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Just as the world celebrated scientists and thinkers who bagged the Nobel prize last week, Israel witnessed the largest attack from Gaza on Saturday morning in what is possibly the country’s worst security crisis in half a century.Dozens of Hamas militants, using motorcycles, pickup trucks, boats, paragliders, and mid-range rockets, launched a highly coordinated attack, infiltrating Israeli cities, hitting military bases, and killing and taking hostage soldiers and civilians. The following day, Israel declared war on Hamas, even as the toll from the latest manifestation of a long-drawn conflict surged above 1,100. “We are embarking on a long and difficult war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, in a troubling indication of a likely escalation. The Hindu’s live updates are available here.
The unexpected assault by Hamas is clearly not the first instance of provocation. Why did Hamas launch a surprise attack on Israel? Stanly Johny unpacks the development.
The Hindu has been covering the Israel-Palestine crisis in depth, including during the major outbreak of violence in 2021. One of our profiles at the time looked at who really the Hamas are and what drives them. They are Islamists, militants and nationalists — all in one, wrote Stanly Johny.
Governments world over are watching the developments closely, while reiterating their own positions on the conflict. “Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said hours after thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip slammed into south and central Israel.
People flee their homes amid Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip, October 8, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa | Photo Credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA
In what many observers called a rather problematic comparison, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), in an official video post on social media platform X, said: “What Israel is facing today, India suffered between 2004-14. Never forgive, never forget.”
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