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In 100 days, Mideast war transformed the region, fighting shows no signs of ending

Sunday marks 100 days that Israel and Hamas have been at war. The war already is the longest and deadliest between Israel and the Palestinians since Israel’s establishment in 1948, and the fighting shows no signs of ending.

Quick Read

  1. Unprecedented Impact on Israel: The Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostages, was a major shock to Israel. It has led to widespread trauma and a lack of faith in government among the Israeli public. This event has brought about a profound sense of betrayal and is expected to have long-lasting effects on the nation.
  2. Devastation in Gaza: Gaza has experienced severe destruction, with approximately half of the buildings damaged or destroyed. The death toll has surpassed 23,000, with children and civilians forming a significant portion of the casualties. Over 80% of the population is displaced, and the territory faces severe humanitarian crises, including food shortages and a collapsing medical system.
  3. Regional Implications: The conflict has had far-reaching effects across the Middle East, increasing tensions and potentially escalating into a broader regional conflict. Actions by Iranian-backed groups like Hezbollah and the Houthis have intensified the situation, with retaliatory strikes by Israel and other nations like the U.S. and Britain.
  4. The Palestinian Issue at Forefront: The conflict has brought the Israeli-Palestinian issue back into the global spotlight, challenging Israel’s previous attempts to sideline the Palestinian question. International attention and diplomatic efforts have increased, but there’s still no consensus on a solution.
  5. Uncertain Future and Reconstruction Challenges: The prolonged nature of the conflict and the high death toll leave an unclear path to resolution. The future governance of Gaza, the role of Hamas, and the involvement of the Palestinian Authority remain contentious issues. The massive task of reconstruction in Gaza faces numerous challenges, including funding, material supply, and the accommodation of displaced individuals.

The Associated Press has the story:

In 100 days, Mideast war transformed the region, fighting shows no signs of ending

Newslooks- JERUSALEM (AP) —

Sunday marks 100 days that Israel and Hamas have been at war. The war already is the longest and deadliest between Israel and the Palestinians since Israel’s establishment in 1948, and the fighting shows no signs of ending.

Israeli soldiers take up positions near the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Friday, Dec. 29, 2023. The army is battling Palestinian militants across Gaza in the war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel. Israel and Hamas have been at war for 100 days. The war already is the longest and deadliest between Israel and the Palestinians since Israel’s establishment in 1948, and the fighting shows no signs of ending. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

Israel declared war in response to Hamas’ unprecedented cross-border attack on Oct. 7 in which the Islamic militant group killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 others hostage. It was the deadliest attack in Israel’s history and the deadliest for Jews since the Holocaust.

Israel responded with weeks of intense airstrikes in Gaza before expanding the operation into a ground offensive. It says its goal is to crush Hamas and win the release of the more than 100 hostages still held by the group.

Palestinians mourn relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

The offensive has wrought unprecedented destruction upon Gaza. But more than three months later, Hamas remains largely intact and hostages remain in captivity. The Israeli military says the war will stretch on throughout 2024.

Here are five takeaways from the first 100 days of a conflict that has upended the region.

FILE – Mourners embrace during the funeral of Meni and Ayelet Godard, in Kibbutz Palmachim, Israel Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023. Israel and Hamas have been at war for 100 days. The war already is the longest and deadliest between Israel and the Palestinians since Israel’s establishment in 1948, and the fighting shows no signs of ending. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

ISRAEL WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

The Oct. 7 attack blindsided Israel and shattered the nation’s faith in its leaders.

While the public has rallied behind the military’s war effort, it remains deeply traumatized. The country seems to be reliving Oct. 7 — when families were killed in their homes, partygoers gunned down at a music festival and children and older people abducted on motorcycles — every day.

Palestinians mourn relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Posters of the hostages who remain in Hamas captivity line public streets, and people wear T-shirts calling on leaders to “Bring Them Home.”

Israeli news channels devote their broadcasts to round-the-clock coverage of the war. They broadcast nonstop tales of tragedy and heroism from Oct. 7, stories about hostages and their families, tearful funerals of soldiers killed in action and reports from Gaza by correspondents smiling alongside the troops.

There is little discussion or sympathy over the skyrocketing death toll and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza. Plans for postwar Gaza are rarely mentioned.

FILE – Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. Israel and Hamas have been at war for 100 days. The war already is the longest and deadliest between Israel and the Palestinians since Israel’s establishment in 1948, and the fighting shows no signs of ending.(AP Photo/Hatem Ali, File)

One thing has remained constant. While chastened Israeli security officials have apologized and signaled that they will resign after the war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains firmly entrenched.

Despite a sharp drop in his public approval ratings, Netanyahu has resisted calls to apologize, step down or investigate his government’s failings. Netanyahu, who has led the country for almost all of the past 15 years, says there will be a time for investigations after the war.

Palestinians mourn relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a morgue in Khan Younis on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. Israel and Hamas have been at war for 100 days. The war already is the longest and deadliest between Israel and the Palestinians since Israel’s establishment in 1948, and the fighting shows no signs of ending. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman, File)

Historian Tom Segev said the war will shake the country for years, and perhaps generations, to come. He said the failures of Oct. 7 and the inability to bring the hostages home have fomented a widespread feeling of betrayal and lack of faith in the government.

“Israelis like their wars to go well. This war doesn’t go so well,” he said. “Lots of people have the feeling that something very, very deep is wrong here.”

