The war between Hamas and Israel has been going on for six months. Tens of thousands of people are killed in the conflict. The civilian population in the Gaza Strip is particularly suffering – but so are the relatives of the remaining 100 hostages kidnapped by the terrorist organization.
The Gaza war has been raging for six months – the deepest suffering has struck the region since Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th. The balance on the Palestinian side: More than 32,800 dead, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. Worst devastation in the Gaza Strip, a large part of the 2.2 million inhabitants of the coastal strip no longer have a home and many are suffering from hunger. Many people in Israel are struggling with the traumatic consequences of the worst massacre in the history of the Jewish state. It is Israel’s longest and bloodiest war since the War of Independence in 1948 – and there is no end in sight.
35-year-old Om Mohammed Helles lives with her six children in squalid conditions in a tent in Deir al-Balah in the central part of the Gaza Strip. She can hardly count how many times she and her family have had to flee Israeli attacks and fighting since the beginning of the war.
Helles comes from Beit Lahia in the north of the coastal strip. From there she fled first to the city of Gaza, then to Deir al-Balah and from there to a UN school in Khan Yunis in the south, she says. “When the army began its operation in Khan Yunis, I had to flee to Rafah.” In view of Israeli threats of an offensive in the border town with Egypt, she then came back to Deir al-Balah.
Food in Gaza is scarce
The woman complains that she and her children are often hungry. “Because of the cramped living conditions among the refugees, the tents are surrounded by sewage.” The children are therefore often sick and have skin rashes. They are dependent on humanitarian aid. But food is scarce. “I am often forced to feed my children a soup made of water, salt and some vegetables,” says Helles.
“I gave birth to a son four months ago, but I have no money to buy milk for my baby. We are deprived of our human rights because of this war, even though we are civilians and are not to blame for the war.”
A 26-year-old Israeli woman, on the other hand, is the victim of the brutal attack by the Islamist Hamas and other extremist groups that triggered the war six months ago. Along with more than 250 other people, the young woman was kidnapped by terrorists into the Gaza Strip on October 7th and is still being held there. Her mother, who comes from China, has terminal cancer and only one last wish: to be able to hold her daughter in her arms again.
Extraordinarily long war
“My heart hurts a lot,” says the woman, who is marked by the disease, in a video in which she asks for her daughter’s release. “My time is running out, I am between life and death.” Addressing US President Joe Biden, she says: “I’m begging you, please help me.”
Relatives have been demonstrating for months for a deal that would lead to the release of the hostages.
(Photo: picture alliance/dpa/AP)
Another Israeli woman kidnapped by Hamas was the first victim of the Islamists to speak publicly about the sexual abuse and torture she suffered there. During her captivity, she was repeatedly exposed to physical attacks, torture, humiliation and frightening situations, the 40-year-old told the New York Times. She was released at the end of November, when Israel and Hamas exchanged 110 hostages for around 400 Palestinian prisoners. Their story also probably contributed to the fact that the protests by the hostages’ relatives have recently become increasingly angry and demanding.
Professor Kobi Michael from the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) sees the Gaza war as unprecedented in history. It is an exceptionally long war in an area with an extremely high population density – against a terrorist organization that has expanded its military capabilities over the years. The fight against Hamas is particularly difficult because it has literally “buried itself” among the civilian population in a huge underground tunnel network.
Israel pays price for US election campaign
From a purely military point of view, Michael sees “impressive achievements” by the Israeli army in the fight against Hamas. However, given the international community’s view of the conflict, Hamas has a clear advantage. “The massacre of October 7th is quickly forgotten, and instead the pity is focused on the Palestinian civilian population,” he says.
Israel is also paying a price for the war taking place in the US during an election year. At the beginning, US President Joe Biden demonstratively stood by Israel. However, under the impression of the high number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deteriorated massively.
