Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October, killing 1,200 folks and taking about 240 hostages.
The Israeli navy responded with air strikes on Gaza, and launched a floor offensive. Greater than 17,100 folks folks have been killed in Gaza, in response to the Hamas-run authorities.
Preventing has resumed after a seven-day momentary truce, throughout which Hamas launched greater than 100 hostages in trade for 240 Palestinians who had been held in Israeli jails.
What’s the objective of Israel’s navy operation in Gaza?
Israel Protection Forces (IDF) warplanes have been finishing up strikes throughout Gaza whereas its troops transfer by the territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated Israel has a “clear objective of destroying Hamas’s navy and governing capabilities”, in addition to liberating the hostages.
He additionally declared that Israel would have “total safety accountability” for the Gaza Strip “for an indefinite interval” after the battle. Israel later stated it has no plans to reoccupy the territory.
Israel has drafted 300,000 reservists for the operation, to spice up its standing power of 160,000.
What is occurring on the bottom in Gaza?
The IDF says it has struck hundreds of targets belonging to Hamas – which Israel, the UK, US and different Western powers class as a terrorist organisation.
It additionally says it has destroyed tons of of tunnel shafts constructed beneath Gaza. Hamas has claimed that its tunnel community stretches for 500km (310 miles).
Plenty of hospitals within the north had been caught up in intense preventing.
Because the momentary ceasefire ended, Israeli troops have pushed into southern Gaza, and have taken “aggressive” motion in opposition to Hamas and different armed teams in and across the metropolis of Khan Younis.
There has additionally been sustained preventing within the north, across the Jabalia refugee camp and Shejaiya. A whole bunch of hundreds of civilians stay in these areas.
Israel claims to have killed hundreds of Hamas fighters through the warfare, together with many commanders.
The IDF says 411 of its troopers have been killed since 7 October, the overwhelming majority within the assaults that day by Hamas.
Who’re the hostages and what number of have been freed?
Through the 7 October assaults, Hamas took about 240 hostages – who, it stated, had been hidden in “protected locations and tunnels” inside Gaza.
Israel stated greater than 30 of the hostages had been kids, and that no less than 10 had been aged over 60. It additionally stated about half of the hostages had international passports from 25 totally different nations.
Underneath a deal brokered by Qatar, a pause within the preventing started on 24 November.
Giant crowds have been gathering within the occupied West Financial institution to greet Palestinians launched from Israeli jails
Through the seven-day truce, which ended on 1 December, 105 hostages had been freed, in return for 240 Palestinians who had been held in Israeli jails.
- 78 Israeli ladies and youngsters
- 23 Thai hostages and one Filipino
- 3 Russian-Israelis
Israel says 138 individuals are nonetheless in captivity, however “there isn’t a chance proper now of bringing everybody house,” in response to Mr Netanyahu.
Hamas has stated different armed teams in Gaza are holding hostages, together with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which might complicate any future releases.
What’s the humanitarian state of affairs in Gaza?
UN secretary basic Antonio Guterres has urged the UN Safety Council to push for a direct ceasefire in Gaza, warning that the humanitarian system might collapse, and public order might utterly break down.
Greater than 36,000 have been injured for the reason that begin of the warfare, in response to the Hamas-run authorities. It says three quarters of the wounded are kids and girls.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stated there was a “hole” between Israel’s intent to guard civilians and the way the warfare has been unfolding in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu has admitted that Israel has been “not successful” in minimising civilian casualties, however insisted it is because Hamas makes use of Gaza’s inhabitants as human shields.
Few of Gaza’s hospitals are nonetheless operational as a result of harm brought on by assaults and the shortage of electrical energy and gasoline.
Some 800,000 residents in northern Gaza are with none entry to well being companies, in response to the Hamas-run well being ministry.
With out gasoline, water pumps and desalination vegetation, waste and sanitation companies, and bakeries have been unable to perform.
Meals provides are scarce, and there’s overwhelming demand for the restricted quantity of flour distributed by the UN
Meals has turn into scarce in Gaza and costs have soared, that means many individuals are unable to afford staples akin to flour.
This contains the tons of of hundreds of people that fled the preventing within the north after an Israeli ultimatum to maneuver south of a river generally known as Wadi Gaza for their very own security.
Unrwa stated the 600,000 people in southern Gaza have been ordered to depart their neighbourhoods due to the preventing there. Tens of hundreds of individuals have fled to Rafah, close to the border with Egypt.
