Today’s blog will be about the Hama’s recent attack on Israel over the weekend. According to the New York Times Article “What We Know About the Hamas Attack and Israel’s Response” by Andres Martinez and Bubola. The article speaks on how Hamas, a known militant group from Palestine that controls the Gaza Strip in the region, executed a surprise attack in Israeli Territory on Saturday. The Hamas attack was a strategic coordinated air and ground attack. Hamas’ attack consisted of infiltration of 22 Israeli towns and army bases, the murdering of 250 Israelis, and wounding 1400 more. In addition, Hamas has captured Israeli soldiers and civilians while transporting them back to the Gaza Strip. Hamas’s alleged reasonings behind their attack was retaliation for the past conflicts sparked by Israel such as Israeli occupation of the West Bank in the Arab-Israeli War in 1967, Israeli’s police raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and the detention of thousands of Palestinians. The Prime Minister of Israel, Netanyahu, released a public statement Sunday Morning stating “We are at War and we will win it”. Israel’s response to the surprise attack was swift consisting of a series of air strikes on the Gaza Strip, increased military presence on their north border, and tanks sent to the south borders to push our Hamas militants. Through these retaliatory measures, the unfortunate collateral casualties consisted of 313 Palestinians killed and 1990 injured. Israel is more shocked at how Hamas was able to get past its defenses, military, and intelligence which will cause a greater security dilemma between both nations at a crucial point in time. The United States has backed Israeli retaliatory measures and has condemned Hamas. However jeopardized a crucial month-long foreign policy to have Saudi Arabia engage in diplomatic relations with Israel, a long-standing adversary to Israel. When the US was making some headway with Saudi Arab, this attack occurred. Possibly making matters worse with Saudi Arabia backing Hamas and Hamas calling for other militant groups to be allies against Israel like Hezbollah. The unstable Israeli-Palestinian region and conflict have been a controversial topic for years of ownership of the Holy Land and cultural/ political disagreements. Though the Hamas attack on Israel was surprising it has allowed Israel to realize its security dilemma was worse than its administration thought. This unfortunate attack has set in place possible phases of Israeli retaliatory attacks and more bloodshed.
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