The current clash between Israel and Gaza has been so destructive that the bodies of those who were killed have been reportedly piled up, and the hospitals are overwhelmed by the dead. In the build-up to the cast lead attack, it was reported that over 66 people were killed by Israeli strikes on central Gaza in the last 24 hours alone.
The Israel Defence Forces has declared that its ground troops have entered the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah; the air and ground operations are still pressing on positions in the area. These acts of violence come at a time when there are ongoing efforts towards finding a solution to the conflict where the two factions are called upon to lay down their arms.
The Islamist organization Hamas, which operates in Gaza, has been tightly besieged by Israel since 2007; it says it can accept no truce unless the Jews make a ‘clear’ promise to make a long-term ceasefire in Gaza and vacate the territory. Hamas was described by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a group that would be eliminated until the war was over.
This is especially devastating to the people of Gaza, which has been severely affected by the conflict. Others estimate that at least 36,550 Palestinians have been brutally murdered, while 82,959 others have been injured since Israel started its aggression on Gaza on October 7. Currently, at least 1070 people are reported to have died from Hamas’s attacks in Israel, but hundreds of people are still held hostage in Gaza.
The plight of the civilians, especially in Deir el-Balah and other parts of the Gaza Strip, demonstrates why there is a dire need for the parties involved in the conflict to negotiate for subsequent and lasting peace to end the conflict and the protection of the civilians on either side of the border.
