This past Tuesday, October 17th, 2023, an explosion at a hospital in the Gaza Strip killed hundreds of people. Estimates put the death toll between 100-300. It has been three weeks since the Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorist group, Hamas sent shock waves through the world when it launched the largest attack on Israel in the nation’s history, killing more than 1400 Israelis and prompting Israel to declare war on Hamas. Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for the blast in Gaza. American, Canadian, and French intelligence officials have asserted it is very unlikely that Israeli forces were behind the blast, although many actors in the Middle East believe otherwise.
According to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, Israeli counter-strikes have killed at least 4,200 Palestinians. Beginning last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued repeated warnings for 1.1 million Palestinian civilians to evacuate Northern Gaza. Amid a mass military mobilization and buildup near the northern Gaza border, it is increasingly likely that Israel will launch a full-scale ground invasion into Northern Gaza. The United Nations has described the humanitarian situation there as “catastrophic.”
The first aid trucks have entered Gaza through Egypt. However, just 20 of more than 200 trucks, carrying more than 3000 tons of aid, were able to gain access. The U.N. has repeatedly asserted an evacuation is impossible and will have “devastating consequences.” Hospitals, already overflowing with injured civilians and running out of critical supplies, are unable to relocate patients. So far, an estimated 700,000 Palestinians have moved to the Southern region of Gaza. Some sources estimate that close to a million Palestinians have been displaced since the beginning of the war. Since the start of the war, a siege on Gaza has blocked the entry of fuel, food, water, and necessities. The region is also suffering from a territory-wide electricity blackout. A U.N. agency on the ground is anxiously calling for the siege to be lifted, with fuel supplies expected to run out in the next three days.
Outside of the Gaza Strip, tensions are also rising on Israel’s northern border amid several clashes between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah militants based out of Lebanon. It remains unclear whether Hezbollah will enter the conflict. Israel has also launched strikes into Syria and most recently the West Bank, where an Israeli air strike hit a mosque in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin, killing at least two Palestinians. Israel alleges it was targeting an underground compound where Hamas militants were organizing. There is uncertainty, suffering, and fear on both sides of the conflict. Thousands have died. As the Israeli population works through the trauma of Hamas’s brutal attack, international actors must work with the country to minimize the disastrous humanitarian consequences of a response on Palestinian civilians and prevent the conflict from spreading. The priority is getting essential aid into the region to minimize the devastation of strikes.
