Gaza has been devastated by the destructive war that began after the attack by the armed group Hamas on 7 October 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 abducted. Its two million people are living in extreme misery. Israelis, meanwhile, are observing the day in mourning.
On Wednesday Israelis mourned on roads and in shelters across southern Israel, and at the site of the music festival that Hamas attacked three years ago.
For Palestinians the anniversary brought another day of extreme hardship and suffering. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza. Most of the territory’s two million people now live under insanitary tents, and a large part of its cities has been reduced to rubble. More than half of the territory is occupied by the Israeli army, and Israeli attacks continue almost daily despite a ceasefire agreement reached nearly a year ago.
For the region, the day shows how astonishingly things have changed in three years. Israeli troops hold a large part of southern Lebanon after the conflict with Hezbollah, which began attacking Israel in 2023 in support of Hamas.
Iran and the United States have also become locked in a confrontation that has brought attacks on Arab Gulf states and shaken the world economy. Israel had a role behind that conflict, and the Gaza war probably paved the way for it.
Israel’s military campaign has devastated the narrow strip and displaced about 90% of its population, many of them more than once. Restrictions on the entry of goods and aid have caused an acute food crisis.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and armed fighters in its figures but says about half of the dead were women and children. Although it is part of the Hamas-run government, its figures are generally regarded as reliable by the United Nations and independent experts.
The ceasefire that took effect on 10 October halted the heavy fighting, but Israeli attacks have continued. Israel says they target Hamas fighters. According to the ministry, 1,145 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire began. Seven Israeli soldiers have also been killed in that time.
Hamas presented the 7 October attack as a response to decades of Israeli military occupation, land confiscation and settlement building. But Palestinians’ dream of an independent state now looks more remote than ever.
A disputed election due in Israel later this month hangs over this year’s anniversary. The Israeli government held its official memorial for the day on 5 October. The separate memorials point to deep divisions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct of the war and his reluctance to hold a formal inquiry into the failures of that day.
The attack set off a chain of events that brought war across the Middle East. Israel has taken control of large areas of Syria and Lebanon, displacing more than 300,000 Lebanese. The United States joined Israel in two rounds of strikes on Iran’s military and nuclear programme, which damaged Iran and also unsettled world markets far from the battlefield.
Violence has also risen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israel’s far-right government has emboldened settlers who attack Palestinians and destroy their property. Source: Washington Post
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