Hyderabad: The Gaza Strip was pounded for the last two weeks by hundreds of Israeli strikes from sea, land and air, while the enclave’s militant Hamas rulers fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.
It’s the fourth round of major conflict between Israel and Hamas since 2008, with the tiny enclave’s more than 2 million Palestinian residents bearing the brunt of the deaths and the destruction.
The latest eruption of violence has raised the spectre of another devastating war and once again drawn international attention to the impoverished, densely populated Gaza Strip.
Rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, Monday Here’s a look at the Gaza Strip and its place in the Middle East conflict.
A NARROW COASTAL STRIP
Gaza, sandwiched between Israel and Egypt, is just 25 miles (40 kilometres) long and six miles (10 kilometres) wide. It was part of the British-ruled Palestine Mandate before the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation when it came under Egypt’s control.
Palestinians walk next to the remains of a destroyed 15 story building after being hit by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City Large numbers of Palestinians who fled or were driven from what is now Israel ended up in Gaza, and the refugees and their descendants now number 1.4 million, accounting for more than half of Gaza’s population.
Israel captured Gaza, along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories to form their future state.
Palestinians inspect their destroyed houses following overnight Israeli airstrikes in the town of Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip The first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, erupted in Gaza in 1987 — the same year Hamas was founded — and later spread to the other occupied territories. The Oslo peace process in the 1990s established the Palestinian Authority and gave it limited autonomy in Gaza and parts of the occupied West Bank.
THE HAMAS TAKEOVER
Israel withdrew its troops and Jewish settlements from Gaza in 2005, after a second and far more violent intifada.
The following year, Hamas won a landslide victory in Palestinian elections. That triggered a power struggle with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, culminating in a week of clashes in 2007 that left Hamas in control of Gaza.
An Israeli airstrike hits the high-rise building housing The Associated Press' offices in Gaza City Hamas has done little in the way of imposing Islamic law on Gaza, which was already very conservative. But it has shown no tolerance for dissent, arresting political opponents and violently suppressing rare protests against its rule.
The militant group has remained firmly in power through three wars and a 14-year blockade.
Read: Israel destroys Gaza tower housing international media offices
Who supports Hamas?
Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City Monday, May 10, 2021 - Qatar is Hamas' most important financial backer and foreign ally. Qatari Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani was the first state leader to visit the Hamas government in 2012.
- So far, the emirate has transferred €1.5 billion ($1.8 billion) to Hamas.
- Hamas is also supported by Turkey. In talks just prior to Hamas launching rocket attacks against Israel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed political backing for its leader Ismail Haniyeh.
THE BLOCKADE
Mourners react in a hospital over the body of a man who died following an explosion in the town of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip Israel and Egypt imposed the crippling blockade after the Hamas takeover. Israel says it’s needed to keep Hamas and other militant groups from importing arms. Rights groups say a blockade is a form of collective punishment.
The closures, along with years of misrule and Hamas’ long-running feud with the Palestinian Authority, have devastated Gaza’s economy. Unemployment hovers at around 50%, power outages are frequent and the tap water is badly polluted. Palestinians face heavy movement restrictions that make it difficult to travel abroad for work, study or to visit family, and often refer to Gaza as the world’s largest open-air prison.
THE WARS
An Israeli firefighter walks next to cars hit by a missile fired from Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon Hamas and Israel have fought three wars and several smaller battles. The worst so far was the 2014 war, which lasted for 50 days and killed some 2,200 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians. Seventy-three people were killed on the Israeli side.
Israel’s airstrikes and incursions into Gaza have left vast swaths of destruction, with entire neighbourhoods reduced to rubble and thousands forced to shelter in U.N. schools and other facilities. Israel says it makes every effort to avoid civilian casualties and accuses Hamas of using Gazans as human shields.
Palestinians attend the funeral of two women and eight children of the Abu Hatab family in Gaza City, who were killed after an Israeli air strike, Palestinian militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel. The vast majority are intercepted by Israeli missile defences or land in open areas, but they sow widespread fear and can bring life to a standstill. Their range has steadily increased in recent years, with some striking as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, major metropolitan areas.
Earlier this year, the International Criminal Court launched an investigation into possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories. It is expected to scrutinize the actions of both Israel and Palestinian militants in the 2014 war.
(With inputs from agency)
Also Read: Gaza children bearing the brunt in Israel-Hamas conflict
