2014 Gaza War

Main article: Gaza–Israel conflict

2014 Israel–Gaza conflict
Part of the Gaza–Israel conflict
(left) Iron Dome shooting down a rocket from Gaza (right) A home in Gaza bombed by Israel
Date 8 July 2014 (2014-07-08) – present (10 years, 1 month and 1 week) Location Gaza Strip (Palestine) Israel 30°40′N 34°50′E Status Ongoing
Belligerents
Israel Israel Defense Forces Southern Command Supported by: United States (armament)	Gaza Strip Hamas DFLP Islamic Jihad PFLP PRC Abdullah Azzam Brigades Supported by: Iran (armament) Qatar (financial)
Commanders and leaders
Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon Defense Minister Benny Gantz Chief of General Staff Amir Eshel Air Force Commander Ram Rothberg Naval Commander Sami Turgeman Southern Commander Mickey Edelstein Gaza Division Yoram Cohen Chief of Shin Bet	Khaled Mashal Leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh Deputy chief of Hamas Mohammed Deif Head of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades Ramadan Shalah Leader of PIJ
Units involved
Israeli Army Israeli Air Force Israeli Navy Shin Bet	Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades Al-Quds Brigades Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades
Strength
176,500 active personnel 445,000 reservists	Al-Qassam Brigades: 10,000–40,000 Al-Quds Brigades: ≈5,000
Casualties and losses
64 soldiers and 3 civilians (including 1 Thai worker) killed, 450 soldiers and 80 civilians wounded	Gaza Health Ministry: 1,904 killed and 9,800 wounded (80% civilians) PCHR: 1,994 killed (1,657 civilians)(The PCHR counts militants who at the time of their death did not participate in military operation as civilians) UN OCHA: 1,922 killed (1,407 civilians, 218 militants, 297 unknown) ITIC: 1,552 killed (480 civilians, 467 militants, 605 unknown) IDF: 1,768 killed (900 militants)
See Impact on Residents for more details

An escalation of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict began in 2014 following a series of events, which included the continued blockade of the Gaza Strip by the Egyptian and Israeli governments, continued rocket attacks from Gaza, the collapse of American-sponsored peace talks, attempts by rival Palestinian factions to form a coalition government, the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers, the subsequent kidnapping and murder of a Palestinian teenager, and the arrest by Israel of nearly all of Hamas' West Bank leaders. On the night of 6 July, an Israeli air raid on Gaza killed seven Hamas militants in Khan Younis, while Hamas increased rocket attacks on Israel and, Hamas stated that "The Khan Yunis massacre...of children is a horrendous war crime. All Israelis have now become legitimate targets." On 8 July 2014, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip, with the stated aim of stopping rocket attacks.

On 13 July, the Israeli military reported that more than 1,300 Israeli airstrikes had taken place on Gaza, while more than 800 rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israel. The next day, 14 July, the Egyptian government announced a cease-fire initiative. The Israeli government accepted the proposal, and temporarily stopped hostilities in the morning of 15 July. However, all Palestinian factions announced that they had not been consulted on the Egyptian initiative and were only informed of the proposal via the media. Hamas rejected the cease-fire initiative in "its current form", as did other Palestinian factions. On 16 July, Hamas and Islamic Jihad offered the Israeli government a 10-year truce, with ten conditions which included the lifting of the land, sea and air blockade, the release of hundreds of prisoners, the monitoring of borders by a UN and/or Arab third party, removal of Israeli tanks from the border, and granting Gaza residents permission to visit the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

On 5 August, a 72-hour ceasefire began after all Israeli soldiers withdrew from the Gaza Strip. Fighting resumed after the end of the truce, with Gazans resuming rocket attacks on Israel and the IDF responding with airstrikes on Gaza.

The conflict is the deadliest military operation to have taken place in Gaza since the Second Intifada, though both the exact number of deaths and the percentage of the dead who were militants as opposed to civilians have been in dispute. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 1,904 Palestinians have been killed and 9,800 have been injured. Preliminary reports by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that 1,407 (73%) of 1,922 deaths they documented were civilians, of whom 683 (35% of all deaths) were women or children. The Israeli government has maintained that 40%-50% of Gazan fatalities have been combatants. 64 IDF soldiers have been killed, as well as two Israeli civilians. The Israel Defense Forces have stated that Hamas has used civilians as "human shields"; Hamas has stated that it does not use human shields. 44% of the territory of the Gaza Strip has been declared a no-go zone by the Israeli military.

As of 5 August 2014 an OCHA report stated that in the Gaza Strip, 520,000 Palestinians (approximately 30% of Gaza's population) may have been displaced, of whom 273,000 were taking shelter in 90 UN-run schools. UNRWA has exhausted its capacity to absorb displaced persons, and overcrowding in shelters risks the outbreak of epidemics. These shelters have been hit on several occasions. 1.5 million people in Gaza have limited or no access to water supplies. 26 health facilities have been damaged, 10,800 homes (of 65,000 people) have been totally destroyed or severely damaged, and the homes of 33,100 people have been damaged but are still inhabitable. Throughout the Gaza Strip, people receive only three hours of electricity per day. The destruction of Gaza’s only power plant had an immediate effect on the public health situation and reduced water and sanitation services, with hospitals becoming dependent on generators. More than 485,000 internally displaced persons are in need of emergency food assistance. OCHA requested $390,338,824 for emergency humanitarian aid for Palestine in response to the crisis, of which 43% had been funded by 3 August.

