Cause Between Hamas and Isreal

Over a thousand people have died so far, with more than 700 Israelis killed under the Hamas assault and more than 400 Palestinians as Israel pounds Gaza with airstrikes.

And it has been reported that there are at least 100 hostages, including Israeli soldiers, that Hamas captured.

Around 6:30 a.m. local time on Saturday, when many Israelis have been asleep, sirens were heard as far as the Tel Aviv area as rockets flew over Israel.

Militants from Gaza then entered Israel by land, sea and air, with some using paragliders.

The IDF said around 2,200 rockets were fired at Israel. Hamas put the figure at 5,000. To put that in context, some 4,000 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel during the 50-day war between the two sides in 2014.

Hamas military commander Muhammad Al-Deif called the operation “Al-Aqsa Storm” and said that the assault on Israel was a response to attacks on women, the desecration of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and the ongoing siege of Gaza.

Hamas said it captured Israeli soldiers, posting videos of soldiers it allegedly captured on its social media accounts.

Hamas said in a statement the same day that its fighters were still present in southern Israeli cities, and that the group was supporting them with rocket fire in the cities of Ofakim, Sderot, Yad Mordechai, Kfar Aza, Be’eri, Yated, and Kissufim.

Smoke billows from a residential building following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday.
Smoke billows from a residential building following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday.
How has Israel responded?
In response to the attack, Israel launched “Operation Swords of Iron,” striking a number of targets in the Gaza strip. Netanyahu said Israel’s response to the Hamas incursion will “exact a huge price” from the group.

The IDF urged civilians in Gaza to leave their residential areas immediately for their safety as Israeli military operations continued to target Hamas.

Inside Gaza, the roar of Israeli warplanes could be heard followed by loud explosions and rising plumes of black smoke.

At least 313 people were killed over 24 hours, including at least 20 children, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said Sunday. Another 1,990 were injured, it added.

On Sunday, the IDF said it struck 426 targets in Gaza, including 10 towers it said were used by Hamas.

In the north, Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group claimed responsibility for targeting three Israeli sites in an area known as Shebaa Farms using missiles and artillery. The area is considered by Lebanon as Israeli-occupied. Israel responded by firing artillery.

And in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers on Saturday when clashes broke out after the Israeli army blocked West Bank cities, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Story why Israel and Hamas Are at War

Israel captured Gaza from Egypt in a 1967 war, then withdrew in 2005. The territory, home to some 2 million Palestinians, fell under Hamas’ control in 2007 after a brief civil war with Fatah, a rival Palestinian faction that is the backbone of the Palestinian Authority.

After Hamas seized control of Gaza, Israel and Egypt imposed a strict siege on the territory, which is ongoing. Israel also maintains an air and naval blockade on Gaza.

Before Saturday’s operation, the last war between Hamas and Israel was in 2021, which lasted for 11 days and killed at least 250 people in Gaza and 13 in Israel.

Saturday’s assault occurred on the 50th anniversary of the 1973 war, when Israel’s Arab neighbors launched a surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, on October 6, 1973.

An Israeli woman donates blood at a hospital in Tel Aviv.
An Israeli woman donates blood at a hospital in Tel Aviv.
What is Hamas?
Hamas is an Islamist organization with a military wing that came into being in 1987, emerging out of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist group that was founded in the late 1920s in Egypt.

Meaning of Hamas

The word “Hamas” is itself an acronym for “Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamia” – Arabic for Islamic Resistance Movement. the group, like most Palestinian factions and political parties, insists that Israel is an occupying power and that it is trying to liberate the Palestinian territories. It considers Israel an illegitimate state.

Its refusal to recognize Israel is one reason why it has rejected peace talks in the past. In 1993, it opposed the Oslo Accords, a peace pact between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

The group presents itself as an alternative to the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has recognized Israel and has engaged in multiple failed peace initiatives with it. The PA is today led by Mahmoud Abbas and is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Hamas has over the years claimed many attacks on Israel and has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel. Israel accuses its archenemy Iran of backing Hamas.

A member of Israeli security forces tries to extinguish fire on cars following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, southern Israel.
A member of Israeli security forces tries to extinguish fire on cars following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, southern Israel.

What is Al-Aqsa

The al-Aqsa compound is one of the most revered places in Islam and Judaism. The sacred grounds, known to Muslims as Al Haram Al Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as Temple Mount have been a flashpoint of tensions between Israel and the Palestinians for decades.

Hamas says it launched Saturday’s “Al-Aqsa Storm” attack in part to defend the holy site.

Only Muslims are allowed to pray in the compound under a status quo arrangement originally reached more than a century ago. Non-Muslim visitors are allowed visits at certain times and only to certain areas of the complex.

But many in the Muslims world fear that the right to be the sole worshipers there has been eroded and that the sites themselves are being threatened by a growing far-right Jewish movement and Israel’s far-right government.

Clashes have frequently broken out at the site between Palestinian worshipers and Israeli forces. Police raided the compound several times over the last year.

The complex lies in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state and which most of the international community considers to be occupied territory. Israel captured it from Jordan in its six-day war in 1967 and considers both East and West Jerusalem as its united, “eternal capital.”