DAILY TRUST
The raging conflict between Israel and Palestine has been linked to the attacks by the former on al-Aqsa mosque and Gaza refugee camp in the past years.
The escalated crisis has since Saturday recorded more than 1,000 casualties on both sides. Palestine was said to have had 421 deaths; and Israel, over 700. The numbers of those injured were put at 2, 220 and 2, 156 respectively.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs the Gaza strip, had explained that it launched its large-scale operation on Saturday in response to the “continued brutality” by Israel and its occupation administration against Palestinians.
This includes standing by as Israeli settlers launched attacks on Palestinian villages and neighbourhoods; attacking worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and killing an alarming number of Palestinians this year.
Why Hamas launched Operation al-Aqsa Storm
The leader of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, said the assault was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza, Israeli raids inside West Bank cities over the past year, violence at al-Aqsa and increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians and the growth of settlements.
The attack code-named ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’, is said to be the most serious escalation since Israel and Hamas fought an 11-day war in 2021.
Hamas said it had fired 5,000 rockets; while Israel confirmed that the group’s fighters had entered its territory.
The rockets were fired as far north as Tel Aviv. Hamas also sent fighters into southern Israel. The Israeli army has since launched “Operation Iron Swords” against the Hamas group in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has declared a “state of war” as its army continues to face off against Palestinian fighters in several areas across southern Israel.
Reports had it that in May 2021, after weeks of tension during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, hundreds of Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli security forces at the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem.
The disputed al-Aqsa Mosque compound, located at the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City, is the third holiest site in Islam and sacred to Jews as the Temple Mount.
The compound has been a flashpoint of clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians over the past years.
After demanding Israel withdraw security forces from the compound, Hamas unleashed a barrage of rockets from Gaza into Israel.
Israel hit back with air strikes on Gaza. Fighting went on for 11 days, killing at least 250 people in Gaza and 13 in Israel.
Again in August 2022, at least 44 people, including 15 children, were killed in three days of violence that began when Israeli air strikes hit a senior Islamic Jihad commander.
Israel said the strikes were a pre-emptive operation against an imminent attack by the Iranian-backed militant movement, targeting commanders and arms depots.
In January 2023, the Islamic Jihad in Gaza fired two rockets towards Israel after Israeli troops raided a refugee camp and killed seven Palestinian gunmen and two civilians. The rockets set off alarms in Israeli communities near the border, but caused no casualties. Israel responded with air strikes on Gaza.
In a recorded message, Deif said:”Enough is enough.”
He said the Saturday morning attack was only the start of what he called Operation al-Aqsa Storm and called on Palestinians from East Jerusalem to northern Israel to join the fight.
“Today the people are regaining their revolution.”
Experts flay Israeli occupying power
Prof. Abubakar Jika Jiddare of the Department of Political Science, Bayero University Kano, said Hamas attacks took the international community off guard because of the Israel’s policy of containment of the Palestinians over the decades.
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