Israel Invades Gaza Strip, Putting Millions at Risk

With messages telling Gazans to leave their homes and medical staff to evacuate their hospitals, a build-up of troops on the border and continued airstrikes that killed dozens of people as they fled, Israel on Friday confirmed what the world had suspected for a week: It is once again invading the Gaza Strip.

Retaliation for Attacks

The operation is payback for the attacks that Hamas and other Gaza-based militants carried out inside Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,300 Israelis and taking more than 100 hostages, mostly civilians.

Humanitarian Crisis

Israel’s response has already extended beyond armed Palestinian groups, with Israeli airstrikes so far killing more than 500 children in Gaza, according to local authorities. And the full-scale offensive that is now underway threatens all of the region’s more than 2 million people, residents and humanitarian organizations say.

Fear and Panic

Gazans who are attempting to take one of the two routes to the south of the strip are fleeing with mattresses strapped to the top of their cars, while others are cramming into whatever semblance of safe haven they can find. Many internally displaced Gazans are now sleeping on the street, Amnesty International said in a Friday statement. Meanwhile, some of the most desperate members of the community cannot flee northern Gaza at all because they need consistent medical support or are too injured, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

International Response

And any American talk of Israeli restraint has a clear limit. Agency revealed on Friday that the State Department has discouraged U.S. diplomats from publicly endorsing a “ceasefire” or “de-escalation,” which aid agencies say would be vital to give Gaza residents any real chance to reach safety. Ghada Alhaddad, a Gaza-based media and communications officer at the charity Oxfam, told Agency the last week of Israeli bombardment has already felt “like the last few escalations of violence multiplied by one thousand,” referring to multiple previous episodes of protracted Israel-Hamas conflict.

Mass Trauma and Desperation

The past six days of Israeli bombing — and Israel’s decision to cut off electricity and water — have fueled mass trauma in Gaza. Many of Alhaddad’s colleagues have lost their homes and sought shelter at United Nations schools, she said. Aid workers are tracking whether it is safe enough for them to restart humanitarian work, but as they wait, fuel, food and medical supplies are running low, she added. For Gazans trying to stay with their families — and just stay alive — the current fighting compounds the misery they have experienced since Hamas won elections in the strip in 2006, quickly imposing heavy-handed rule. Israel and Egypt began blockading the region beginning in 2007.

American Citizens in Gaza

Up to 600 American citizens remain in Gaza as it braces for the larger Israeli advance. Their relatives are worried about staying in touch with them and their basic survival. The U.S. government began charter flights out of Israel on Friday but has not yet solidified a plan to help U.S. citizens leave Gaza.