Israelis Dread This Nightmare Will Never End

time.com BY EETTA PRINCE-GIBSON OCTOBER 12, 2023 2:00 AM EDT

Eetta Prince-Gibson is the Israel editor for Moment magazine, the former editor in chief of the Jerusalem Report, and a regular contributor to Haaretz, +61J, and other international publications.

Our government has abandoned us, too. The Prime Minister has not yet visited any of the victims, and few of his 33-seat government have, either. The Prime Minister has gone on television several times to promise revenge and a putative victory, but has not offered words of comfort or hope. The logistical relief that democratic caring governments are supposed to provide is being provided by civil society.

I am filled with dread because none of the leaders, on either side, have any long-term answers other than hatred and rejection. None of our supposed leaders are capable of suggesting a plan that will allow both our peoples to be safe from evil, safe in our homes, and safe to live our lives as individuals and as people.”

Family and friends of May Naim, 24, who was killed by Hamas, react during her funeral in Gan Haim, Israel, on Oct. 11, 2023.
Family and friends of May Naim, 24, who was killed by Hamas, react during her funeral in Gan Haim, Israel, on Oct. 11, 2023.Amir Levy—Getty Images

Blessed rains have washed away the interminable heat and dust of summer. In Jerusalem, where I live, the air is wonderfully fresh and the mornings are brisk and chilly. But the streets are unnervingly quiet. Schools have been closed all week. Most cafes and stores have been closed, too, since no one feels much like sipping artisan espresso or shopping, and many of the regulars have been called up for reserve duty.

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In its quest to crush Hamas, Israel will confront the bitter, familiar dilemmas of Mideast wars

Palestinians evacuate wounded people after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. As Israel escalates its war on Hamas, it will confront many of the same dilemmas it has grappled with over decades of conflict with the Palestinians. It will want to punish Hamas like never before, but without killing so many Palestinian civilians that it loses international support. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

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Palestinians evacuate wounded people after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

Palestinians look for survivors after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. As Israel escalates its war on Hamas, it will confront many of the same dilemmas it has grappled with over decades of conflict with the Palestinians. It will want to punish Hamas like never before, but without killing so many Palestinian civilians that it loses international support. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

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Palestinians look for survivors after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

Palestinians inspect the rubble of buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike at Al Shati Refugee Camp Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. As Israel escalates its war on Hamas, it will confront many of the same dilemmas it has grappled with over decades of conflict with the Palestinians. It will want to punish Hamas like never before, but without killing so many Palestinian civilians that it loses international support. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

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Palestinians inspect the rubble of buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike at Al Shati Refugee Camp Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Palestinians search for bodies and survivors in the rubble of a residential building leveled in an Israeli airstrike, in Al Shati refugee camp Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. As Israel escalates its war on Hamas, it will confront many of the same dilemmas it has grappled with over decades of conflict with the Palestinians. It will want to punish Hamas like never before, but without killing so many Palestinian civilians that it loses international support. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

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Palestinians search for bodies and survivors in the rubble of a residential building leveled in an Israeli airstrike, in Al Shati refugee camp Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

APnews

BY JOSEPH KRAUSSUpdated 3:40 AM GMT+7, October 13, 2023

JERUSALEM (AP) — As Israel pounds Gaza with airstrikes, prepares for a possible ground invasion and escalates a war sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented assault, its leaders will confront many of the same dilemmas it has grappled with over decades of conflict with the Palestinians.

Israeli leaders have pledged to annihilate the Hamas militants responsible for the surprise weekend attack but risk drawing international criticism as the Palestinian civilian death toll mounts. They want to kill all the kidnappers but spare the estimated 150 hostages — men, women, children and older adults — that Hamas dragged across the border and has threatend to kill if Israel targets civilians.

In the end, Israel might decide to reluctantly leave Hamas in power in Gaza rather than take its chances on arguably worse alternatives.

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Analysis: Why did Hamas attack now and what is next?

AL JAZEERA A number of factors led to Hamas’s operation in southern Israel.

Palestinians wave their national flag and celebrate by a destroyed Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of Khan Younis southern Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land, and sea and catching the country off-guard on a major holiday. (AP Photo/Yousef Masoud)
Palestinians wave their national flag and celebrate by a destroyed Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of Khan Younis on October 7, 2023 [Yousef Masoud/AP Photo]

By Joe Macaro Published On 11 Oct 202311 Oct 2023

On October 7, Hamas launched a massive military operation into Israeli territory. The shooting of thousands of rockets into Israel was followed by an attack by land, air and sea, with fighters penetrating deep into territory under Israeli control. They attacked military installations and temporarily took over various settlements. The death toll among Israelis has exceeded 1,200, including more than 120 soldiers; dozens of Israeli hostages were also taken into the Gaza Strip.

The planning of the operation took somewhere between a few months and two years, per different accounts from Hamas leaders. The depth and magnitude of the attack were unprecedented and took Israel by surprise. It was a reaction to changing regional dynamics and growing Israeli aggression.

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UN condemns attacks on civilians in Israel and Gaza


From CNN’s Caitlin Danaher in London

The United Nations has “unequivocally condemned” attacks on civilians in Israel and Gaza, and also Israel’s “further tightening of the unlawful blockade,” in a statement released Thursday.

The killings and hostage-taking by Hamas “constitute heinous violations of international law and international crimes, for which there must be urgent accountability,” the statement read.

