ISRAEL AND PALESTINE CONFLICT

By Disha Chauhan

The latest in seven decades of war and strife between Israelis and Palestinians, which has attracted
other powers and destabilized the larger Middle East, is the battle between Israel and Hamas, who
launched an unexpected offensive on Saturday.
On October 7, 2023, starting early in the morning, Hamas and other armed organizations from Gaza
launched rocket barrages targeting Israel's southern and central regions. Armed groups entered Israeli
territory by land and air breaching the Gaza border fence.
Once inside, they wounded and killed Israeli soldiers as well as Israeli and international civilians,
including more than 260 guests of a music festival near Re'im and kibbutzim Kfar Azza and Be'eri.
Gunfights and hostage crises occurred in southern Israeli communities over the course of three days;
the Israeli army only regained control on October 9. Since October 7, there have been estimated to be
between 5,500 and 6,700 rockets shot against Israeli territory.
As of October 16, at least 1,300 people had died and 4,121 had been injured as a result of attacks by
armed groups commanded by Hamas from Gaza. "Horrifying scenes, including the slaughter of
elderly people and finding bloody rooms crowded with massacred civilians" were observed by those
involved. October 7th has been by far the worst day in Israeli history according to a spokesman for the
Israeli army.
Before coming to any conclusion is it necessary to know a bit about the statistical data of the deaths in
Palestine. As per the records maintained by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) of the UN, the current death toll has surpassed 3 times the total number of Israelis killed
since OCHA started keeping track of casualties in 2005, which was about 400 and OCHA reports that
in 2022, state-sponsored settler violence against Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank
escalated for the sixth year in a row, peaking in October during the olive harvest season. Between
January 2020 and August 2022, almost 69 women lost their lives. Palestinians continued to file
complaints about such brutality, but the Israeli army and police never looked into them.
Throughout the midst of a wave of military incursions including the disproportionate use of force,
including illegal murders and apparent extrajudicial executions, Israeli forces murdered 151
Palestinians throughout the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and wounded 9,875,
according to OCHA-OPT.
The OPT, Palestinian citizens living in Israel, and Palestinian refugees denied the right of return were
all divided and segregated by Israel, which was enforcing an institutionalized regime of oppression
and domination against the Palestinian people everywhere it possessed authority over their rights,
according to a 280-page report published by Amnesty International in February.
Apartheid is a crime against humanity that is under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal
Court (ICC). Israeli officials would be accountable for this crime against humanity through massive
seizures of land and property, unlawful killings, serious injuries inflicted, forcible transfers, arbitrary
restrictions on freedom of movement, denial of nationality, and other inhuman acts.
Ultimately, it is important to mention that there is no justification for violence that indiscriminately
targets innocent civilians, whether by Hamas or Israeli forces. Taking hostages in the context of
hostilities constitutes a war crime and is prohibited under international law. It does not matter who
will win or lose the war by the end. War is always a setback for humanity, resulting in a humanitarian
crisis with unfathomable effects on all sides of the spectrum.