As my coworker Becca Lower revealed this week, “the Jewish state has stepped into a new stage in the war and released massive air assaults, and ‘the ground was shaking in Gaza.’ They additionally used tanks and troops backed by huge strikes coming from the air and sea.”
“Strikes had wiped out electricity as well as cell service in the Strip, which meant that people were practically cut off from the rest of the world. Hagari reported that their services were restored; however, the civil order remained disintegrating.”
“UNRWA, the primary UN agency giving relief to Palestinians inside Gaza, stated that thousands of distressed Palestinians had started breaking into its warehouses to take wheat flour as well as other staples, an indication that civil order was beginning to break down in the enclave.”
The Israeli Defense Forces said that Hamas was to blame for shortages of water, food, and fuel:
Worries that the war could start spreading to neighboring nations grew stronger when Ebrahim Raisi the Iranian President sent a threatening Tweet this week.
Netanyahu made his goal very clear: the total destruction of Hamas.
At a news conference in Jerusalem this week, Netanyahu said that the war had currently started its ‘second stage’. “Its goals are clear — the total destruction of Hamas’ governmental and military abilities and the safe return of the hostages,” he stated. “He described the war as a ‘war for Israel’s very existence.’ We have always said: ‘Never again’. But never again is right now.” But he stopped short of portraying the offensive as a total invasion, only saying that Israel had made the decision to “broaden ground operations” in Gaza and had already sent “more ground forces” in.
“This situation is more complicated because of the more than 200 hostages Hamas is still holding. Netanyahu is under a lot of pressure to get them released and out of there.”
“Netanyahu is facing a huge dilemma in increasing the ground attack: the family members of hostages, of which the prime minister met this week, have warned that an invasion would put their lives in danger. ‘Any action considered must take into account the safety of our loved ones,’” stated Meirav Leshem Gonen, who is the mom of 23-year-old Romi Leshem, who was kidnapped from a music festival.
Even though Hamas terrorists conducted a unexpected attack against Israel and brutally murdered more than a thousand innocent people, pro-Palestine protests are taking place all over the country and even across the world.
As this war begins its next phase, it is looking more and more like it is going to end up being a prolonged war that will mold the Middle East for many years to come.
