A year ago today, 1,195 people were killed by Hamas-led militants, including 36 children, and 251 people were taken hostage. It was a barbaric attack on civilians that shocked the world, but no one could have anticipated the relentless bombardment that would follow over the next year.
In the past 12 months, the Israeli military has killed over 41,700 people in Gaza, including more than 16,000 children. Thousands more lie beneath the rubble of Gaza’s apocalyptic cityscapes. The most densely populated areas of the besieged strip of land have been almost entirely razed to the ground. Israel’s fierce military assaults have caused over 70% of the Gaza Strip’s buildings to be destroyed or severely damaged, forcing over two million Palestinians (out of roughly 2.3 million) to evacuate.
Responding to immense humanitarian need
Almost everyone in Gaza has been displaced at least once and almost 100% of the population now live in poverty. Half a million people are in the most critical phase of food insecurity. Responding to the immense needs has been complicated not only by the conflict but by blocked access: 90% of aid movement between northern and southern Gaza has been denied over the past year.
At the same time, the Palestinian population of the West Bank has suffered a surge in violence from settler communities. Over 700 people have been killed, not only in settler attacks but in bombardment from the Israeli military.
As the military campaign against Palestinians has expanded towards the West Bank, so too has Israel’s campaign against Lebanon, where a new theatre of all-out war has opened in the last month. In just a matter of weeks, over 2,000 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, often in some of the most densely populated urban areas of the country. The strikes on Lebanon have provoked reaction from Iran, bringing the entire region to the precipice of a far larger international conflict. Urgent de-escalation is needed right now.
Trócaire’s CEO Caoimhe de Barra, said: “On the anniversary of the appalling attacks by Hamas on Israel, Trócaire condemns the ongoing devastating war on Gaza and Lebanon and the continued detention of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Israels attacks on Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon have created a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions.
Two million people in Gaza are locked inside a living hell, one million people in Lebanon have been displaced. The Irish government and all members of the European Union need to exert maximum pressure on Israel and all parties to the conflict to come to the table and agree a ceasefire.”