Israel’s military has launched an intense ground offensive in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The offensive comes on the back of a more than two-month total blockade on Gaza after Israel decided to unilaterally end a ceasefire with Hamas in March.
Israel has come under increasing international pressure, including from its staunch allies in the United States government, to agree to a ceasefire and allow aid into Gaza.
Meanwhile, Hamas and Israeli negotiators are in Doha for new indirect talks.
Here’s everything you need to know about Israel’s latest ground assault:
What is Operation Gideon’s Chariots, and why did it begin now?
Operation Gideon’s Chariots is a major ground offensive launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip that comes after air attacks killed hundreds of Palestinians in recent days and further debilitated Gaza’s healthcare network. With the backing of Israel’s lethal air force, the operation is targeting both southern and northern Gaza.
The assault began as the second day of ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas ended on Saturday in Doha. Israel tends to intensify operations and attacks during such negotiations. It said this latest offensive is exerting “tremendous pressure” on Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched this latest assault as US President Donald Trump concluded his Middle East tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but did not stop in Israel.
What are Israel’s stated objectives for this assault?
The Israeli military said the offensive was launched to expand “operational control” in the Gaza Strip.
Israel says its campaign also aims to free the remaining captives held in Gaza and defeat Hamas.
However, Netanyahu has been repeatedly criticised by segments of Israeli society, including captives’ families, for failing to prioritise their return and has also rejected Hamas’s offers to end the war and free the captives.
A week before the start of the operation, quotes were leaked of Netanyahu speaking about the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza outside the Gaza Strip.
“We are destroying more and more homes. They have nowhere to return to,” Netanyahu said in closed-door testimony made to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee. “The only inevitable outcome will be the desire of Gazans to emigrate outside of the Gaza Strip.”
What has happened in Gaza since the offensive began?
Since Sunday, the day Israel confirmed the operation, at least 144 people have been killed in a relentless wave of strikes. At least 42 people died in the heavily bombarded northern part of the Strip, according to medical sources. Five of those killed were journalists.
In southern Gaza, at least 36 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in Israeli air strikes on a tent encampment of displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis governorate, according to medical sources.
But the lead-up to the operation also included heavy attacks.
In the past week, Israel has attacked more than 670 places in Gaza and claimed all were “Hamas targets” located both above and beneath the ground. Israel has been accused of disproportionately targeting civilians in Gaza, including displaced families. At least 370 Palestinians were killed over five days.
Since the start of the war in October 2023, at least 53,339 Palestinians have been killed and 121,034 wounded, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
The severity of the recent attacks has many Palestinians expressing fears on social media that their latest posts may be their last.
On Monday, the Israeli military issued forced evacuation orders for Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, warning of an “unprecedented attack”.
What is Israel targeting?
Israel said it is targeting Hamas targets, a claim that has been increasingly challenged by human rights groups and experts as its more than 19-month war on Gaza continues.
Among the sites hit are hospitals, a recurring target for the Israeli military in Gaza. Muhammad Zaqout, the director general of hospitals in Gaza, described the tactic as part of “Israel’s systematic measures against hospitals”.
On Sunday, the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza was rendered nonoperational after it was besieged by Israeli forces. Medical professionals said it could lead to the deaths of thousands of sick and wounded people.
The situation was described as “catastrophic” by Marwan al-Sultan, the director of the facility, who also called on international organisations to push for the safety of medical teams.
Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza’s Jabalia and European Gaza Hospital in southern Gaza have also been bombed.
In recent days, Israel said it has killed Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip, Mohammad Sinwar, the brother and successor of the late Yahya Sinwar. It also reportedly killed another Sinwar brother, Zakaria Sinwar, a university lecturer, and three of his children in an air strike on central Gaza.
How has Hamas responded?
On Sunday, Hamas released a statement calling the attacks on displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis a “brutal crime” and a flagrant violation of international laws and norms.
The group also placed blame on the US for backing Israel.
“By granting the terrorist occupation government political and military cover, the United States administration bears direct responsibility for this insane escalation in the targeting of innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip, including children, women, and the elderly,” Hamas said.
What is the current humanitarian situation inside Gaza?
The entire Strip is at risk of famine.
Basic humanitarian supplies, including food, fuel, medical aid and vaccines for children, have been blocked by Israel from entering the Strip. More than 90 percent of the population has been displaced since the war began on October 7, 2023. Many Palestinians have been displaced multiple times with some people being forced to relocate 10 times or more.
Israel has refused the entry of any aid since March 2. International actors and agencies have been pressing hard for Israel to resume the distribution of aid to Gaza to little effect.
“Two months into the latest blockade, two million people are starving, while 116,000 tonnes of food is blocked at the border just minutes away,” said World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaking at the opening of the annual World Health Assembly.
One in five Palestinians in Gaza is currently facing starvation, while 9,000 children, who are most vulnerable to Israel’s continued food blockade, have been hospitalised for acute malnutrition since the start of the year, according to the United Nations.
Late on Sunday, Netanyahu announced that some food would be allowed into the Gaza Strip in a much needed reprieve for the local population.
“Israel will allow a basic amount of food for the population to ensure that a hunger crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Netanyahu said on Monday that the move was motivated by pressure from Israel’s allies.
It is unclear when the border will open to allow in aid.
What’s the status of the ceasefire talks?
The latest round of talks started on Saturday, and by the end of Sunday, there had been little progress.
Talks are set to continue this week.
Israel and Hamas both claimed the talks began without conditions.
“The Hamas delegation outlined the position of the group and the necessity to end the war, swap prisoners, the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and allow humanitarian aid and all the needs of the people of Gaza back into the Strip,” Taher al-Nono, the media adviser for Hamas’s leadership, told the Reuters news agency.
The criticism of Israel is increasing.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “alarmed” by Israel’s expanded offensive in Gaza and called for an immediate ceasefire.
Germany, one of Israel’s foremost backers, expressed deep concern over the offensive.
Its Federal Foreign Office said in a statement: “A large-scale military offensive also entails the risk that the catastrophic humanitarian situation for the population in Gaza and the situation of the remaining hostages will continue to deteriorate and that the prospect of an urgently needed long-term ceasefire fades.”
After the offensive was confirmed, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called for the “immediate, massive and unhampered” resumption of aid into Gaza.
Even before the offensive, international pressure on Israel was growing.
Seven European nations urged Israel on Friday to “reverse its current policy” on Gaza.
The leaders of Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia, Spain and Norway released a joint statement on what they called a “man-made humanitarian catastrophe that is taking place before our eyes in Gaza”.
Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian chief, has called for decisive action to prevent genocide in Gaza.
He criticised the US-Israeli joint plan to replace international aid mechanisms in Gaza as a “waste of time”. More than 160,000 pallets of aid are “ready to move” at the border, he said, but are being blocked by Israel.
Volker Turk, the UN’s human rights chief, said on Friday that Israel’s bombing campaign is intended to bring about a “permanent demographic shift in Gaza” and is in “defiance of international law”.
Source: Aljazeera
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