Background

Main article: Israeli–Palestinian conflict

In the background are two issues, the Fatah-Hamas conflict and the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Tensions between Hamas and Fatah began to increase in 2005 and were exacerbated by Hamas's victory in the 2006 elections. This led to economic sanctions on the Palestinian Authority by EU and US in particular. The matters reached a head in 2007 with Hamas taking over Gaza after accusing Fatah of a coup attempt. This resulted in a tightening of restrictions and blockade of Gaza by Israel and Egypt, which continues with some easings since then.

Israel maintains that the blockade is necessary to limit Palestinian rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on its cities and to prevent Hamas from obtaining other weapons. Most international authorities and institutions consider the blockade to be illegal. It has caused widespread economic damage and humanitarian problems in Gaza.

2011 (First Hamas-Fatah reconciliation)

Influenced by the Arab Spring, the gap between Hamas and Fatah was bridged in 2011. Reconciliation talks were accelerated by demonstrations in Ramallah and Gaza. After Mahmoud Abbas declared his willingness to travel to Gaza and sign an agreement, the IDF killed two Hamas activists in Gaza, though it stated that the killings were in response to the launching of a single Qassam rocket, which hit no one. In an interview with CNN, Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the reconciliation talks were calls for Israel's destruction, and strongly opposed the idea of a unity government.

Violations of the truce

2012–13

Both Israel and Hamas have argued that the other violated the 2012 ceasefire agreement. In the first three months after the IDF Operation Pillar of Defense, according to Ben White, two mortar shells struck Israeli territory, while four Gazans were shot dead and 91 wounded by Israeli forces. The Israelis, White wrote, fired inside Gazan territory on 63 occasions, made 13 incursions into the Strip, and attacked the Gazan fishing fleet 30 times.

Writing in The National Interest, David C. Hendrickson said that in the period after 2012 ceasefire, although there was "intermittent rocket fire from Gaza splinter groups. ... Hamas kept its fire" and Netanyahu acknowledged in March 2014 that number of rocket attacks from Gaza in the past year was the "lowest in a decade." J.J. Goldberg, writing in the The Forward, said that at the time of Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012, "Hamas hadn't fired a single rocket since" the 2012 ceasefire "and had largely suppressed fire by smaller jihadi groups."

Israel continued with its blockade. "[c]rossings were repeatedly shut, buffer zones...were reinstated. Imports declined, exports were blocked, and fewer Gazans were given exit permits to Israel and the West Bank."

According to Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there were 36 rocket attacks in 2013 and 85 in the first five months of 2014. Most of the 85 rockets were fired in March, after the IDF killed 3 members of Islamic Jihad who were attempting to fire rockets.

Israel halted construction material going to Gaza after it stated that it had discovered a tunnel leading into Israel, some 300m from a kibbutz. The IDF said it was the third tunnel discovered that year and that the previous two were packed with explosives.

Second Hamas–Fatah reconciliation

On 23 April 2014, Hamas agreed to a reconciliation deal with the other main Palestinian faction, Fatah, following seven years of division. The Palestinian unity government was sworn in by 2 June 2014 and Israel announced it would not negotiate any peace deal with the new government and would push punitive measures. Stating a day before the agreement that the reconciliation would "strengthen terrorism", Benjamin Netanyahu said: "The international community must not embrace it." The European Union, the United Nations, the United States, China, India, Russia and Turkey all agreed to work with the Palestinian unity government. The agreement was expected to have a significant impact on the current round of peace talks between Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority and Israel, and shortly after the announcement of the agreement, Israel launched an airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip that injured four people, according to medical officials. Netanyahu had warned before the deal that it would be incompatible with Israeli–Palestinian peace and that Abbas had to choose between peace with Hamas and peace with Israel. When a reconciliation deal was signed, opening the way to the appointment of the new government, Netanyahu chaired a security cabinet which voted to authorise Netanyahu to impose unspecified sanctions against the Palestinian Authority. According to Marwan Bishara, senior political analyst at Al Jazeera, Israel hoped to disrupt the Palestinian national unity government between Fatah and Hamas by its operation.

Immediate events

Street in Ramallah, West Bank after IDF raid during Operation Brother's Keeper, June 2014

Factory bursts in flames after rocket attack in Sderot, Israel, 28 June 2014

Range of missiles launched from Gaza Strip

On 12 June 2014, three Israeli teenagers were abducted in the West Bank: Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrah. Israel blamed Hamas, and the IDF stated that the two men Israel suspects of having kidnapped the teenagers were known members of Hamas. No evidence of Hamas involvement was offered by the Israeli authorities and high-ranking members of Hamas have denied the group had any involvement in the incident. The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank attributed the abductions to the Qawasameh clan which is notorious for acting against Hamas's policies and any attempts to reach an entente with Israel. Hamas political chief Khaled Meshal said he could neither confirm nor deny the kidnapping of the three Israelis, but congratulated the abductors. On August 5, Israel said that it had arrested Hossam Kawasmeh on July 11, and suspected him of having organized the killing of the three teenagers. According to court documents, Kawasmeh stated that Hamas members in Gaza financed the recruitment and arming of the killers. Israel launched Operation Brother's Keeper, a large-scale crackdown of what it called Hamas's terrorist infrastructure and personnel in the West Bank, ostensibly aimed at securing the release of the kidnapped teenagers. 10 Palestinians were killed in numerous raids, and between 350 and 600 Palestinians, including nearly all of Hamas' West Bank leaders, were arrested. Among those arrested were many people who had only recently been freed under the terms of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange. Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner defended the arrests, stating that Hamas members had carried out 60 abduction attempts on Israelis in the West Bank "in the last year and a half", and that "Hamas does not need to give a direct order."

