While India is going through their Lok Sabha Elections, the conflict in the Middle East continues.
the Israel Palestine conflict is one of the oldest and persisting conflicts in the world. the situation keeps escalating now and then, which leads to more loss of lives on either side. The major escalation was from the incident on October 7th, 2023 which led to a lockdown of the Gaza Strip, The United States recently proposed a truce which was received positively by Hamas, though Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has not yet agreed to the ceasefire.
Israel-Hamas War
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched over 5,000 rockets from Gaza targeting Israel, killing more than 1,400 people and taking many hostages.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas and began airstrikes in Gaza. By October 15, around 2,700 Palestinians had been killed and 1 million displaced.
Israel cut off essential supplies to Gaza, causing a severe humanitarian crisis in the region. Israel has instructed Northern Gaza residents to evacuate, while Hamas has insisted they stay.
Recent Developments
In the past month or so there have been significant developments in this region, where the Israeli Defense Forces(IDF) has targeted the city of Rafah for their attack, On May 29th, the IDF announced the demolition of a significant Hamas tunnel near the Rafah crossing, making a strategic win to stop Hamas’s effort in the area. Prime Minister Netanyahu has also recently mentioned Israel’s goal with the war, which is defeating Hamas, releasing the hostages, and ensuring Gaza poses no threat to Israel, The United States has supported Israel significantly for this by sending warships. However, the Internal Criminal Court has accused the Prime Minister and other Israeli officials of war crimes, due to deteriorating human conditions in the Gaza strip.
There have been reports that over 35000 Palestinians have been killed, with the majority being women and children. The Gaza region faces severe shortages in hospitals to treat the casualties. The internal Community including the United Nations has expressed its concerns about the situation.
The situation remains complicated with ongoing military actions and humanitarian crises.
