A year into Gaza war: Israel kills 42,000 Palestinians, destroys strip’s infrastructure, economy
A year ago, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) surprised Israel after launching a lightning attack on the occupation army’s positions in the areas surrounding the Gaza Strip, quickly controlling the most prominent sites on the borders and storming several settlements.
The operation, which Hamas called “Al-Aqsa Flood”, gave the occupation army a pretext to wage a brutal war to exterminate the Gaza Strip. The results included the killing of about 42,000 Palestinians and the wounding of more than 96,000 others, in addition to the widespread destruction and displacement of residents.
Hamas said that “Al-Aqsa Flood” came as a response to the Israeli plots that “target the Palestinian cause, control the land and holy sites, decide sovereignty over Al-Aqsa Mosque, abuse prisoners, and continue the siege of the Gaza Strip,” stressing that the operation is “a historic milestone in our struggle project.”
Moreover, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced on Monday that it had bombed the Sufa military site and the occupation forces at the Rafah land crossing and near the “Holit” settlement, and the operations centre of the Kerem Abu Salem military site.
The Brigades said in a post on Telegram that “on this day and in these minutes, the Qassam fighters were able to penetrate the vanishing line and take control of the military sites and the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip, and inflicted casualties on enemy soldiers and herds of settlers, including dead, wounded, and prisoners.”
An investigation by Amnesty International revealed the Israeli occupation’s use of white phosphorus, based on testimonies from doctors and patients who suffered burns, and several videos verified by the organization’s Crisis Evidence Laboratory, the results of which confirmed the occupation army’s use of this substance.
White phosphorus is a solid, waxy, yellowish or colourless chemical that causes deep burns that penetrate the bones. It is re-ignitable during or after initial treatment if exposed to oxygen.
In addition to white phosphorus, Israel was accused of using several types of internationally banned munitions, such as vacuum bombs and depleted uranium.
Vacuum bombs are air-burst bombs, as when they explode, they create an explosive cloud that produces a large fireball and causes a rise in temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees Celsius, twice that of regular bombs.
According to United Nations reports, exposure to this substance increases the risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and respiratory diseases by up to 40%, especially in individuals who are exposed to it repeatedly.
In the meantime, the Director General of the Government Media Office, Ismail Al-Thawabta, says that the damages resulting from the aggression on Gaza affected various economic, service and livelihood sectors due to the continuous bombing, coinciding with the complete closure of the crossings in the face of the entry of goods and basic requirements.
Al-Thawabta said in media statements that factories of all kinds in the Gaza Strip stopped production, which caused an industrial crisis and a severe goods shortage in the local market. The initial losses of this sector amounted to $1.12bn.
He pointed out that the commercial sector, including retail markets, restaurants, hotels, warehouses, and other commercial establishments, also stopped working. The sector’s initial losses amounted to about $1.625bn.
The losses of the agricultural sector, on which Palestinians depend mainly to provide food for more than 2.4 million people living in all governorates, reached approximately $1.050bn, and the disruption of this sector negatively affects the economic movement of buying, selling and raising, in the livestock sector and fish farming.
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