On 30 June, search teams found the bodies of the three missing teenagers near Hebron. Israeli authorities appear to have known with near certainty from the outset that the three had been shot almost immediately after the kidnapping, and BBC reporter Jon Donnison says police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told him the abductors were a lone cell operating affiliated with Hamas but not operating under its leadership. Al-Monitor has reported that the kidnappers were once Hamas-related branch that had gone rogue. A day after the Israeli teens were buried, a Palestinian teenager was kidnapped and murdered.

From 1 May to 11 June 6 rockets and 3 mortar shells were launched from Gaza towards Israel. On June 29, an Israeli air strike targeted a rocket crew, killing a Hamas operative. The next day Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets, the first time Hamas itself had launched rockets since the conflict in 2012. From the day of the abductions on 12 June through 5 July, 117 rockets were launched from Gaza and there were approximately 80 Israeli air strikes on Gaza. On the night of 6 July, an Israeli strike killed seven Hamas militants. In response, Hamas' militants increased rocket attacks on Israel. By 7 July, Hamas militants had fired 100 rockets from Gaza at Israeli territory and the Israeli Air Force had bombed several sites in Gaza. Early on 8 July IAF bombed 50 targets in the Gaza Strip. Israel's military also thwarted a militant infiltration from the sea. Brigadier General Moti Almoz, the chief spokesman of the Israeli military, said: "We have been instructed by the political echelon to hit Hamas hard." That same day, Hamas (invoking the Khan Yunis massacre) stated that "all Israelis have now become legitimate targets" and insisted that Israel end all attacks on Gaza, release those re-arrested during the crackdown in the West Bank, lift the blockade on Gaza and return to the cease-fire conditions of 2012 as conditions for a ceasefire.

Operation timeline

Main article: Timeline of the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict

File:Massacre in Shuja'iyya 20.07.2014.mp4 snapshot 00.23.jpg

A bloodied man in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, 20 July 2014

House in Beersheba, Israel, after a direct hit by a rocket during the fourth day of the conflict, 11 July 2014

File:Massacre in Shuja'iyya 20.07.2014.mp4 snapshot 04.32.jpg

Snapshot taken in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, 20 July 2014

• From 8 to 16 July, the IDF bombarded targets in the Gaza Strip with artillery and airstrikes. Meanwhile, Hamas continued to fire rockets and mortar shells into Israel, many of which were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defense system. By 16 July, the death toll within Gaza had surpassed 200 people.
• On 17 July, a five-hour humanitarian ceasefire, proposed by the UN, took place. After the ceasefire, IDF began a ground offensive on the Gaza Strip. Initially, the focus of the ground operation was on destroying tunnels near the edge of the enclave. The tunnels were used by militants to transport people and materials.
• On 20 July, the Israeli military entered Shuja'iyya, a neighborhood of Gaza City. This was followed by heavy fighting in the neighborhood.
• On 24 July, over 10,000 Palestinians in the West Bank protested against the operation, resulting in at least 2 Palestinian deaths.
• On 25 July, an Israeli airstrike killed Salah Abu Hassanein, the leader of Islamic Jihad's military wing. The same day, the Israeli government stated that it had uncovered evidence of a planned September terrorist attack, in which 200 militants would have simultaneously infiltrated Israel through dozens of tunnels beneath Gaza and murdered or abducted as many Israeli citizens as possible in six provinces of Negev.
• On 26 July, another humanitarian ceasefire took place for twelve hours, followed by a unilateral extension by Israel for another twenty-four hours. The Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip topped 1,000.
• The US and UN announced that Israel and Palestinians agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire starting at 8:00 am local time on 1 August. There was some dispute about the terms of the ceasefire; Israel and the US stated that the agreement allowed Israel to "continue to do operations to destroy tunnels that pose a threat to Israeli territory that lead from the Gaza Strip into Israel proper as long as those tunnels exist on the Israel side of their lines", Hamas said that it would not accept such a condition. The ceasefire broke down almost immediately after it started. Israel and the US blamed Hamas for violating the ceasefire, which Hamas denied. According to Israel, a group of Israeli soldiers were attacked by Palestinian militants emerging from a tunnel. According to the Palestinians, the IDF was the first to breach the ceasefire when at 8:30 AM it destroyed 19 buildings while undertaking work to demolish tunnels. According to the PLO, the Palestinian Authority and Gazan sources, Hamas attacked an Israeli unit, killing an Israeli officer (Hadar Goldin, who was initially thought to have been captured) while Israeli forces were still engaged in military activities in Rafah on Gaza's territory before the truce came into effect. Tweets reported the battle in Rafah before the deadline for the cease-fire. Hamas also killed two soldiers in a suicide bombing attack. Senior Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk accused Israel of creating pretexts to undermine the Gaza ceasefire and said that Palestinian fighters abducted the officer and killed the two soldiers before the start of the humanitarian truce, while Israel said the took place at 9:20 AM, after the 8:00 AM start of the ceasefire.
• On 3 August, IDF pulled out most of its ground forces from the Gaza Strip after completing the destruction of all 32 known attack tunnels used by Hamas and other militants.
• On 5 August, a 72-hour ceasefire began after all Israeli soldiers withdrew from the Gaza Strip. Fighting resumed after the end of the truce, with Gazans resuming rocket attacks on Israel and IDF responding with airstrikes on Gaza.

Impact

Impact on Gaza residents

A map showing the location of missile damage in Gaza

File:Gaza 15.07.2014.jpg

A Palestinian child being treated at the Shefaa Hospital

Israeli soldiers shielding a 4-year old Israeli boy during a Hamas rocket attack.

