Month of Gaza War Translated Into Unprecedented Global Support for Palestinians - Journo
15:45 GMT 07.11.2023 (Updated: 10:27 GMT 30.01.2024)
© AP Photo / Israel Defense Forces
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A month has passed since the surprise attack launched by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups against Israel. How has the balance on the ground and in the world changed so far?
Exactly one month ago, Hamas and other Palestinian Islamist groups launched the so-called Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which involved the bombing of Israeli settlements, slaughter of Jewish soldiers and civilians, and hostage taking. As a result of the surprise attack 1,400 Jews were killed, including 347 soldiers; over 4,000 were injured and over 200 were abducted, including foreign citizens. To date, four hostages have been released and one rescued, as per the Israeli media.
In response to the attack Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on Hamas and imposed full blockade on the Gaza Strip, cutting the supply of food, water, and electricity to the region. Israel launched a series of strikes against the strip which has so far claimed the lives of 10,328 people, including over 4,237 children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Over 2,300 people are reportedly missing; many of them may have been buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings, the ministry believes. Still, Israel opposes a ceasefire or a humanitarian pause until all hostages are released by Hamas.
"While in Gaza, it's continuing to unfold a genocide," Laith Marouf, an award-winning broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, told Sputnik's Critical Hour podcast. "Just today, we had massacres that surpassed the massacre of the Baptist hospital. And, you know, it seems like there is less reaction now in the media. You'd think that this media in the West that has seen how their population is responding would start to at least give a little bit more balance to their stories. But no. Instead, what we see is a total media blackout about the genocide unfolding in Gaza."
Israel is accused of deliberately targeting residential areas, mosques and hospitals; the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) respond that the Palestinian Islamists are massively using civilian objects for their launches and firing at the Israeli military and other locations while using Gaza’s inhabitants as human shields.
7 November 2023, 10:23 GMT
Evacuation to the South of Gaza
The IDF ordered 1.1 million inhabitants of Palestinian communities north of the Wadi Gaza (including Gaza City) to evacuate to the south of the strip ahead of the Jewish military operation against Hamas and other Islamist groups designated as terrorists by Tel Aviv in the northern part of the region. So far, 800,000 have been evacuated from the main combat area in the north of the Gaza Strip.
The evacuation effort has been surrounded by controversies: the IDF was accused of bombing incidents in the apparently "safe" southern part of the region, which prompted deep frustrations among destitute Palestinians. At the same time, Hamas was said to be discouraging Palestinians from evacuation. Reportedly, the militants blocked Salah al-Din Road, the main north-south route running through the Gaza Strip. Later, claims emerged saying that the Islamist militants shot at evacuees and even executed some Palestinians fleeing the heavily attacked northern region.
7 November 2023, 11:24 GMT
Humanitarian Corridor
In mid-October it was reported that the international community was making efforts to arrange a humanitarian corridor to Gaza through Egypt. The border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened only on October 21, following negotiations with both Cairo and Tel Aviv. In particular, Israel insisted that Hamas should free 200+ people prior to Palestinian getting aid. For its part, Cairo agreed to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza inhabitants, but categorically rejected corridors for civilians inside Egypt.
Meanwhile, just 20 trucks were allowed in on the first day, even though a whopping 200 trucks with 3,000 tons of aid had been waiting nearby for days, according to the Western press.
In early November, hundreds of foreign nationals and dozens of seriously wounded Palestinian civilians were allowed to leave Gaza after more than three weeks of siege. As per Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, 335 foreign passport holders fled Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt.
Earlier, Israeli airstrikes killed and injured hundreds in the densely populated Jambalaya refugee camp in Gaza, prompting sharp criticism from the international community.
2 November 2023, 15:52 GMT
Israel's Ground Operation
The Israeli government announced that it would resort to an all-out ground operation soon after Hamas' surprise attack. However, Tel Aviv repeatedly postponed the op over concerns it would be accompanied by heavy casualties, both among Israeli troops and Palestinian civilians.
Following weeks of airstrikes, the IDF kicked off limited raids inside Gaza, and then encircled Gaza City in a bid to blockade and defeat Hamas forces there. Per the Israeli press, the IDF has moved deep inside the Gaza Strip taking over a Hamas stronghold in the northern part of the region on Tuesday morning.
"We saw today multiple videos come out from Hamas of their military wing showing their confrontations over the last 24 hours with Israeli invading troops on the ground. And in the video, as you can see, at least, you know, 12 or 14 military vehicles from tanks and armored personnel carriers being destroyed," Marouf told Sputnik. "And this is just a hint to what is really happening on the ground in Gaza. The Israelis are getting, you know, incurring heavy, heavy, heavy losses in this attempt to invade the city of Gaza. Also over the last few hours, it was tens of missiles fired from south Lebanon by Hamas military wing and directed towards the coastal region north of Haifa and around Haifa. All of it got hit by missiles coming out of Lebanon. And, you know, this is the first time missiles from Palestinian groups reached this far from inside Lebanon and in Lebanon itself."
Lebanese Shia Hezbollah and Yemeni Houthi militants have conducted repeated attacks against Israel, as the latter continues its operation against Hamas. While delivering his speech on the Israel-Hamas war on November 3, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah stated that the militant group "engaged in this battle since October 8". He threatened Israel with a potential escalation if Tel Aviv proceeded with the ground operation in Gaza, but fell short of opening a "second front" against Israel, something that Western observers had previously warned of.
Massive Pro-Palestine Protests
Per Marouf, the Gaza conflict triggered an unprecedented wave of support for Palestinians across the world, even though some state authorities cracked down on the protesters.
"Out of all these demonstrations, I think the biggest shocker for the powers that be was the demonstration in Berlin," the Lebanese journalist emphasized. "Tens and tens of thousands of people came out to the streets in defiance of a ban on the demonstrations and carrying the Palestinian flag. They even created a human all in all of, you know, tens of youth on top of each other with a Palestinian flag on top of this. The German police were scared to confront these huge masses, but I don't think this is gonna continue. I'm expecting many of the Palestinian youth in these demonstrations in Germany to be around eruption. You know, much of the organizations, the Palestinian organizations in Germany have already been declared as banned from work on the grounds of Palestine, including, some are doing the Palestinian prisoners collective support group in the international scene. And look at what the prime minister of the UK is saying now. He wants to criminalize these demonstrations."
On Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters marched in the US, France, Italy, the UK and Germany calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Demonstrators, many of whom are Muslims, expressed discontent with the Western governments' support of Tel Aviv amid the piling up of casualties in Gaza.
At the same time, thousands took to the street in New York City, to express their support to Israel on Monday. Pro-Israel and pro-Palestine protesters clashed in Los Angeles, resulting in a head injury and subsequent death of an elderly American Jewish man on November 6.
"Well, obviously, the demonstrations that happened over the weekend were the largest demonstrations for Palestine in history and some of the largest demonstrations ever happened in locations like Toronto, Washington and New York, London," said Marouf. "I'm looking at the West and how the responses are coming from politicians in places like Canada, the UK and the US. It seems like these regimes will now attempt to criminalize these masses of populations that are against their political decisions. This is a scary moment, I think, specifically for Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim diaspora to hear politicians in these countries talk about passing laws to criminalize these demonstrations or to charge people with terrorism for speaking out against this genocide. This is a very dangerous moment, and we haven't yet gotten to a point where Western troops, like American troops or Canadian troops, have not yet died in this war."
