from Hamas and other Palestinian fighters. So far more than 1400 Israelis have been killed in the war. These include around 300 Israeli soldiers, high ranking, soldiers, policemen and intelligence officers. The figures provided here, continually spiral each day the conflict continues.
Completely by surprise
As well, Israelis have been taken completely by surprise in an operation that may begin to alter the balance of power in favor of the Palestinians. Hamas fighters set the military ball rolling on 7 October when 1000 of their operatives infiltrated the myriad of Jewish settlements surrounding Gaza. They came on foot, motorbikes and paragliders, bombing their way through the large fence barrier erected around the Gaza border and controlling tight Israeli army bases in the area. In some cases, soldiers were herded off in their pajamas. That was unbelievable in itself, where were the Israeli soldiers everyone asked? Israel was on holiday but this was a stark breach of security protocol.
Once they got there, the fighters took scores of Israeli hostages and dragged them back through the Gaza border in momentary chaotic conditions. That got the world and Israeli government noticed but it took the latter, a while to comprehend what is happening. It later became apparent that Hamas operatives took between 200 and 250 people as hostages. Though figures by the Israeli army put the number at around 120. In reality, there are no precise figures.
The infiltration was a first-time event that literally rocked Israeli society because it was accompanied by 5000 rockets fired by Hamas’ Izz Al Din al Qassam Brigades. These reached surrounding settlements, kibbutzes, towns and major cities like Tel Aviv and Al Khdeera, the latter being Israel’s hightech city.
The infiltration shocked Netanyahu and Israel’s president Isaac Herzog. They kept their comments until the 6th day war. They expressed shock and disbelief. Netanyahu said 7th October will be remembered as a black day and the worst experienced by Israelis since the Holocaust. Later his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant expressed grief at what had happened and is evolving.
‘Black day’
Many saw it as the worst day also since the 1973 October. Then and hadn’t it been for the last-minute American airlift support Israel would have been beaten badly by Egypt and Syria. That may explain why Netanyahu this time around quickly went running to US President Jo Biden and the Americans who quickly promised bank-check support and ordered its naval destroyer USS Gerald Ford to proceed towards Israel. Quickly also Anthony Blinken quickly came to Tel Aviv, amidst the on-off closures of Ben Gurion Airport which is being continually targeted by Hamas rockets. Soon after, US Defense Secretary Lloyed Austin followed suit.
Without wanting to be outdone by the Americans, Britain also followed suit by sending two of its destroyers to the Mediterranean to be as near as possible to the Israeli and Gaza off-shores, just in case they are needed. This is plus, the fact EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and head of the European Parliament President Roberta Metsola arrived in Israel.
Suddenly Netanyahu became robust. After all, he is facing a confidence-crisis from Israelis who in a recent opinion poll, believe the Israeli prime minister should resign since 86 percent say he should be blamed for the Hamas infiltration fiasco and he should not have been lame about it especially since he received intelligence information that Hamas is up to something.
Members of the coalition he leads, of a hodge-pitch patch of extremists - and 79 percent in the poll- put the blame on the right-wing prime minister which means he is under fire from them as well.
To attempt to placate those Israelis Netanyahu is moving on with his destructive scenario while the world watches but the West is expressing unprecedented support for Israel for a number of things. First, they see Hamas as a terror organization that must be stopped because of its global anti-terrorism agenda.
Iran link
Second, they fear Iran might be involved and could be behind the latest Hamas attacks although Tehran strenuously denies this despite being known as a major financer of Gaza and Hamas. But there is a connection as many say its protégé Hezbollah is also believed to be aiding Hamas. And it is feared Hezbollah may open up another front on Israel from its northern border with Lebanon. It is already involved in firing rockets across into the Israeli border towns and villages and slowly widening the conflict.
For here too, the authorities are evacuating its Israeli citizens to safer places. This is a clear humiliating development for Israel is already evacuating settlers in its settlements surrounding Gaza as tens of thousands have been moved elsewhere including to the touristic city of Eilat. Large settler cities like Sderot and Ashkelon have become ghost towns with reports of Israeli criminals being moved from the latter’s prison to avoid continual Hamas rockets.
Thirdly, the western support for Israel lies in the fact that many of the hostages Hamas holds are hidden down in their many underground tunnels as many speculate nationals of countries like the United States are being kept there. Washington for instance believes 27 of its nationals are being held captive.
Amidst all this, the Israeli army continues its bombing campaign of helpless Palestinian civilians coupled with the imbargo imposed on the Strip. They have cut off water and electricity on Gazans in a bid to make them submit and leave the area. Hence today, the Strip is in total darkness and whilst the United Nations speaks of war crimes and collective punishment that flaunt international law, Israeli politicians and its military generals couldn’t care less.
All this has happened in the first week of the latest war. This seems to be the beginning of another long war as is the case with Russia and Ukraine. While the phantom jets are raiding the Gaza skies and dropping bombs on innocent civilians, the situation on the ground is deteriorating rapidly.
States and leaders from the USA right down to Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, Turkey and Iran are trying to deescalate the situation but for the time being this doesn’t seem to be happening.