Shaymaa al-Masri, five years old, at a-Shifaa Hospital, Gaza. Shaymaa was injured when her uncle’s house was bombed in the early afternoon of 9 July 2014

As of 20 July 2014 hospitals in Gaza were ill-equipped and facing severe shortage of various categories of medicine, medical supplies, and fuel. Egypt temporarily reopened the Rafah crossing with Gaza to allow medical supplies to enter, and injured Palestinians to receive treatment in Egypt. Also, due to the operation prices of food, including fish and produce, rose dramatically. A 21 July news report stated that over 83,000 Palestinians had taken shelter in U.N. facilities.

According to the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of 31 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, over 250,000 Palestinians have been displaced, of which 236,375 are taking shelter in 88 UNRWA schools (over eleven percent of the Gazan population). UNRWA has exhausted its capacity to absorb displaced persons, and overcrowding in shelters risks the outbreak of epidemics. 1.8 million people are affected by a halt or reduction of the water supply, 137 schools and 24 health facilities have been damaged, 872 homes have been totally destroyed or severely damaged and homes of 5,005 families have been damaged but are still inhabitable. Throughout the Gaza Strip people receive only 2 hours of electricity per day. The destruction of Gaza’s only power plant had an immediate effect on the public health situation and reduced water and sanitation services, with hospitals becoming dependent on generators.

OCHA estimated that at least 373,000 children require psychosocial support. "Intense overcrowding, compounded by the limited access of humanitarian staff to certain areas, is increasingly undermining the living conditions at many shelters and raising protection concerns. Water supply has been particularly challenging..." More than 485,000 internally displaced persons are in need of emergency food assistance.

Impact on Israeli residents

Hamas and other Islamist groups in Gaza have fired rockets and mortars at Israeli towns and villages. Despite Israel's use of the Iron Dome missile defense systems, 3 civilians were killed including a Jewish Israeli, an Arab Israeli and a Thai worker. An Israeli teen was seriously injured in a rocket strike in the city of Ashkelon. Medical health professionals have noted that Israeli teens prone to mental health problems are noted to suffer increasingly during both short term and long term conflicts. Experts have identified a number of mental health symptoms which rise during conflict especially anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, interpersonal sensitivity, phobias, and paranoia. There is some doubt whether these issues will dissipate after the conflict is resolved.

At the onset of the operation, the Israeli government canceled all programs within 40 km (24 miles) of Gaza, and requested all people stay at home or near shelter. All summer camps were closed and universities canceled their final exams. Additionally, all gatherings of 300 or more people were banned. Due to the trajectory of rocket fire from Gaza, many flights in and out of Ben-Gurion Airport were delayed or rerouted.

Casualties and losses

Reports of casualties in the conflict have been made available by a variety of sources. Most media accounts have used figures provided by the government in Gaza or non-governmental organizations.

Palestinian

Further information: List of Israeli strikes and Palestinian casualties in Operation Protective Edge

Number of Palestinians killed in Gaza, per various sources:

Source	Total killed	Civilians killed	Combatants killed	Unidentified killed	Percent civilians	Last updated
Gaza Health Ministry	1,904	≈1,520	≈380	—	80%	9 August
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights	1,994	1,657	337	—	83% (calculated)	9 August
United Nations OCHA	1,922	1,407	218	297	73%	8 August
Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center	1,552	480	467	605	between 30% and 70% (calculated)	4 August
Israel Defense Forces	1,768	868	900	–	53%	5 August

According to data provided by the Palestinian Health Ministry, 79.7 percent of the Palestinians killed in Gaza are male, with the majority between sixteen and thirty-five.

Over 273,000 people were displaced who took refugee in UNRWA schools. 138 schools and 26 medical facilities were damaged. In addition, over 14,130 homes have been destroyed or damaged by the air strikes. The IDF has estimated that about 30–40% of the rockets stockpiled by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups has been wiped out.

While the Israel–Gaza fighting has gone on, solidarity protests in the West Bank have sporadically occurred as well with violence throughout them, a total of 11 Palestinians dying over the 22–26 July period.

On 30 July, Israeli and Palestinian media outlets reported that thirty civilians from various areas of Gaza had been accused of collaboration with Israel and summarily executed. As well, approximately twenty civilians from Shejaia were said to have been killed during a political protest against Hamas blaming them for the massive destruction inflicted on their neighborhood. A few days later, Hamas reportedly killed 2 Gazans, and wounded 10 after a scuffle broke out over food handouts.

On 22 July OCHA's spokesman said "There is literally no safe place for civilians" in Gaza.

According to Israeli and Palestinian sources some rockets that have fallen short have caused some Palestinian casualties. Hamas has denied that any of its rockets hit the Gaza Strip.

As of August 8, Israeli investigators reportedly put the number of combatants killed at 40-50% of the total. As evidence, Israelis have cited the relatively small numbers of fatalities among women, children and men over 60, and instances of Hamas fighters being counted as civilians, perhaps due to the broad definition of "civilian" used by Gaza's Health Ministry.

Hamas co-founder Ayman Taha was found dead; Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported he had been shot by Hamas for maintaining contact with the intelligence services of several Arab countries; Hamas stated he was targeted by an Israeli airstrike.

Israeli

Further information: List of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, 2014

Since the start of the conflict, 64 IDF soldiers have been killed, as well as two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker. One person has also died due to natural causes brought on by the conflict.

Rocket attacks from Gaza have caused damage to Israeli civilian infrastructure, including factories, gas stations, and homes. According to Magen David Adom there have been injuries to 123 people: 1 seriously, 21 moderately to lightly and 101 from shock.

The first Israeli civilian death occurred at the Erez border crossing with Gaza when a Chabad rabbi, delivering food and drinks on the front line, was hit by mortar fire. The second Israeli civilian killed was a 32-year-old Bedouin Ouda Lafi al-Waj, who was hit by a rocket in the Negev Desert. A Thai migrant worker was also killed by mortar fire while working at a greenhouse in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council. In addition, an elderly woman in Wadi Nisnas collapsed and died of heart failure during an air-raid siren.

