The Story About Gaza

The  Story About Gaza

The Gaza War was a three-week armed conflict that took place in the Gaza Strip and Southern Israel during the winter of 2008–2009. In an escalation of the ongoing conflict, Israel responded to Hamas "Operation Oil Stain" rocket fire with military force in an action titled "Operation Cast Lead". Israel opened the attack with a surprise air strike against the Gaza Strip on December 27, 2008. Israel's stated aim was to stop rocket fire from and arms import into the territory. Israeli forces attacked both military and civilian targets, police stations, and Hamas government buildings in the opening assault.

 An Israeli ground invasion began on January 3. Infantry commanders were given an unprecedented level of access to coordinate with air, naval, artillery, intelligence, and combat engineering units during this second phase. Various new technologies and hardware were also introduced. On January 5, IDF forces began operating in the densely populated urban centers of Gaza. During the last week of the offensive (from 12 January), Israel mostly hit targets it had damaged previously and struck Palestinian rocket-launching units. Hamas intensified its rocket and mortar attacks against Southern Israel, reaching the major cities of Beersheba and Ashdod for the first time during the conflict. Israeli politicians ultimately decided against striking deeper within Gaza amidst concerns of higher casualties on both sides and increasing international criticis. The war ended on January 18, when Israel first declared a unilateral ceasefire, followed by Hamas' announcing a one-week ceasefire twelve hours later. Israel completed its withdrawal on January 21.

The conflict resulted in between 1,166 and 1,417 Palestinian and 13 Israeli deaths. The high number of civilian casualties led critics to accuse Israel of committing a massacre.  Other critics accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields and said that Israel went to great lengths to avoid harming civilians. In September 2009, a UN special mission, headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, produced a controversial report accusing both Palestinian militants and Israeli Defense Forces of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, and recommended bringing those responsible to justice. In January 2010, the Israeli government released a response criticizing the Goldstone Report and disputing its findings.  Following the war, Hamas acknowledged the deaths of only 48 of its fighters. However, in November 2010, Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hammad acknowledged that as many as 700 fighters belonging to Hamas, affiliated factions and security personnel were killed. His admission was consistent with Israeli estimates of at least 709 “terror operatives” killed during the operation.