Where is Gaza?
Gaza is a coastal strip about twice the size of Washington, DC.
It runs along the Mediterranean, surrounded on three sides by Israel and one end bordering the Egyptian Sinai.
What is the population?
About 2.3 million people.
Many of them are descendants of Palestinians who were expelled from their homes by Zionist militias to pave the way for the creation of Israel in 1948 – the Nakba.
They fled to Gaza, which was then under Egyptian control.
How did Israel capture Gaza?
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 war.
The war led to UN Resolution 242, calling on Israel to withdraw from lands conquered by force.
Did Israel ever occupy Gaza?
Yes, Israel has occupied Gaza since 1967.
When the Oslo Accords were signed between Israel and the Palestinians in 1993, hopes were high that a Palestinian state would be established on the territory captured by Israel in 1967.
A Palestinian Authority (PA) was created to govern Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza until the establishment of a Palestinian state.
In 2005, then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to withdraw 7,000 Israeli settlers, along with Israeli troops, from Gaza.
He spoke of the need for Israel to free itself from the security risks it faced in trying to hold on to Gaza.
So once Israel left Gaza, things improved?
According to the UN, Israel reoccupied Gaza by laying siege to it shortly after Hamas won the 2006 elections organized by the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas is one of the two main Palestinian parties, the other being the previously dominant Fatah.
International actors, including the United States, rejected the results and cut funding. The United States also provided weapons to Fatah to enable it to regain control of Gaza from Hamas.
A war breaks out and Gaza falls under Hamas administration, while Fatah – via the Palestinian Authority – controls the West Bank.
Israel has designated Gaza as a “hostile entity” and has collectively punished civilians by imposing a land, sea and air blockade.
This has severely restricted the movement of people and goods in and out of the enclave, broken up families and devastated the economy.
Since 2008, several UN reports have warned that the Israeli siege is generating a humanitarian catastrophe, made worse by Israel’s regular attacks on Gaza.
Wait, how many times has Israel attacked Gaza?
Since its disengagement from the enclave in 2005, Israel has launched five wars against Gaza, in addition to a few smaller incursions and bombing raids.
Prior to October 7, Israel had declared its policy to be one of “mowing the lawn” – attempts to degrade Hamas’ military capabilities by indiscriminately bombing Gaza every two or three years.
Hamas had few options to respond to Israel other than rocket attacks or small operations — a “violent balancing act,” Tareq Baconi, an analyst and author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance, wrote in The New Yorker.
While the siege has become a permanent reality – as has Hamas – the attacks, Baconi writes, were also aimed at pushing Israel to ease the blockade from time to time.
One of Israel’s first major wars against Gaza was Operation Cast Lead in 2008, which began after Hamas rockets were fired at the southern Israeli town of Sderot.
The fighting lasted 22 days and killed 1,440 Palestinians – mostly civilians – and 13 Israelis.
The disproportionate number of Palestinians killed compared to Israelis has become a trend.
Six years later, in a campaign dubbed “Protective Edge” by Israel, some 2,100 Palestinians have been killed, compared to 74 Israelis, in seven weeks.
The other three major wars took place in 2012, 2021, and Israel’s current war on Gaza.
Is the current Israeli war on Gaza different?
This war has no end in sight.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far refused a ceasefire, saying he wants the right to maintain a low-intensity war – perhaps forever – in Gaza.
Since Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which 1,139 people were killed and 250 captured, Israel has continued to bomb Gaza.
Israel says its goal is to “dismantle Hamas” despite skepticism from experts, allies and members of the Israeli administration about its feasibility.
In nine months, Israel has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians and uprooted almost the entire population while reducing Gaza to rubble.
The siege was also tightened, leading to mass starvation and a UN-recognized state of famine.
Some experts believe that Israel is trying to “depopulate” Gaza by making it unfit for human life.
Israel’s violence could also amount to genocide, according to human rights groups, U.N. experts and a case brought to the International Court of Justice by South Africa.
Arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court are expected for some Israeli leaders for overseeing war crimes in Gaza, including “exterminations.”