Israel at war after Hamas surprise attack

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• Israel- Palestine: Synopsis of the Conflict
• What is Hamas?
• News Summary: Israel at war after Hamas surprise attack
  • How the Hamas attack on Israel unfolded?

Why in news?

• Israel declared a state of war after Palestinian militants launched barrages of rockets into southern and central Israel.
• The attack also combined gunmen breaching security barriers with a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza.
• The attack came 50 years and a day after Egyptian and Syrian forces launched an assault during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.
• This was done in an effort to retrieve territory Israel had taken during a brief conflict in 1967.
• Attributing the attacks to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the Israel Defence Forces began to carry out air strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

Israel- Palestine: Synopsis of the Conflict

• Early Phase

o In the 19th century the land of Palestine was inhabited by a multicultural population (approx. 86% Muslim, 10% Christian, and 4% Jewish) – living in peace.

o In the late 1800s, a group in Europe decided to colonize this land. Known as Zionists, their goal was to create a Jewish homeland.

• They considered locations in Africa and the Americas, before settling on Palestine.

o Hitler’s rise to power, led to increased Jewish immigration to Palestine. With the steady influx of Jews, the conflict in Palestine started to grow.

• UN Partition Plan

o In 1947 the United Nations decided to intervene. However, it did not choose the principle of “self-determination of peoples.

o Under considerable Zionist pressure, the UN recommended giving away 55% of Palestine to a Jewish state.

o This was done despite the fact that this group represented only about 30% of the total population, and owned under 7% of the land.

• 1947-1949 War
  • Fighting began almost as soon as the Resolution of November 1947 was approved.
  • On May 14, 1948, one day before the British Mandate (Palestine was a British colony) expired, Britaindeclared "the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel".
  • This sparked a full-scale war (1948 Arab–Israeli War).
  • By the end of the war, Israel had conquered 78 percent of Palestine; and a new map was drawn up.
• 1967 War
  • Also known as a six-day war, Israeli forces launched a highly successful surprise attack on Egypt.
  • Israel occupied the final 22% of Palestine that had eluded it in 1948 – the West Bank and Gaza Strip
  • It also occupied parts of Egypt (since returned) and Syria (which remain under occupation). 
• Oslo peace process
  • In the 1993 a breakthrough agreement was negotiated between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Oslo, Norway.
  • Under this process, the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) agreed on a plan to implement a two-state solution.

What is Hamas?

• About
  • Hamas is the largest Palestinian militant Islamist group and one of the two major political parties in the region.
  • Currently, it governs more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
  • The organisation, however, is also known for its armed resistance against Israel (more on this later).
  • Hamas as a whole, or in some cases its military wing, is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and other countries.
• Background
  • The group was founded in the late 1980s, after the beginning of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
  • Hamas is essentially the internal metamorphosis of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood.
• Reasons for its creation
  • The main reason for Hamas’ creation was a deep sense of failure that had been set within the Palestinian national movement by the late 1980s.
  • This primarily happened after the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) — involved in the armed struggle against Israel from the mid-1960s to ‘liberate Palestine’ — made two massive concessions.
• The PLO recognized Israel and its right to exist — thereby, relinquishing its goal of liberating Palestine.
• Two, it also dropped the armed struggle as a strategy, for the sake of a negotiated settlement.

o Hamas gained prominence after it opposed the Oslo Peace Accords signed in the early 1990s between Israel and the PLO.

• Some of the worst flare-ups between Hamas and Israel
  • The deadliest face-off between the two sides took place in 2014.
  • At least 2,251 Palestinians, including 1,462 civilians, were killed during 50 days of fighting.
  • On the Israeli side, 67 soldiers and six civilians were killed.
  • In May 2021, hundreds of Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa compound in Jerusalem.
  • After demanding Israel withdraw security forces from the compound, Hamas launched a series of rockets from Gaza into Israel.
  • Israel hit back with air strikes on Gaza. Fighting went on for 11 days.

News Summary: Israel at war after Hamas surprise attack

How the Hamas attack on Israel unfolded?

• Covering rocket barrage

o Hamas said it had fired 5,000 rockets in a first barrage. Israel’s military said 2,500 rockets were fired.

• Dawn infiltration

o The barrage served as cover for an unprecedented multi-pronged infiltration of fighters.

• Fighting at Israeli military bases

o As per Israel’s military, Palestinian fighters had penetrated at least three military installations around the frontier.

• Border towns raid

o Fighters raided various Israeli border town and started attack on civilians.

o Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Hamas gunmen had gone house-to-house killing civilians.

• Taking captives

o Israeli media has reported that gunmen have seized hostages in Ofakim.

• Israeli Strikes

o Israel’s military spokesperson said the Airforce started carrying out strikes in Gaza. Medics in Gaza said dozens of people were killed in the strikes.

Q1) Where is Al Aqsa mosque?

The golden domed Al Aqsa Mosque sits in the heart of Jerusalem's walled city, on one of the most fought-over spaces of land in the world.
 

Q2) Where is Yom Kippur?

Yom Kippur is celebrated around the world by the majority of Jews. It's a legal holiday in Israel. Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. It's also known as the Day of Atonement. It takes place every fall, ten days after Rosh Hashanah.

Source: 

• Indian Express
• CNN