What is Hamas?
Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist militant group which rules the Gaza Strip
Since assuming power in Gaza in 2007, Hamas, which has vowed to destroy Israel, has engaged in a number of battles with Israel.
Between those wars, it carried out numerous devastating attacks and fired or authorized other groups to fire thousands of rockets against Israel. Additionally, Israel has routinely carried out airstrikes against Hamas, and since 2007, it has been encircling the Gaza Strip with Egypt in the name of security.
Hamas said that a number of countries, including Israel, the US, the EU, and the UK, as well as others, have labeled Hamas as a terrorist organization, or in some cases, its military arm. Iran supports Hamas, which
What is the Gaza Strip?
The Gaza Strip is a region that is 10 km (3.1 mi) wide and 41 km (25 mi) long that lies between Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea. One of the highest population densities in the world, it is home to around 2.3 million people.
What’s it like to live in Gaza?
Israel regulates who and what is permitted to enter and exit through its border crossings and maintains control over the airspace over Gaza and its coastline. Egypt similarly regulates who enters and exits through its border with Gaza.
According to the UN, approximately one million people in Gaza depend on daily food aid, making up around 80% of the population.
What is Palestine and what have these events got to do with it?
The West Bank and Gaza, which are known as the Palestinian territories, as well as East Jerusalem and Israel all formed part of land known as Palestine since Roman times.
These were also the lands of Jewish kingdoms in the Bible, and are seen by Jews as their ancient homeland.
Israel’s borders explained in maps
Although the territory is still referred to as Palestine by those who do not accept Israel’s right to exist, Israel was officially recognized as a state in 1948. Palestinians also refer to the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem collectively as Palestine.
Why exactly are Israel and Hamas at war?
Although there is ongoing hostility between Israel and Hamas, the militant attack on Saturday came out of nowhere. While hundreds of fighters broke through the border and into Israeli neighborhoods, killing dozens of civilians and capturing others, Hamas fired thousands of rockets against Israel.
Israel immediately began airstrikes, claiming to be aiming at militant bases in Gaza.
How unprecedented is this attack?
This is the most audacious operation Hamas has ever carried out from Gaza, according to our international editor Jeremy Bowen, and the most significant cross-border assault Israel has experienced in more than a generation.
Multiple points of the wire separating Gaza from Israel were penetrated by militants.
The unheard-of assault occurred one day after the Middle East war-starting surprise invasion by Egypt and Syria in 1973, which marked its 50th anniversary. The Hamas leadership will not have overlooked the significance of the date.
Is this a major Israeli intelligence failure?
Yes, according to Frank Gardner, our security journalist. He claims that it is truly amazing that no one predicted this or failed to act on it if they had a warning, given the combined efforts of Shin Bet, Israeli domestic intelligence, Mossad, its external spy agency, and all the resources of the Israel Defense Forces. Israel has arguably the most extensive and well-funded intelligence services in the Middle East, with informants and agents inside Palestinian militant groups as well as in Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere.
On the ground, there are cameras, ground-motion sensors, and frequent army patrols along the sensitive border barrier between Israel and Gaza.
The barbed-wire topped fence is supposed to have been a “smart barrier” to prevent exactly the sort of infiltration that has taken place in this attack. Yet the militants of Hamas simply bulldozed their way through it, cut holes in the wire or entered Israel from the sea and by paraglider.
What could happen next?
Hamas militant commander Mohammed Deif has called on Palestinians and other Arabs to join the Palestinians militants’ effort to “sweep away the [Israeli] occupation.
Yolande Knell, our Jerusalem correspondent, says the key question at this point is whether Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, or elsewhere in the region will heed his appeal.
Israel is aware of the possibility of a conflict that might develop on several fronts. The worst-case scenario is that it would attract Hezbollah, a potent armed organization in Lebanon. Hezbollah fired a number of missiles and mortars at northern Israel early on Sunday, but no one was hurt.
The Israeli military has commanded a significant troop increase. In addition to its ferocious airstrikes on Gaza, it has stated that it is
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