Professor Eitan Gilboa from the University of Bar Ilan near Tel Aviv speaks of a “serious crisis between Israel and the USA”. The result is that Israel “no longer has automatic protection in the UN Security Council.” The media in Israel rarely shows the destruction in the Gaza Strip, he tells an Israeli radio station. “What you see in Gaza is like what you see in Ukraine.” In the eyes of the international community, Israel was initially viewed in a similar way to Ukraine after the Hamas massacre. “And now we have become Putin and Russia, the bad guys in history.”
Tens of thousands of people are being evacuated
Professor Michael sees the war primarily as part of the conflict with the so-called “Axis of Resistance,” which Iran has set up as the arch-enemy of the Jewish state. Since the start of the war, Israel has also been exposed to attacks by the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Metulla, a picturesque town in the Galilean hills, is surrounded by Lebanon on three sides. Lemons ripen on the trees in small gardens, and signs advertise “Bed & Breakfast” (rooms with breakfast) in front of pretty houses. But there isn’t a soul to be seen. Many houses have been hit by rockets and grenades, and some are completely in ruins.
Since October 8th, Hezbollah has been firing rockets, artillery and anti-tank shells into northern Israel from Lebanon. Out of “solidarity” with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as they claim. Israel is using air and artillery strikes to combat Hezbollah’s positions, which, according to a UN Security Council decision, should not be that close to the border. The Israeli government has evacuated 60,000 residents from the north into the interior. In southern Lebanon, 90,000 people left the combat zone.
Netanyahu rejects long-term plan
“I’m the only civilian here,” says David Azulai, the district chief of Metulla, to a group of journalists. “Here there is no tourism, no agriculture, no one to harvest the apples.” “Hezbollah’s intention is to create a situation that is unbearable for Israel,” says Sarit Zehavi, who heads the Alma Center think tank in Tefen in northern Israel. Both sides are trying to avoid a major escalation – the potential for destruction on both sides is great. Iran-backed and upgraded Hezbollah has more than 200,000 missiles, including many with longer range.
There are repeated clashes with deaths between the Israeli army and Hezbollah fighters.
(Photo: picture alliance/dpa)
A ceasefire in Gaza could persuade Hezbollah to stop its attacks. But there can only be peace, Zehavi emphasizes, if Hezbollah is disarmed in the 30-kilometer-wide strip between the state border and the Litani River. Otherwise there would be no security for the Israelis in the north of the country.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has so far rejected any plan for “the day after” that would involve handing over power in the Gaza Strip to Palestinian hands. Professor Michael believes that a regional agreement with Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt could, in the longer term, pave the way for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip with a view to Palestinian statehood. However, this is only conceivable with a thorough reform of the Palestinian Authority and a radical change within Palestinian society. Hamas is deeply rooted in the population of the Gaza Strip.
Majority of Palestinians support Hamas attack
A large majority of 71 percent of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank support Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, according to a survey conducted in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. 93 percent of those surveyed by the reputable Palestinian polling institute PSR did not believe that Hamas had committed atrocities against civilians. 59 percent were convinced that Hamas would continue to rule in the Gaza Strip after the war and supported this. Only 11 percent of respondents favored the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, taking control. For the survey, 1,580 adults in the Gaza Strip and West Bank were interviewed from March 5 to 10.
And how does Germany feel about the Gaza war? Israel expert Stephan Vopel from the Bertelsmann Foundation sees a clear difference between the attitude of the federal government and the population. The government’s support, “based on Israel’s right to self-defense, but also on the special relationships with Israel and the Jewish people based on the Shoah, according to which Israel’s security is part of Germany’s ‘reason of state’,” is supported by the majority of the German population Principle not shared.
“For them, Israel should be treated, if not a state like any other, then at least like any other state,” says Vopel. “In addition, Israel’s warfare against Hamas and the resulting high casualties among the Palestinian civilian population seemed, in the eyes of most observers, to answer the question of proportionality to Israel’s disadvantage very quickly after October 7th.”