There is no justification for such violence in Israel or Gaza, the statement said.

The UN also focused on the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.

“We also strongly condemn Israel’s indiscriminate military attacks against the already exhausted Palestinian people of Gaza, comprising over 2.3 million people, nearly half of whom are children. They have lived under unlawful blockade for 16 years, and already gone through five major brutal wars, which remain unaccounted for,” they said. “This amounts to collective punishment.”

The experts also warned the withholding of essential supplies, such as food, water and medicine, will “precipitate a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where its population is now at inescapable risk of starvation.” They called for the establishment of humanitarian corridors to allow people to leave Gaza.

The UN urged the international community to “address the root causes of the current conflict, including the 56-year-old occupation and the annexation pursued by Israel.”

What was Hamas thinking? For over three decades, it has had the same brutal idea of victory

FILE - A Palestinian Hamas supporter attends a protest against Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip, in Gaza City, on March 3, 2008. In the three and a half decades since it began as an underground militant group, Hamas has pursued a consistently violent strategy aimed at rolling back Israeli rule. Despite bringing enormous suffering to both sides of the conflict, it has made steady progress. But its stunning incursion into Israel over the weekend marks its deadliest gambit yet, and the already unprecedented response from Israel threatens to bring an end to its 16-year rule over the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

BY JOSEPH KRAUSSUpdated 1:56 AM GMT+7, October 12, 2023Share

JERUSALEM (AP) — In the three and a half decades since it began as an underground militant group, Hamas has pursued a consistently violent strategy aimed at rolling back Israeli rule — and it has made steady progress despite bringing enormous suffering to both sides of the conflict.

But its stunning incursion into Israel over the weekend marks its deadliest gambit yet, and the already unprecedented response from Israel threatens to bring an end to its 16-year rule over the Gaza Strip.

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What Is Hamas?

cfr.org

The Palestinian militant group has struggled to govern Gaza and remains committed to violently resisting Israel. Its surprise attack against Israel in 2023 threatens a wider conflagration in the Middle East.

WRITTEN BY Kali Robinson UPDATED Last updated October 9, 2023 1:27 pm (EST)

Summary

  • A spin-off of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in the late 1980s, the Islamist militant group Hamas took over the Gaza Strip after defeating its rival political party, Fatah, in elections in 2006.
  • The United States and European Union have designated Hamas a terrorist organization because of its armed resistance against Israel, which has included suicide bombings and rocket attacks.
  • Israel has declared war on Hamas following its surprise assault on southern Israel in 2023, the deadliest attack on the country in decades.

Introduction

What are the group’s origins?

Who are its leaders?

How is Hamas funded?

How does it govern Gaza?

How do Palestinians view Hamas?

How has Hamas challenged Israel?

How is Hamas’s attack on Israel in 2023 different?

Recommended Resources

Introduction

Hamas is an Islamist militant movement and one of the Palestinian territories’ two major political parties. It governs more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but the group is best known for its armed resistance to Israel. In October 2023, Hamas launched a massive surprise attack on southern Israel, killing hundreds of civilians and soldiers and taking dozens more as hostages. Israel has declared war on the group in response and indicated its military is planning for a long campaign to defeat it. 

Dozens of countries have designated Hamas a terrorist organization, though some apply this label only to its military wing. Iran provides it with material and financial support, and Turkey reportedly harbors some of its top leaders. Its rival party, Fatah, which dominates the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and rules in the West Bank, has renounced violence. The split in Palestinian leadership and Hamas’s unwavering hostility toward Israel have diminished prospects for stability in Gaza.

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What we know: The number of foreigners killed, missing, abducted in Israel

Citizens and dual nationals from more than 20 countries were killed or remain missing following violence in Israel.

AL JAZEERA

Students hold placards demanding Nepalese government ensure the safe return of stranded students and light candles in Patan Durbar Square, Lalitpur, Nepal, as they pay tribute to Nepali nationals who lost their lives in the fighting in Israel, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Ten Nepali nationals have been killed in fighting in Israel and at least one more is missing, Nepal’s Foreign Ministry said. An unknown number of others were wounded in the violence, it added. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Students hold placards and candles in Patan Durbar Square, Lalitpur, Nepal, as they pay tribute to Nepali nationals who lost their lives in the fighting in Israel, on Monday, October 9, 2023 [Niranjan Shrestha/AP]

Published On 10 Oct 202310 Oct 2023

Dozens of foreigners have been reported killed, missing or taken hostage following the surprise attack on Israel by Hamas fighters over the weekend.

More than 900 people have been killed in Israel and over 700 killed in retaliatory attacks on Gaza by Israeli forces so far.

Many of the foreigners killed and missing were attending an electronic music festival in the southern Israeli desert on Saturday when the Hamas attack began.

This is what we know of the foreign and dual-national casualties as well as those still missing.

Argentina: Seven dead, 15 missing

Argentina’s foreign minister Santiago Cafiero said on Monday that seven Argentinians were killed during the attacks in Israel and 15 more remain missing. Approximately 625 Argentinian nationals in Israel have also requested repatriation, the minister said.

Austria: Three missing

Three Austrian-Israeli dual citizens could be among those abducted, Austria’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “Three Austrian-Israeli dual citizens who recently stayed in southern Israel independently of each other could also be among the many international abductees. There is currently no official confirmation,” the ministry said.

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