Tel Aviv. Israel has declared 10 days of national mourning on the first anniversary of the brutal Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Hamas had suddenly attacked Israel on October 7 last year. Its fighters entered Israel through air, land and sea and created a massacre. More than 1,200 Israeli civilians were killed in this attack and Hamas took about 250 people hostage, including children and women. Hamas named this attack Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
Israel vowed to avenge this barbarity and erase Hamas from existence. He conducted Operation Iron Swords in Gaza. His forces reduced Gaza to ruins. In the last one year, Israeli action in Gaza has resulted in about 42,000 deaths and millions of people have been displaced from Gaza. Israel has so far killed many top leaders of Hamas including Ismail Haniya and Mohammad Daef. It is the fifth war in the Palestine–Israel conflict since 2008, and the largest military operation in the region since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
The Gaza Strip has been ruled by Hamas since 2007 and has suffered massive destruction in retaliation by Israel following the October 7, 2023 attack. The infrastructure in Gaza has been reduced to rubble. One year on, the Gaza war remains unresolved and war across the region is becoming more likely. Hamas remains active despite the killing of many of its top leaders and commanders. Qatar-based Hamas member Khalil al-Haya released a video message calling the October 7, 2023 attack a great act. “All of Palestine, especially Gaza, and our Palestinian citizens are writing a new history with their resistance against the enemy,” al-Haya said in his message issued on the anniversary of the October 7 attack.
Israel is fighting a war on multiple fronts as the first anniversary of the attack by Hamas approaches on October 7, 2024. Now its focus has shifted from Gaza to Lebanon. Israeli army ground operations and air force air strikes continue targeting Hezbollah in different parts of Lebanon. Since the start of Israeli action, more than 1000 people have died in Lebanon, more than half of them are Hezbollah fighters. Some Israeli soldiers have also been martyred in direct encounters with Hezbollah during ground operations in Beirut. Despite more than 45,000 deaths in the last one year, it does not seem that this period of violence in the region is ever going to end.
Still no information about 101 hostages could be found
Israeli Defense Forces launched another operation on October 5, 2024, with the intention of eliminating Hamas fighters in Jabaliya, next to Gaza City. Israel said that Hamas was trying to raise its head again in Jabaliya. It is possible that another terrorist attack or military operation against Israel by its enemies could further escalate the conflict situation in the area. Of the 250 people taken hostage by Hamas during its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, 101 hostages are still unaccounted for. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently mentioned these hostages in his address to the United Nations. He had expressed his commitment that Israel would not rest without finding the last hostage. Israel’s objective in Gaza is to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities and regime and to rescue hostages.
Will Israel be able to bring its war to an end?
Israel’s goal in opening a front against Lebanon is to make its more than 60,000 citizens feel safe returning to their homes near the border, who fear coming under rocket attacks from Hezbollah. In the last one year, Israel has been successful in cracking down on its enemies, but has not been successful in bringing its wars to an end. Israeli military officials also acknowledge that despite eliminating the top leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah and blunting their military capabilities, both of these militia groups will remain a force in Palestine and Lebanon. The situation may worsen with Iran’s entry into this conflict. Keeping all these facts in mind, it is understandable that Israel will have to be prepared for wars and conflicts in the near future.