2023-10-07 16:53:03
MADRID, 7 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Gaza Strip has been a recurring focus of conflicts and tensions between Palestinians and Israelis in recent decades, with constant attacks that have reached a new level this Saturday after the launch of a macro offensive by Hamas, the faction that controls this coastal territory for 15 years.
More than two million people live in one of the most densely populated territories in the world and where Israel was present for almost four decades, after taking control of the area to the detriment of Egypt.
In 2004, in an unprecedented gesture, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced the departure of all settlers and troops from Israel. Thus, in September of the following year, the territory became exclusively controlled by the Palestinians.
An internal struggle then opened between the various factions, which became more acute after the legislative elections of 2006, in which Hamas was running for the first time. The group clearly won against Al Fatá, which did not recognize the results.
An armed confrontation between the two factions led in 2007 to Hamas taking effective control of the Strip, which it maintains to this day. Fatah, on the other hand, retains the West Bank, territory where the Palestinian Authority operates, and a schism opens.
Hamas, which does not renounce violence – it maintains the Ezzedim al Qassam Brigades as its armed wing – and refuses to recognize Israel as a State, made it clear from the beginning that it would not be a comfortable neighbor for the Israelis.
Israel has maintained a blockade on the territory since 2007, tightened or eased depending on the situation, under the argument of preventing the smuggling of weapons or any technology that could be used to manufacture them. The alert also extends to the subsoil, since part of this smuggling is carried out through tunnels.
MILITARY OFFENSIVES
A rain of rockets on the city of Sderot led to Operation ‘Cast Lead’ in 2008, the first major military offensive since the withdrawal. Some 1,400 people died on the Palestinian side, compared to 13 on the Israeli side, in more than twenty days of crossed attacks.
However, just a few weeks later there was a new incursion, a tactic that the Israeli authorities have resorted to on several occasions in the last two decades. In 2014, the murder of three young Israelis gave rise to Operation ‘Protective Edge’: it left some 2,200 Palestinians and more than 70 Israelis dead.
Israel has also carried out targeted assassinations, such as the one it carried out in November 2012 on the then Hamas military chief, Ahmad Jabari, and has responded with bombings to rocket attacks launched from Gaza, as well as with the construction of a powerful anti-aircraft defense shield named ‘Iron Dome’.
In addition to launching rockets, the Palestinian militias operating in the Strip have also carried out specific incursions across the border and kidnappings such as that of soldier Gilad Shalit, captured in June 2006 and released five years later in an exchange. of prisoners.
In addition, there have been protests in Gazan areas near the border, with tensions peaking in 2018 that resulted in more than 170 Palestinians dead due to the Israeli response to the mobilizations.
TENSION CATALYST
The Gaza Strip has been a catalyst for any tension in the area in recent years. The militias have attacked Israel, for example, in retaliation for tensions in the Esplanade of the Mosques in Jerusalem or for operations against its interests, whether in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank.
One of the most forceful operations in recent years took place in August 2022, after an Israeli attack against an Islamic Jihad commander, and left more than 40 Palestinians dead in three days of violence.
This Saturday’s attack, initiated by Hamas and supported by Islamic Jihad, is in any case unprecedented, since it involves everything from ground assaults to rocket launches against a large number of targets. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has officially declared war amid an equally unprecedented toll of victims.
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