The war between Israel and Hamas is intensifying with every passing second after Hamas launched an assault on Israel on Saturday. Hamas killed several Israeli army personnel and injured many in the three-way assault (land, air and sea), which shook the Netanyahu government. Hamas leaders also claim to have many Israeli military men and civilians hostage.
Following the assault, Israel pressed on with its most intensive retaliatory strikes ever, which have killed more than 500 people since Saturday. According to UN officials said more than 123,000 people had been displaced in Gaza as of Saturday night following Israeli air strikes, some of which hit residential buildings. The UN agency for Palestine refugees estimated that more than 73,000 people were sheltering in 64 schools in Gaza.
The Netanyahu government has ordered a complete siege of Gaza following the attacks. The Hamas joined by Hezbollah in the attack have vowed to continue the fight against the oppressive forces. More than 1,100 people have died since Hamas’s surprise attack, with Israel saying more than 700 civilians and troops have been killed and what health officials in Gaza say are 560 deaths in the Mediterranean enclave. At least 100 people have also been abducted in what has become the deadliest conflict inside Israel since 1948.
In a bid to prevent the conflict from escalating, Qatar has held talks with Israel and Hamas to secure a deal in which the militant group would agree to release women and children it is holding hostage, a person briefed on the talks said. They added that in return the Jewish state could release Palestinian women and children held in its prisons and that the talks were supported by the US. The closed-door meeting of the UNSC also failed to release joint statement after opposition from the Russian envoy, who urged to implement the earlier resolutions on Palestine first.
Oil prices rose about 4 per cent on Monday to just below $88 a barrel, after previously going as high as $89 on concerns that fallout from the conflict could widen across the region. The world should come forward to defuse the tension as it is already divided into blocks after Russian’s attack on Ukraine if we are to prevent a third world war.
