November/December 2023
Volume 60 Issue 6
A Rundown on The War Between THIS ISSUE Israel and Gaza
what’s in
Alvernia Sports
Health
Campus
Christmas
On October 7, 2023, Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, launched a surprise attack on Israel employing rockets, drones, vehicles and hang gliders. The death toll is rising, with the Gaza Health Ministry reporting over 13,000 people killed in Gaza and more than 1,200 Israelis dead so far. Hamas has also taken an estimated 240 people hostage. Israel has also cut off the Gaza Strip’s food, water, and electricity, leaving its two million residents in an even more dire situation. Hamas is a Sunni Islamist group, one of the two major factions that make up Palestinian politics. Hamas first emerged in the late 1980s as an Islamic movement that fights to end Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. The conflict between Israel and Hamas runs deep, and this is not their first war. In 2008, Israel attacked the Gaza Strip in retaliation to over 800 air missiles fired from Gaza on Israeli towns. The war only lasted a month, but there was a large number of casualties. While Hamas is deemed a terrorist group by multiple nations, including America, they are a legitimate political faction elected to control Gaza in 2006 after Israel had withdrawn troops two years prior. However, there hasn’t been another election since for a number of reasons. The 2006 election of Hamas was not recognized by other countries, including the United States, which deepened the political tensions between Gaza and Israel. Mahmoud Abbas, the President of Palestine, also does not want to go through another loss. Abbas is a member of the political faction Fatah, and after the 2006 loss, Abbas does not want to go through another election. Losing an election
A map showing the location of Gaza in relation to Israel
is an embarrassment to Abbas and Fatah, and they don’t want to run again. Lastly, the intervention of the Israeli government has fractured national movements in Palestine. Israel supports the division of the West Bank and Gaza as they do not want Palestine to have a unified leadership. Palestine has two major political factions: Hamas and Fatah. Fatah controls the West Bank, and Hamas controls Gaza. Fatah is a Palestinian military organization with the same goal as Hamas: to establish a Palestinian state. They were defeated in the 2006 elections by Hamas for power over Gaza. The Gaza Strip is a Palestinian enclave occupied initially by Egypt and then Israel after the six-day war in 1967 until 2005. The sixday war was a short battle fought in June of 1967 between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Israel attacked with airstrikes and then led a successful attack on foot, seizing the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Gaza has one of the highest population densities in the world, with about 2.2 million inhabitants in a 25-milelong, nearly 6.5-milewide strip. Half of Gaza’s inhabitants are under the age of 18. While Hamas occupies Gaza, Israel still has control over the airspace and the movement of goods.
Credit NordNordWest via Google
Grace Wanner Contributing Editor
Iran backs Hamas as Iran has been transferring millions of dollars monthly for years to fund the faction’s efforts. It is unclear if Iran played a role in the planning of the attacks. While Iran is Hamas’s primary support, the Iranian government has denied any involvement. If Iran were behind the attacks, that would mean the region of the war would expand and could get worse. The extremist Muslim group Hezbollah’s possible involvement is also concerning. Hezbollah is a Shiite militant group that has been deemed a terrorist organization by multiple nations as well. Hezbollah is Iran’s Lebanese ally and has already launched two attacks on Israeli-occupied areas known as Golan Heights. The Israeli government has advised the people living in northern Gaza to leave and evacuate south. The only people permitted to leave Gaza are those with foreign citizenship and a couple of severely wounded victims. Other than the select few who are permitted to flee, the border is blockaded, trapping civilians in the midst of war. Members of Hamas have warned Palestinians not to leave their homes. Over 300,000 Gazans have fled, but with the blockade imposed on the enclave, citizens who cannot or won’t evacuate
are in critical condition. The Gaza Health Ministry has reported that 600,000 people have no access to water, and over 800,000 don’t have access to food. The U.S. and Egypt came to an agreement to provide aid to the people of Gaza and are sending relief aid supplies via trucks. However, the trucks were stopped at the border in Egypt until November 13, and the aid was initially sent out on October 21. Israel’s defense minister has said that they intend to end their responsibility for life in Gaza after they’ve defeated Hamas. On Saturday, October 21, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will be attending a World Summit in Cairo to negotiate a ceasefire. Currently, indirect negotiations are ensuing between the two sides as they search to come to an agreement for a brief ceasefire. If a ceasefire were to take place, it would be to exchange hostages. However, Israel has made it clear that they have no intentions of a ceasefire until Hamas releases all their hostages. On the other hand, Hamas is seeking a full ceasefire and the release of all Palestinian hostages. Hamas has also added a condition to the release of their hostages, that being a delivery of fuel to the hospitals in Gaza. It is crucial for students and active members of the community to stay informed and up to date on world relations, especially when mass amounts of innocent people’s lives are at stake. It’s important not to become desensitized to the atrocities taking place in the Middle East. It may feel like a world away as most U.S. citizens are not directly affected. Still, it is vital to recognize that what is happening between Israel and Palestine is gravely serious and something to keep a close watch on as the war progresses.