The IDF stated that as of 3 August some 2800 rockets have been fired at Israel since the start of the operation.

Hamas claims

Hamas reports, so far unverified, include:

• Killing 161 IDF soldiers
• Capturing a soldier
• Shooting down an F16 plane
• Destroying two IDF tanks (Images of tanks supposedly destroyed during this conflict date back to at least 2007)
• Flying UAVs over Tel Aviv and taking pictures of IDF HQ

Financial impact

Israel's Minister of Finance estimated that the operation would cost NIS 8.5 billion (approximately 2.5 billion USD), which is similar to Operation Cast Lead in 2009 and higher than Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012. The forecast included military and non-military costs, including military expenditure and property damage. The calculation indicates that if the operation lasts 20 days, the loss in GDP will be 0.4%.

Palestinian officials in early August estimated that, with 10,000 homes destroyed and 30,000 partially destroyed by the bombing, the reconstruction of habitations alone will cost $5 billion. The New York Times, noted that damage in this third war was more severe than in the two preceding wars, where in the aftermath of the earlier Operation Cast Lead the damage inflicted was $4 billion, 3 times the GNP OF Gaza's economy. Strikes on the few industries will take years to repair. Gaza's main power plant on Salaheddin Road was destroyed, leaving the Strip with only electric genertor power for the next year. Two sewage pumping stations in Zeitoun were damaged. The biggest private company in Gaza, the Alawda biscuit and ice cream factory, employing 400, was destroyed by a shelling barrage on July 31, a few days after undertaking to supply its Choco Sandwich biscuits to 250,000 refugees in response to a request from the World Food Programme; other strikes have target a plastics factory, a sponge-making plant, the offices of Gaza's main fruit distribution network, the El Majd Industrial and Trading Corporation's factory for cardboard box, carton and plastic bag production, Gaza's biggest dairy product importer and distributor, Roward International. Trond Husby, chief of the UN's Gaza development programme in Gaza, commented that the level of destruction now is worse than in Somalia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Uganda.

A number of tunnels leading into both Israel and Egypt have been destroyed throughout the operation. There are reports that the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt were bringing in an estimated $700 million into Gaza's economy through goods or services. Several Palestinians have argued that these tunnels have been critical to supporting the residents either through the employment they provide or through they goods that they have shipped that are otherwise not available in Gaza. Tunnels between Gaza and Israel serve a purely military purpose.

Reactions

Main article: Reactions to the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict

Pro-Israel demonstration in Helsinki, Finland.

The conflict has received reactions from both states and organizations, some supporting Israel's actions, some condemning it, and others condemning both Israel and Hamas and urging them to stop violence. Meanwhile, a majority of Israelis support the Operation Protective Edge. Separately, commercial aviation in several countries banned flights to Israel.

Protests in Gaza

Palestinian protesters in Gaza have attempted to protest against Hamas. Hamas has responded by killing over 50 such protesters, accusing them of being Israeli spies. Around August 6, Palestinian protesters reportedly attacked and beat up Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri because they blamed Hamas for the destruction of Gaza.

Protests in Israel and the West Bank

Demonstration against Operation Protective Edge by Arab Israeli and politically left-wing Israeli youth in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The funeral of Mohammed Abu Khdeir on July 4 was joined by thousands of mourners, and was accompanied by clashes across east Jerusalem occurring throughout the weekend. Tensions were exacerbated by Israeli restrictions on Muslim access to the city's Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, to only men 50 or older. Dozens of protesters burnt tires, threw Molotov cocktails and threw stones at police.

On 21 July, the main commercial street in Nazareth was shuttered, as residents and businesses joined a general strike and staged protests against the two-week-old Israeli offensive in Gaza. There have been other scattered protests elsewhere in Israel. Nearly 700 people were arrested after those protests, rights groups say, including 224 from East Jerusalem. Most were subsequently released, but some face charges.

A poll by Gisha, an Israeli group that monitors Palestinian freedom of movement, showed more than a quarter of the 1.8 million people living in Gaza have relatives in the West Bank.

On Thursday 24 July, more than 15,000 Palestinians marched from Ramallah towards Jerusalem and clashed with the Israeli army until the early hours of Friday, in the largest such demonstration in close to a decade. Israeli security closed Qalandia checkpoint earlier on Thursday to prevent protestors from crossing. Some Palestinians marched towards the checkpoint and hurled stones, shot live ammunition and threw Molotov cocktails at the IDF. The IDF used riot dispersal means that included tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition. At least one protester from Qalandiya refugee camp was killed and 265 people were injured, with five of them in critical condition.

After clashes on Thursday, 24 July, Palestinian factions in the West Bank declared Friday a "Day of Rage." On Friday, clashes began during a demonstration which was held after the midday prayer at a local mosque. Hashem Abu Maria, 45, was shot in the chest. Abu Maria works at the Defense for Children International organization. Two more Palestinians were killed by IDF troops in subsequent clashes. In a separate incident near another protest against the conflict in Gaza, a settler shot dead Khaled Azmi Odeh, 18, and wounded three others near Nablus. In the subsequent escalation the Border police fatally shot another Palestinian, Tayeb Shehadeh.

Rise in antisemitism

A number of pro-Palestinian protests in Europe have turned to violence against the local Jewish communities. In a number of instances the demonstrators called for the death of Jews and attacked Jews and Jewish-owned property. These actions raised concerns over antisemitism and the safety of Jews in European countries. Similar concerns over antisemitism were raised following protests in other countries as well.

