Here is what to know about the Gaza Strip
The attack on the Gaza Strip by Hamas, the UN Security Council, and the U.S. supreme leader Ali Khamenei
The Israeli military said it had largely regained control of areas in the south that were attacked by Hamas. The announcement came on the fourth day of war with Hamas and amid an Israeli siege and heavy bombing of The Gaza Strip.
The military said it had found “hundreds and hundreds” of bodies of Hamas militants who died fighting inside Israel. It said there were no longer infiltrators coming over the Gaza border – something in question still Monday. There could still be some holdouts on Israeli territory.
Hundreds of people were killed in an attack on Israel by Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007. Its unprecedented breach of the border sent fighters inside border communities and military installations, shocked Israel and its allies, and raised questions about the group’s capabilities and strategy.
Meanwhile, in his first televised comments since the war started, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei denied that Iran was involved in the attack but said, “We kiss the hands of those who planned the attack on the Zionist regime.”
Israeli forces launch an attack on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip: Israel’s response and the Palestinians condemn the “appalling acts of terrorism”
The U.N. said nearly 190,000 people have been displaced from their homes in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, with most seeking shelter in U.N.-run schools. 14 distribution centers have been closed because of the Israeli bombardment, according to the U.N. agency. The closures have cut off food aid to half a million people, the agency said.
Netanyahu said late Monday that they have begun striking Hamas. “What we will do to our enemies in the future will affect them for a long time.”
The violence began on the Jewish Simchat Torah holiday, and continued a day after the 50th anniversary of the start of the Yom Kippur War.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which took control of Gaza in 2007, launched a massive surprise attack along Israel’s southern border on Saturday. Paragliders, motorbikes and boats were used to enter Israel’s border.
The military wing of Hamas, known as Ezzedin Al-Qassam Brigades, has said that every time an Israeli strike without warning kills civilians, the group would “execute a civilian hostage” and said it would release audio and images. The group Hamas took 150 people, including men, women and children, as hostages following Saturday’s incursion into Israel.
The strip has been under a blockade by Israel and Egypt, restricting the movement of people and goods since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. Israel controls the border with Gaza as well as the airspace and shoreline.
Leaders of the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy released a joint statement on Monday condemning Hamas and “its appalling acts of terrorism.”
The leaders recognised the legitimate desires of the Palestinians, and supported equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
The group made sure to make no mistake. “Hamas isn’t representative of those ambitions and it offers nothing for the Palestinian people other than more terror and bloodshed.”
The hostages crisis in the Gaza Strip: U.S. President Biden, the United States, and the Israel-Israeli counterparts
President Biden confirmed on Monday that at least 11 Americans have been killed, and that it is believed that some of them are being held captive by Hamas.
He instructed his team to work with their Israeli counterparts on all aspects of the hostages crisis, with the help of experts from across the United States government.
Biden reminded Americans to take precautions when leaving the region and asked them to follow the guidance of local authorities.
Argentina’s Minister of Foreign Affairs said that 250 of their people had signed up for aregistry to be flown out of Tel Aviv in the event of an emergency, while two of them were missing. 180 Colombia tourists are receiving assistance in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Bethlehem from a consulate in Tel Aviv.
U.S. officials told NPR that they were trying to get Israel air defense and munitions as soon as possible.
There is no timetable on when the Gerald Ford Strike Group, which includes an aircraft carrier, guided missile cruiser and guided missile destroyers, will make its way to the Mediterranean.
Gaza’s hospitals are regularly beset with shortages of equipment and medicine because of the blockade. Gaza’s Health Ministry director general, Dr. Medhat Abbas, told NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly the area’s hospitals, already struggling, now face being overwhelmed following Israel’s latest offensive.
In the early ’90s, Hamas’ military wing carried out its first suicide attack, after the founder and spiritual leader of the organization, who used a chair, spent many years in Israeli prisons.
Hamas is the Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, and a recognition of the group’s roots and early ties to one of the Sunni world’s most prominent groups, the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in the 1920s.
The group has vowed to annihilate Israel and has been responsible for many suicide bombings and other deadly attacks on civilians and Israeli soldiers.
Hamas won 2006 parliamentary elections elections and in 2007 violently seized control of the Gaza Strip from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority. Semi-autonomous areas of the West Bank are administered by the Palestinian Authority.
Yehia Sinwar, in Gaza, and Ismail Haniyeh, who lives in exile, are Hamas’ current leaders. They realigned the group’s leadership with Iran and its allies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Some of the group’s leaders relocated to Lebanon.
Israel has made peace deals with Arab countries without having to make concessions in its conflict with the Palestinians. The United States is trying to broker a deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, a long time rival of Hamas.
The Gaza Strip, an open-air prison ruled by Hamas militants, is under constant bombardment by the United States and Palestinians
Its leaders say hundreds of its 40,000 fighters took part in the assault. Israel says the group has about 30,000 fighters and an arsenal of rockets, including some with a range of about 250 kilometers (155 miles), and unmanned drones.
Human rights groups call it the largest open-air prison in the world. The Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million people, has come under heavy bombardment from Israel in recent days, after Hamas militants launched an unprecedented ground invasion and thousands of rockets into Israel from Gaza.
Israel imposed an air, land and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip. Egypt closed its border crossing with Gaza when Hamas took power in 2007.
The Gaza Strip is a 6-mile-wide enclave, bordered on the west by the Mediterranean Sea, on the north and east by Israel and on the south by Egypt.
The United Nations says more than 80% of Gazans live in poverty, with access to clean water and electricity at crisis levels even before the latest violence. 99% of the population of Gaza does not have clean water, according to UNRWA. The territory’s unemployment rate stood at 46% in the second quarter of this year, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
