The Israeli-Gaza War: The U.S. Mission in Gaza, a “Strange and Unadulterated Evil”
The Israeli army carried out heavy bombardments on the Gaza Strip following last weekend’s deadly incursion by Hamas.
Eyewitnesses described widespread destruction of neighborhoods in Gaza City from the Israeli strikes. All of the Gaza Strip’s borders are closed, leaving Palestinian civilians with nowhere to escape and around a tenth of Gaza’s population of about 2.3 million people internally displaced seeking shelter. Israel and Egypt have had a blockade on Gaza for 16 years.
The Biden administration said there are talks to create a safe corridor for civilians, echoing a call from the U.S. World Food Program to create emergency humanitarian corridors.
The death toll continued to climb in the Israel-Gaza war. Hamas has killed at least 1,200 Israelis, according to Israeli media. And Palestinian officials say at least 950 Palestinians in Gaza were killed, along with 1,000 Hamas militants inside Israel.
The first shipment of U.S. weapons arrived in Israel, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to Israel to deliver a message of solidarity and support, the State Department announced.
On Tuesday, In Washington, President Joe Biden called Hamas’ attack on Israel “pure unadulterated evil” and promised to “make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of itself.”
Biden said that 14 Americans had been killed in Israel and more than 20 were missing. In an interview on NPR’s All Things Considered, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said there are some Americans among dozens of those held hostage by Hamas but called it “a very small number of Americans that we know of.”
“There’s also a larger number of Americans that are just unaccounted for. Some of them could be trapped in the hostage pool. We just don’t know. So, we’re, we’re trying to get as much information as we can,” Kirby said.
The 30th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war: Dan’s home, his tech start-up, and Israel’s intelligence services
The bloodshed began on the Jewish Simchat Torah holiday, and a day after the 50th anniversary of the start of the Yom Kippur War, when Israel came under attack by Arab countries.
Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel at the southern border on Saturday. Militants infiltrated Israel’s border using paragliders, motorbikes, and boats.
Ido Dan’s home is piled high with dirty dishes. The birthday party decorations for his daughters are still up. The tech start-up coach spent every waking moment trying to locate several family members who were missing after Hamas militant attacked their towns and killed civilians. An NPR Morning Edition team spoke with Dan after the attack.
“If there’s one message that I want to pass to the Hamas is whatever your objectives or goals are, leave the elderly and the kids out of it,” Dan said. Don’t wait until they’re released first. Just allow them to go.
There is growing concern over how the hostages are treated by Hamas, which is under a siege by Israeli forces. Power plants there will be shutting down within hours due to the lack of fuel, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Since the start of the war, the military wing of Hamas has threatened to execute hostages for every bomb that’s dropped on a home without warning.
“What it says in Arabic is don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him” said Dan, adding that the hostages are more likely being held as “a precious bargaining chip.”
Dan is still alarmed by the way in which Hamas carried out a highly choreographed invasion that involved more than 1000 militant fighters and that included killing and murdering hundreds of people. He is worried that Israel’s intelligence services were caught off guard by the attack that many believe to be the country’s 9/11.
If the government, from the soldiers at the border, through the commanders, through the minister of defense, through the prime minister, all should be kicked out, I believe that they would be able to get away with it. I don’t understand what happened here. Nobody can,” Dan said. The radio version of the story was edited and produced by several individuals, among them Arezou Rezvani. The digital version was edited by Treye Green.
No internet or connection to the outside world means no electricity. Raw sewage is seeping into Gaza’s streets; waste treatment facilities require electricity. The water supply has been cut. Driving south on Monday, I passed five United Nations schools-turned-shelters, so jampacked with displaced people that families spilled out into the yards. Dread grows inside me, as I know the worst is yet to come.
Over 2,300 Israelis and Palestinians have been killed so far, the majority of them civilians. I am saddened by the killing of all civilians. I know that the pain of an Israeli parent is no different from the anguish of a mother or father in Gaza. Yet I’m not surprised that we have found ourselves at this bloody point of no return.
Many of the fighters who breached those walls are probably just a few years older than Ali; many of them were born during the second intifada. Their entire experience has been Israeli military occupation, siege and devastating military assault upon assault in an enclave of 140 square miles, with unemployment and poverty rates of approximately 50 percent. These are the conditions that have shaped so many in Gaza, not a justification. Fighters were created by starving them of hope, dignity and a future.