During a rally in capital of Belgium’s Flemish region one of the speakers were reported to have used a loudspeaker to chant in Arabic “slaughter the Jews." In Casablanca, a local Moroccan rabbi was beaten until he was unconscious. Rome's historic Jewish quarter was vandalized with swastikas and antisemitic graffiti.

Police in England have recorded more than 100 antisemitic hate crimes since the start of the Gaza conflict. In Toulouse, France, a man was arrested by local police for throwing fire-bombs at a Jewish community center. The fire-bombs failed to ignite. In Malmo, Sweden, a rabbi and a member of his congregation were assaulted at different times on the same day. Antisemitic attacks occurred in Sydney, Perth nd Melbourne as well. Teenagers harassed Jewish schoolchildren on a Sydney bus, a Jewish school was vandalized in Perth and a Jewish man was beaten in a street attack in Melbourne.

Attacks on synagogues

A number of synagogues have been targeted by pro-Palestinian protesters. Following a demonstration in Paris, protesters attempted to break into nearby synagogues. Six police officers and two Jewish residents were injured during the scuffle. In Wuppertal, Germany, a synagogue was firebombed. In Belfast, Northern Ireland, bricks were thrown through the windows of a local synagogue on two successive nights. A synagogue was vandalized in Malmo, Sweden. And a synagogue in Miami, Florida, was vandalized with graffiti; swastikas and the word "Hamas" were painted on the building.

Reaction of world leaders

UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the rise of antisemitism in a published statement. The statement declared that the conflict in the Middle East must not be used as a pretext for prejudice affecting the social peace. The Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and Italy condemned antisemitic attacks and protests in a joint statement. The three ministers - France's Laurent Fabius, Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Italy's Federica Mogherini – issued a statement in Brussels stating "Antisemitic rhetoric and hostility against Jews, attacks on people of Jewish belief and synagogues have no place in our societies." French president, François Hollande, declared that fighting antisemitism would be a "national cause". A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the Chancellor “sharply condemns the flare-up of violence and the antisemitic utterances.” as “an attack on freedom and tolerance and an attempt to undermine our free democratic order. This is something we can’t and won’t accept.”

Violations of international humanitarian law

Further information: International law and the Arab–Israeli conflict

A number of legal issues concerning the conflict have arisen during course of the fighting. Various human rights groups have argued that both Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli targeted destruction of homes of Hamas and other militia members violate international humanitarian law and might constitute war crimes, violations of international humanitarian law. Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, criticized Israel's military operation stating that there was "a strong possibility that international law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes". She specifically criticized Israel's actions in Gaza as disproportionate. She also condemned indiscriminate rocket attacks by Palestinian armed groups. On 23 July, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted to establish an inquiry into human rights violations. Palestine has stated that it intends to join the International Criminal Court to press charges against Israel. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked United States legislators to try to stop Palestine from joining the court.

Photo taken during the 72-hour ceasefire between Hamas and Israel on 6 August 2014. A destroyed ambulance in Shuja'iyya in the Gaza Strip.

Civilian deaths

Many of those killed have been civilians, prompting concern from many humanitarian organisations. Amnesty International stated that: "Israeli forces have carried out attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians, including through the use of precision weaponry such as drone-fired missiles, and attacks using munitions such as artillery, which cannot be precisely targeted, on very densely populated residential areas, such as Shuja’iyyeh. They have also directly attacked civilian objects." Nine people were killed while watching the World Cup in a cafe, and 8 members of a family died that Israel has said were inadvertently killed.

Monica Awad, the spokeswoman of the UNICEF, condemned civilian deaths from Israeli airstrikes and accused Israel of targeting women and children, saying that Israeli forces had deliberately killed 296 children in Gaza.

Human shields

Israel has stated that many civilian casualties were the result of Hamas using the Gazan population as 'human shields' at rocket launch targets. The statements fall in two categories: using civilian structures like homes, mosques and hospitals to store munitions in or launch rockets from, and urging or forcing civilian population to stay in their homes, to shield militants.

Members of the US Congress have introduced bills condemning Hamas for using human shields. On 22 July, the European Union condemned "calls on the civilian population of Gaza to provide themselves as human shields." Amnesty International has declared that it "does not have evidence at this point that Palestinian civilians have been intentionally used by Hamas or Palestinian armed groups during the current hostilities to “shield” specific locations or military personnel or equipment from Israeli attacks."

Use of civilian structures for military purposes

Israel has stated that many mosques, schools and hospitals have been used to store weapons. UNRWA has discovered rockets in three of its vacant schools (see section below), and on 17 July UNRWA condemned "the group or groups responsible" for placing weapons in one of its schools. There have been reports of the use of mosques to store weapons, and having launch sites very close to civilian structures. A Finnish reporter from Helsingin Sanomat reported seeing rockets fired from near the Gaza Al-Shifa hospital. Some journalists have stated that Hamas has been intimidating those who wish to report human shield use and others have cited a French correspondent's account of intimidation by Hamas to support such statements.

Using civilian structures to store munitions and launch attacks from is unlawful. However, Amnesty International stated that "Indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks (where the likely number of civilian casualties or damage to civilian property outweighs the anticipated military advantage to be gained) are ... prohibited." It said that "Israel’s relentless air assault on Gaza has seen its forces flagrantly disregard civilian life and property". It has also criticized the shelling of hospitals saying "there can be no justification for targeting medical facilities at any time." Human Rights Watch has said that in many cases "the Israeli military has presented no information to show that it was attacking lawful military objectives or acted to minimize civilian casualties." An investigation by Human Rights Watch found that "in most of the sites we investigated so far (in this conflict) we found no valid military targets".

