SUGATA Blogs

Gaza,The largest city in the state of Palestine was always the epicenter of conflicts. The main problem with Gaza is it's position, to be precise where it is situated. Although Gaza belongs to Palestine now ,it shares common border with Israel and Egypt.Earlier, Gaza City was under the rule of different empires such as Romans, Muslims , British , Egypt-Jordan and Israel . Gaza was governed by Hamas an Islamic Sunni Organisation.Ismail Haniyeh is the senior leader and controlling force behind Hamas. He was the prime minister of Palestine earlier. However, he was dismissed from the post by Palestine president Mahmoud Abbas ,the leader of ‘Fatah’. Fatah party was founded by Yasar Arafat.Yasar Arafat the, founder of PLA, was awarded Nobel prize for peace right after signing Oslo accords. The Oslo accords was signed under the supervision of then US President Bill Clinton. This helped in bringing temporary peace in the region between Palestine and Israel.Yasar Arafat passed away on November,2004. Israel’s evacuated its settlements from Gaza in 2005, and the Hamas came into power following the Palestinian parliamentary elections of 2006. Ismail Haniyeh continued to Rule the Gaza region under the control of Hamas. Hamas had the majority in the the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), the legislature of Palestine. June 2007, Israel imposed a land, sea, and air blockade on the Gaza Strip. With this Israel controlled Gaza’s airspace and surrounding waters, as well as two out of the three border crossing points.Thus it moderates everything which gets in and out Gaza,including medicines,fuel,energy , food supply and people. Israel said this was a necessity to prevent the smuggling of weapons and materials to militant groups operating within Gaza. Because of this Israel had to face major security threats from Hamas.Hamas couldn't accept this blockade which was a restriction of their power in the region ruled by them.Adding to the tussle that Israel was and is ruled by Jews and the Gaza by Muslims. Hence there were frequent rocket attacks from Hamas ruled Gaza into the Israel.And Israel also fired rockets and conducted many surgical strike operations in Gaza.'Operation Protective Edge' by Israel on 2014 killed around 500 children and 2000 civilians and it also injured 10000 people. Israel names it's military operations with 'defensive','protective' words. There were also frequent border clashes between the military forces of the two divergent form of governments. IDF also used to target key people in the Hamas powered militant groups.Hamas themselves were supported by Iran,with cyber and defense facilities. Hamas started to abduct hostages from Israel and demanded the release of the Palestine militants inside the Israeli Jails. However being one of the most powerful cyber security power in the planet. 'Pegasus' is a spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group that is designed to be covertly and remotely installed on mobile phones running in both iOS and Android. This software/malware is widley used across by different government to spy upon their opposition ,latest being rumored to be reported from India. With such cyber power, Israel was able get most of the actions planned by Hamas inside the Gaza. However on October 7th Saturday, of 2023 things went out of it hands when Hamas supported militants killed 3000 Israelis and made 200 hostages right under the nose of Israeli military (defense) force.This was a blow to the face of Israeli force who considered themselves as ’the Alpha’ in the region. It was very similar to the 9/11 attack  in the USA. More than just an attack and ruthless bloodshed it hit the pride of IDF and questioned their existence and business. Hence they had to attack Gaza.However Gaza is difficult place to do a military operation due to the co-location of military targets and civilian targets. The existence of spider web like tunnels ,where Hamas goes underground, makes things much more worse for Israel.However the dis/advantage for IDF is that Gaza is so near to them,unlike Afghanistan to the US. Till now 6,000 children , 15,000 people killed and over 30,000 injured, 2,78,000 houses and 311 schools destroyed in Gaza.Gaza being called as children's graveyard with half of it's hospitals stops functioning without power and medicines. It's a catch 22 situation with Hamas not releasing hostages and Israel not getting ready for ceasefire. UN is continuing with humanitarian aid ,by feeding people before their impending death. People blocked in a place, surrounded by military with no way to escape. And world leaders as usual engaged in never ending diplomatic resolution trips and talks. Unlike Ukraine war this war has every reason to turn that of a religious one.With islamophobia at the peak inside the USA and Israel, Arab league demanding a ceasefire, this war is here to stay, and humanity once again at a lose. A four day truce has been agreed between Hamas and Israel after the diplomatic talks mediated by/in Qatar. During which Hamas will release 50 women and children, from the 240 people taken as hostages abducted on October 7. In return, Israel will release 150 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons. 200 aid trucks and four fuel trucks will be allowed into Gaza as part of the truce.And there will be zero military operations during these 4 days. However the attack will continue after 4 days unless Hamas release 10 hostages every day after the truce.The truce has ended on Dec 2nd 2023.Hamas has released 100 hostages till now, who were abducted on October 7.140 hostages are still held by Hamas.Israel Defence forces has resumed airstrikes. to be cntd..