The actions of a terrorist group take an entire population hostage.
In the aftermath of the worst coordinated attack on Israel since the Yom Kippur War exactly 50 years ago, Israel is in shock.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government had often boasted about the readiness of the Israeli army to deal with, and to eliminate all threats to Israel’s ‘security’.Now, however, citizens are wondering how it was possible that intelligence services had not seen in advance what happened this weekend. Though Netanyahu is desperate to show that Israel remains a powerful country and a regional power that deserves its often-touted status of having an ‘invincible’ army.
As the death toll from Saturday’s attack on Israel has mounted, Israelis and Jews around the world have reached for analogies to explain the magnitude of the tragedy, calling the invasion “Israel’s 9/11” or “Israel’s Pearl Harbor.” We think that while this is a strong exaggeration, Israel’s leaders are using those words to justify their counter-reaction. Several people do believe that there have been bloody days in Israel’s history and for Jews around the world since 1945, but that none has had a civilian death toll this high in a single day.
Israel’s bloodiest war was its War of Independence, which saw 6,000 citizens of the nascent state die in the fighting. But that number is generally counted from Nov. 29, 1947, into 1949, when the fighting stopped — a period of close to two years. The majority of casualties were soldiers, not civilians.
The battle that started this weekend began with a brutal slaughter of mere mortals. Young people who had come together at the Nova music festival on a desert kibbutz to celebrate peace among themselves and show how united they could have fun together and enjoy music and life, came to face the worst nightmare.
One day after the remembrance of the Yom Kippur War’s 50th anniversary Hamas, at 6.30am local time, on Saturday, attacked thousands of young partygoers enjoying the sunrise but unaware that their lives were about to change forever. At first, the air raid sirens seemed as if they were part of the trance music, survivors said. Then rocket vapour trails began appearing in the sky above: people started panicking about being caught in the open and rushed to their cars. And then the gunfire began.
The Hamas fighters left behind a battlefield of more than 300 dead in a domain that had turned into a war battlefield rather than a place of peace. Furthermore, the world got to see how several young people were brutally captured and taken away to an unknown place to be held as hostages but also to be used as human
Shocked Israelis woke on the last day of the Jewish high holidays to the wail of sirens as Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired thousands of rockets from Gaza and armed militants broke down the hi-tech barriers surrounding the strip to enter Israel, shooting and taking hostages. Militants in boats also tried to enter Israel by sea.
Militants infiltrated Jewish communities near the border with Gaza, killing and seizing civilians and soldiers. Unverified videos showed terrified Israelis covered in blood, and with hands tied behind their backs, being taken by Palestinian gunmen. Many people rushed to safe rooms in their homes as the carnage unfolded around them.
Israel did not let pass much time. They called up army reservists and launched a wave of airstrikes on the tiny strip, which is home to 2.3 million people. Netanyahu warned Palestinians in Gaza to “get out of there now” as he vowed to reduce Hamas hideouts to “rubble”, but there is nowhere for those in the blockaded territory to escape to. Ordinary innocent civilians are, as it were, trapped in that narrow sea strip and have nowhere to go, while the Israelis have now even completely closed the borders and deny them water and electricity.
Warplanes targeted several buildings in the centre of Gaza City, including Palestine Tower, an 11-storey building that houses Hamas radio stations and further a mosque destroyed in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, and several large buildings in Gaza City in ruins.
By Monday the Palestinian health ministry said that already at least 400 Palestinians had been killed, including 20 children, and nearly 2,000 wounded as a result of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza since Saturday. Seven people were also killed by Israeli army fire in the West Bank, including a child, it said. The Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said more than 400 Palestinian militants had been killed in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, and dozens more had been captured.
In a way, the secret services should have seen this coming, especially since Egypt had warned them of a possible attack a fortnight ago. The intelligence failure is monumental, and will shake the Israeli public’s faith in their government and army’s ability to protect civilians.
“All of Israel is asking itself: where is the IDF, where are the police, where is the security?”
said Eli Maron, a former head of the Israeli navy, on Channel 12.
“It’s a colossal failure; the [defence] establishments have simply failed, with vast consequences.”
There has also been speculation that the offensive could have been encouraged by Iran as a means of scuppering moves by Saudi Arabia to normalise relations with Israel.
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the crisis. Meanwhile, UN peacekeeping forces have been deployed along the Lebanon-Israel border to
“maintain stability and help avoid escalation”.
The Egyptian government said it was in talks with Saudi Arabia and Jordan to try to find a way to defuse the crisis. Egypt has been heavily involved in brokering ceasefires in the past.
Benjamin Netanyahu warned of hard days ahead.
“We are embarking on a long and difficult war that was forced on us by a murderous Hamas attack,”
he said, referring to the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip. Israel’s military has begun its offensive phase, he added,
“which will continue with neither limitations nor respite until the objectives are achieved.”
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Please come to read:
- War part of life
- 50 Years after the Yom Kippur attack a new Hamas attack
- Music festival for peace turned into a war field
- Hamas opened the gates of hell on the Gaza Strip
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Jeshuaisten / Jeshuaists 
22 gedachten over “Reẓuʿat ʿAzza or Gaza Strip, cut off from all the necessities of life”