Some commentators have noted the high population density of Gaza in conjunction with Palestinian military activities and installations being in or near civilian structures; they also note that the headquarters of the IDF and Shin Bet, as well as an Israeli military training facility, are located near civilian centers.

Urging or forcing civilians to stay in their homes

IDF has released photographs purportedly showing civilians on rooftops of buildings and a video of Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri saying, "The fact that people are willing to sacrifice themselves against Israeli warplanes in order to protect their homes, I believe this strategy is proving itself". The EU has strongly condemned "calls on the civilian population of Gaza to provide themselves as human shields."

Hamas officials have said that human shields have not been used. Gazans have stated that "nobody is safe and nobody can flee anywhere because everywhere is targeted." Many reporters, including from the BBC, the Independent and the Guardian have said that they have found no evidence of Hamas forcing Palestinians to stay and become unwilling human shields.

Amnesty International has reported in a statement that it "does not have evidence at this point" that Palestinian civilians have been intentionally used by Hamas or Palestinian armed groups during the current hostilities to "shield" specific locations or military personnel or equipment from Israeli attacks". It additionally said that "public statements referring to entire areas are not the same as directing specific civilians to remain in their homes as "human shields" for fighters, munitions, or military equipment" and that "even if officials or fighters from Hamas or Palestinian armed groups ... did in fact direct civilians to remain in a specific location in order to shield military objectives ..., all of Israel's obligations to protect these civilians would still apply." Human Rights Watch said many of the attacks on civilian targets appeared to be "disproportionate" and "indiscriminate".

Human Rights Watch attributed many civilian deaths to the lack of safe places to flee to, and to Israel's targeting of fleeing civilians. It stated that there are many reasons that prevent civilians from abiding by warnings, and that the failure to abide by warnings does not make civilians lawful targets.

Warnings by Israel

In many cases IDF warned civilians prior to targeting militants in highly populated areas in order to comply with international law. Human rights organizations including Amnesty International, have confirmed that in many cases, Palestinians received warnings prior to evacuation, including flyers, phone calls and roof knocking.
Hamas has told civilians to return to their homes or stay put following Israeli warnings to leave. In many cases, Palestinians have evacuated and in others, they have stayed in their homes. Israel has condemned Hamas' encouragement of Palestinians to remain in their homes despite warnings in advance of airstrikes. Hamas stated that the warnings were a form of psychological warfare and that people would be equally or more unsafe in the rest of Gaza.
Amnesty International has said that "although the Israeli authorities claim to be warning civilians in Gaza, a consistent pattern has emerged that their actions do not constitute an “effective warning” under international humanitarian law." Human Rights Watch concurred. Many Gazans, when asked, have told journalists that they remain in their houses simply because they have nowhere else to go. OCHA's spokesman has said, "There is literally no safe place for civilians" in Gaza. Roof knocking has been condemned as unlawful by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as well as the United Nations Fact Finding Mission in the 2008 war.

Rocket attacks on Israeli civilians

One of the tunnels uncovered in the Gaza Strip, used by Hamas to carry out rocket and cross-border attacks on Israeli soldiers

Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have pointed to Hamas's rocket attacks on Israeli cities as violations of international law and war crimes. Palestinian ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council, Ibrahim Khraishi, conceded that Hamas had acted unlawfully by directing missiles at civilians.

Hamas political figure Khaled Mashaal has defended the firing of rockets into Israel, saying that "our victims are civilians and theirs are soldiers".

Destruction of homes

IDF Artillery Corps fires 155 mm M-109 howitzer gun, 24 July 2014

Israel has targeted many homes in this conflict. This has led to many members of the same family being killed. Israel stated that these homes were of suspected militants and were used as military purposes (see section above). The New York Times noted that the damage in this operation was higher than in the previous two wars and stated that 60,000 people had been left homeless as a result. The destruction of homes has been condemned by B'Tselem and Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International as unlawful, amounting to collective punishment and war crimes.

Palestinians returning to their homes during the ceasefire have reported that IDF soldiers trashed their homes, destroyed home electronics such as TV sets, spread feces in their homes, and carved slogans such as "Burn Gaza down" and "Good Arab = dead Arab" in walls and furniture. The IDF did not respond to a request by The Guardian for comment.

United Nations

See also: Israel, Palestine, and the United Nations

The UN agency UNRWA has a number of institutions and schools in the Gaza region, and as of 24 July 23 had been closed, 77 damaged in the fighting and three Palestinian UNRWA employees killed, two at home and a third while walking home from his work place. Hamas took advantage of the closures to employ some of these vacant UNRWA buildings as weapon storage sites. UNRWA officials, on discovering that three such vacated schools had been employed for storing rockets, condemned Hamas's actions, calling it a "flagrant violation of the neutrality of our premises."

Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman stated that UNRWA had turned over some discovered rockets to Hamas. Israel Democracy Institute Vice President, Mordechai Kremnitzer, accused the UNRWA of war crimes for handing over the rockets, while Hebrew University Professor Robbie Sabel stated that the UNRWA "had no legal obligation to hand the rockets over to Israel" and had little other choice in the matter. UNRWA states the armouries had been transferred to local police authorities under the Ramallah national unity government's authority, in accordance with "longstanding UN practice in UN humanitarian operations worldwide". UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon ordered an investigation.

On 30 July, the IDF said that they had discovered the entrance to a tunnel concealed inside a UNRWA medical clinic in Khan Yunis. The clinic was rigged with explosives, which then exploded and killed three Israeli soldiers. This report was later corrected by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the military unit that implements government policies in the Palestinian areas, who later that day stated that despite its UNRWA sign, the site was not registered as belonging to UNRWA.

