Lannoy: “Gaza is not a city that has as many emergency shelters as, for example, the south of Israel. There’s just nowhere to go.”
📍 At the center of the recent conflict between Hamas and Israel, the Gaza Strip is a Palestinian region located on a narrow piece of land on the western coast of Israeli territory, bordering Egypt and washed by the Mediterranean Sea. Gaza is about 41 km long and 10 km wide (Learn more in the video above).
📊 The region is characterized by poverty and overpopulation. According to the United Nations (UN), around 2.1 million people live in Gaza, including around 1.7 million Palestinian refugees.
👨👨👧👧 The UN says the region has one of the highest population densities in the world.
🌐 According to the company, around 80% of Gaza’s population relies on international assistance, with 1 million people relying on daily food aid.
“Imagine a surrounded, poor place where suffering is the order of the day,” described reporter Carlos de Lannoy, who was a Middle East correspondent for TV Globo.
History of the Gaza Strip
🗺️ Originally occupied by Egypt, Gaza was captured by Israel in the SixDay War in 1967 and handed over to the Palestinians in 2005.
➡️ The area has been under the control of the armed extremist group Hamas since 2007, when forces of the then Palestinian Authority government were forcibly ousted.
⛔ Since then, the restrictions imposed by Israel and Egypt on the population of Gaza have become even stricter. Blockades, for example, lead to difficulties in the supply of basic products such as medicines and food for the population or energy. Anyone who lives there has a life full of restrictions.
💣 Hamas and Israel have been in conflict for years, examples of which were the clashes in 2014 and 2021.
🚫 To bypass border blockades, Hamas built a network of underground tunnels to allow the group to transport goods into the Gaza Strip and maintain a command center.
💥 Israel has been trying to destroy these border crossings for years, accusing extremists of illegal trade and smuggling.
One of two Palestinians amid the destruction in the Gaza Strip this Monday (9) Photo: AP Photo/Hatem Ali Palestinians amid the destruction in the Gaza Strip this Monday (9) Photo: AP Photo/Hatem Dort
▶️ How did the conflict between Hamas and Israel begin? The latest dispute in the region began on October 7, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel. This was the most violent action on Israeli territory in the last 50 years. The country’s intelligence services could not have suspected that an offensive of this magnitude was being prepared.
▶️ What is Hamas? The armed extremist group is one of the main Islamic organizations in the Palestinian territories (there are two noncontiguous areas: the Gaza Strip and the West Bank). Since 2007, Hamas has controlled Gaza, which lies on a narrow strip of land on Israel’s west coast. The group is considered terrorist by countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, but is supported by Iran.
▶️ How was the attack? The actions were concentrated near the Gaza border, from where Hamas fired 5,000 rockets. Armed men from the south of the country invaded Israeli territory by land, air and sea, on motorcycles and paragliders. There were reports that the invaders shot people in the streets and kidnapped dozens of Israelis (including women and children) and took them to Gaza as hostages.
▶️ What was Israel’s reaction? Faced with the Hamas offensive, the Israeli government began retaliatory measures. “We are at war and we will win,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said shortly after the attack. “Our enemy will pay a price he has never known.” Also on October 7, Israel launched bombing raids on the Gaza Strip.
▶️ How many people died? As of the last update of this report, there have already been more than 1,500 deaths, including 900 in Israel and almost 700 in Gaza.
▶️ What is the current context of this conflict? Saudi Arabia and the Israeli government were negotiating to establish formal diplomatic relations. The United States is actively working on this. If Israel and Saudi Arabia become allies, Iran, a common enemy of both, will become even more isolated. “The main motivation of Hamas and Iran.” [para o ataque] It was the desire to disrupt this agreement that threatened to isolate them. The idea was to embarrass Arab leaders who have made peace with Israel or might do so,” said Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel.
▶️ What is the history of conflict in the region? The dispute between Israel and Palestine has been going on for decades and has resulted in numerous armed clashes and deaths. In its modern form, it dates back to 1947, when the United Nations (UN) proposed the creation of two states, one Jewish and one Arab, in Palestine under a British mandate.
▶️ When was Israel recognized as a state? In 1948. Since then, there has been a dispute over territory in the region, and several agreements have attempted to establish peace in the region, but none of them have been successful.
▶️ What is the difference between Israelis and Palestinians? Israelis are citizens of the State of Israel, founded in 1948. Palestinians are the Muslimmajority ethnic Arab people who lived in the region between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
2 of 2 Map shows conflict in Israel Photo: Arte/g1 Map shows conflict in Israel Photo: Arte/g1 Images of the war between Hamas and Israel, with attacks in the Gaza Strip and movement of military troops Photo: Adel Hana / AP; Mohammed Salem/Portal; Violeta Santos Moura/Portal; Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Portal; Saleh Salem/Portal
The map shows where Hamas attacks took place in Israel