Israel’s navy printed a web based map with Gaza break up into greater than 600 blocks, exhibiting areas the place folks ought to evacuate for their very own security.
However the BBC’s worldwide editor Jeremy Bowen stated the map is sophisticated, comprises conflicting info, and requires a smartphone for entry.
Unicef, the UN charity for youngsters, warned that a number of the “protected” zones are “tiny patches of barren land” with no water, sanitation or shelter.
Is humanitarian assist stepping into Gaza?
After the 7 October assault, Israel shut its border crossings with Gaza, stopping the same old provides of meals, water, gasoline and medication from getting into the territory.
Israel obstructed all gasoline deliveries till late November, arguing it may very well be stolen by Hamas and used for navy functions.
Nearly 1,400 lorry a great deal of humanitarian provides entered Gaza through Egypt’s Rafah border crossing between 21 October and 21 November, in contrast with a month-to-month common of 10,000 earlier than the warfare.
Through the seven-day pause in preventing, tons of of lorries carrying assist and gasoline crossed at Rafah, which is the one functioning passage out and in of Gaza. However it has been very tough to get items into the north.
The UN’s World Meals Programme (WFP) stated it managed to assist about 250,000 folks through the truce, however the resumption of preventing had made the distribution of assist “nearly unattainable”.
In response to Unrwa, humanitarian help has been “lowered just about to nothing”, elevating fears of widespread starvation and illness amongst the inhabitants.
Nevertheless, Israel has agreed to open the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza throughout the subsequent few days, to display screen and examine humanitarian assist delivered by the close by Rafah crossing, between Gaza and Egypt.
It did this on the insistence of the US, and it might imply extra assist enters Gaza.
A whole bunch of international passport holders – together with some British and US residents – and severely wounded and sick Palestinians have additionally been allowed to depart, however many stay. The Rafah crossing stays tightly managed by Egypt.
What occurred through the Hamas 7 October assault on Israel?
On 7 October, tons of of Hamas gunmen crossed from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, breaking by the closely guarded perimeter fence, touchdown by sea, and utilizing paragliders.
The gunmen killed about 1,200 folks, most of them civilians, in a collection of raids on navy posts, kibbutzim and a music competition, and took hostages again into Gaza.
A younger ladies kneels at a vigil for the hostages within the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv
The assault got here at a time of hovering Israeli-Palestinian tensions: 2023 has been the deadliest on document for Palestinians who stay within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution.
What’s Hamas and what does it need?
Hamas is a Palestinian group which has run Gaza since 2007.
The title is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, which implies Islamic Resistance Motion.
The group needs to destroy Israel and substitute it with an Islamic state.
Yahya Sinwar, chief of Hamas’s political wing in Gaza, pictured in 2021
Its navy wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, is believed to have about 30,000 members.
Hamas has fought a number of wars with Israel because it took energy, firing hundreds of rockets into Israel and finishing up different lethal assaults.
In response, Israel has repeatedly attacked Hamas with air strikes, sending in troops in 2008 and 2014.
Hamas – or in some circumstances the al-Qassam Brigades – has been designated a terrorist group by Israel, the US, the EU and the UK, in addition to different powers.
Iran backs the group, offering funding, weapons and coaching.
The place is the Gaza Strip and the way massive is it?
The Gaza Strip is a 41km (25-mile) lengthy and 10km-wide territory situated between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel withdrew its troops and round 7,000 settlers from the territory in 2005.
Dwelling to2.2 million folks, the slim strip is among the most densely-populated areas on this planet.
Simply over three-quarters of Gaza’s inhabitants – some 1.7 million folks – are registered refugees or descendants of refugees, in response to the UN.
Earlier than the newest battle, greater than 500,000 folks lived in eight refugee camps situated throughout the Strip.
Israel controls the air house over Gaza and its shoreline, and strictly limits the motion of individuals and items.
What’s Palestine?
The West Financial institution and Gaza are generally known as the Palestinian territories. Together with East Jerusalem and Israel, they fashioned a part of a land generally known as Palestine from Roman instances till the mid-Twentieth Century.
In 1948, part of Palestine became Israel, which was recognised by the United Nations the next 12 months. The West Financial institution (together with East Jerusalem) and Gaza are recognised as Palestine by many nations and our bodies, though it doesn’t have member standing on the UN.
Those that don’t recognise Israel’s proper to exist additionally nonetheless seek advice from the entire land as Palestine.
He has been the chief of the Palestinian Authority (PA) since 2005, and represents the Fatah political social gathering – a bitter rival of Hamas.