Attacks on UN-run civilian shelters

Main article: 2014 Israeli raids on UNRWA schools

Approximately 170 schools of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) are being used as temporary shelters for some 117,000 Palestinians. UNRWA shelters have been bombed by Israel on six separate occasions. Some of these schools sustained damage or were destroyed during the conflict. In at least one instance the source of the bombing is disputed.

On 24 July, a UN-run school in Beit Hanoun used to shelter civilians was bombed; 13–16 civilians were reported dead and 150 injured.

People in Beit Hanoun in Gaza using the 72-hours ceasefire to return to their homes and to retrieve the dead.

Multiple news outlets reported Israel as responsible for the attack, According to Israel's investigation, the school courtyard had been hit by a single 'errant' mortar round fired by the Israeli Army but it did not cause any casualties, since the ground was empty at the time. UNRWA has rejected the IDF's account, saying an initial shell was followed by several others within minutes. Reporters who visited the school shortly afterwards said damage and debris was consistent with mortar rounds. The Israeli military said the area surrounding the school in Beit Hanoun had turned into a battleground, and it had asked that the facility be evacuated even before the school was hit. The military said that a four-hour window was given for evacuations. UNRWA disputed that, saying that Israeli military never responded to the agency's urgent requests for a cease-fire.

Infrastructure

On 23 July, twelve human rights organizations in Israel released a letter to Israeli govt. warning that "Gaza Strip's civilian infrastructure is collapsing". They noted that "due to Israel’s ongoing control over significant aspects of life in Gaza, Israel has a legal obligation to ensure that the humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza are met and that they have access to adequate supplies of water and electricity." They note that many water and electricity systems were damaged during the conflict, which has led to a "pending humanitarian and environmental catastrophe". The Sydney Morning Herald reported that "almost every piece of critical infrastructure, from electricity to water to sewage, has been seriously compromised by either direct hits from Israeli air strikes and shelling or collateral damage."

Between five and eight of the 10 power lines that bring electricity from Israel have been disabled, some by Hamas rocket fire. On 29 July, Israel bombed Gaza's only power plant, which is estimated to take a year to repair. Amnesty International said the crippling of the power station amounted to "collective punishment of Palestinians".

Attacks on journalists

Several journalists who covered the war from Gaza reported that Hamas threatened retaliation on reporters there who are critical of Hamas. Some journalists reported they were not censored.
Israel has warned foreign journalists it was not responsible for their safety in the Gaza Strip and they were made to sign a waiver to this effect. Reporters Without Borders has called this contrary to international law. On 30 July two Palestinian journalists were killed by artillery fire, bringing the total number of journalists killed during the conflict to eight. The International Federation of Journalists condemned the killings and wrote to the UN to "remind the organisation of its international obligation to protect journalists."

Israel also bombed the radio and TV stations of Hamas, Al-Aqsa, saying that strikes "targeted the propaganda dissemination capabilities used to broadcast the messages of (Hamas') military wing," Reporters Without Borders condemned the attacks, saying that "an expert committee formed by the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia, to assess the NATO bombing campaign of 1999, specified that a journalist or media organization is not a legitimate target merely because it broadcasts or disseminates propaganda."

In 2012 Human Rights Watch condemned the targeting of Palestinian media as unlawful.

Media coverage

Main article: Media coverage of the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict

Portrayals of the conflict have varied much in different media outlets. U.S. news sources were often more sympathetic to Israel while British news sources featured more criticism of Israel. Commentators on both sides have claimed that the media is biased either for or against Israel. According to The Times of Israel, British sources were more often critical of Israel. As the conflict progressed and Palestinian deaths increased, media became somewhat more critical of Israel. Within Israel, the newspaper Haaretz issued an editorial stating that the "soft Gaza sand... could turn into quicksand" for the Israeli military and also warned about the "wholesale killing" of Palestinian civilians. The article declared: "There can be no victory here". The Sydney Morning Herald apologized for running an antisemitic cartoon after Australian Attorney-General George Brandis denounced it as "deplorable." The conflict has received much coverage around the world. Both sides are waging propaganda war.

Name of IDF operation

The IDF's official English translation of the name of the military campaign is "Operation Protective Edge", but a literal translation of the operation's name (Template:Lang-he-n, Mivtza Tzuk Eitan) is "Operation Firm Cliff", and the IDF's official Arabic translation in English is "Operation Resolute Cliff". More loosely translated, the name is "Operation Solid Rock" or "Operation Mighty Cliff". According to the Turkish Anadolu Agency, an Israeli military spokesman for Arab Media, Avichay Adraee, explained that the change of the operation's name in English was done to "give a more 'defensive' connotation".

Diplomatic efforts

A number of diplomatic efforts were made to resolve the conflict. These attempts included efforts by United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, like the meeting in Paris with EU4 foreign ministers and his counterparts of Qatar and Turkey. Commentators have noted the Kerry's failure to achieve permanent results and the weakening of ties between the Israeli Cabinet and the Obama administration. Egypt has brokered a number of ceasefires between Hamas and Israel.

See also

• 2014 in Israel
• 2014 in the Palestinian territories
• History of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
• List of the Israel Defense Forces operations
• Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
• Palestinian tunnel warfare in the Gaza Strip

External links

• "Operation Protective Edge by the Numbers". Israel Defense Forces. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
• Timelines of the first and second phases of operation. Israel Defense Forces. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
• "The Toll in Gaza and Israel, Day by Day". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
• "Operation Protective Edge". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
• "Gaza Blog Live". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
• "Gaza-Israel conflict: What is the fighting about?". BBC News Online. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
• "Gaza Crisis". United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Retrieved 6 August 2014.