FILE Palestinians inspect a house after it was hit by an Israeli bombardment on Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. Israel and Hamas have been at war for 100 days. The war already is the longest and deadliest between Israel and the Palestinians since Israel’s establishment in 1948, and the fighting shows no signs of ending. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

GAZA WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

Conditions before Oct. 7 were already difficult in Gaza after a stifling blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt following Hamas’ takeover in 2007. Today, the territory is unrecognizable.

Experts say the Israeli bombing is among the most intense in modern history. Gaza health authorities say the death toll already has eclipsed 23,000 people, roughly 1% of the Palestinian territory’s population. Thousands more remain missing or badly wounded. Over 80% of the population has been displaced, and tens of thousands of people are now crammed into sprawling tent camps on small slivers of space in southern Gaza that also come under Israeli fire.

FILE – Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. Israel is sending top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to The Hague this week to counter allegations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

Jamon Van Den Hoek, an Oregon State University mapping expert, and colleague Corey Scher of the City University of New York’s Graduate Center, estimate that roughly half of Gaza’s buildings have likely been damaged or destroyed, based on satellite analysis.

“The scale of likely damage or destruction across Gaza is remarkable,” Van Den Hoek wrote on LinkedIn.

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, outside a morgue in Rafah, southern Gaza, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

The human cost is equally mind-boggling. The United Nations estimates that about one-quarter of Gaza’s population is starving. Just 15 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially operational, according to the U.N., leaving the medical system close to collapse. Children have missed months of school and have no prospects for returning to their studies.

“Gaza has simply become uninhabitable,” wrote Martin Griffiths, the U.N.’s humanitarian chief.

Palestinians line up for free food during the ongoing Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

IT’S ALL CONNECTED

The war has rippled across the entire Middle East, threatening to escalate into a broader conflict pitting a U.S.-led alliance against Iranian-backed militant groups.

Almost immediately after the Hamas attack, Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon began striking Israel, triggering Israeli retaliatory attacks.

Hamas members carry the coffin of Saleh Arouri, one of the top Hamas commanders, who was killed in an apparent Israeli strike Tuesday, during his funeral in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The back-and-forth fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has not erupted into a full-blown war. But it has come perilously close, most recently after a Jan. 2 airstrike blamed on Israel that killed a top Hamas official in Beirut. Hezbollah responded with heavy barrages on Israeli military bases, while Israel has assassinated several Hezbollah commanders in targeted airstrikes.

Mourners carry the coffins of a Hezbollah fighter and other two civilians who killed by an Israeli airstrike that hit their house Tuesday night, in Bint Jbeil, South Lebanon, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. One Hezbollah fighter and two civilians, a newlywed couple, were killed in an overnight Israeli strike on a family-owned residential building in the town of Bint Jbeil, local residents and state media said Wednesday.(AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

At the same time, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have carried out a series of attacks on civilian cargo ships in the Red Sea. Meanwhile, Iranian-backed militias have attacked U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.

Lebanese Red Cross paramedics carry the body of Farah Omar, a journalist at pan-Arab TV network Al-Mayadeen who was killed by an Israeli strike, at a hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023. An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed Tuesday two journalists reporting for the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV on the violence along the border with Israel, according to the Lebanese information minister and their TV station. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

The United States has dispatched warships to the Mediterranean and Red Seas to contain the violence.

Late Thursday, the U.S. and British militaries bombed more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen. The Houthis vowed to retaliate, raising the prospect of an even wider conflict.

In this image provided by the UK Ministry of Defence taken on Thursday Jan. 11, 2024 shows an RAF Typhoon aircraft taking off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, for a mission to strike targets in Yemen. The U.S. and British militaries bombed more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen late on Thursday, in a massive retaliatory strike using warship- and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets, U.S. officials said. (Sgt Lee Goddard, UK Ministry of Defence via AP)

ISRAEL CAN’T IGNORE THE PALESTINIANS

Throughout his time in office, Netanyahu has repeatedly attempted to sideline the Palestinian issue.

He has rejected various peace initiatives, dismissed the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority as weak or irrelevant, and promoted policies that left Palestinians divided between rival governments in Gaza and the West Bank.

Protesters carry flags and banners outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. The United Nations’ top court opened hearings Thursday into South Africa’s allegation that Israel’s war with Hamas amounts to genocide against Palestinians, a claim that Israel strongly denies. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)

Instead, he has tried to normalize relations with other Arab countries in hopes of isolating the Palestinians and pressuring them to accept an arrangement that falls short of their dreams of independence. Just before Oct. 7, Netanyahu was boasting of efforts to forge ties with Saudi Arabia.

With the U.S. Capitol n the background thousands of anti-war activists rally during a pro-Palestinian demonstration asking to cease fire in Gaza, at Freedom Plaza in Washington, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The Hamas attack, along with a spike in violence in the West Bank, have put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back on center stage. The war now tops the newscasts worldwide, has prompted four visits by Blinken to the region and resulted in a genocide case against Israel in the U.N. world court.

Judges preside over the opening of the hearings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. The United Nations’ top court opens hearings Thursday into South Africa’s allegation that Israel’s war with Hamas amounts to genocide against Palestinians, a claim that Israel strongly denies. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)

The Saudis have revived the possibility of establishing ties with Israel, but only if this included the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

“The painful developments of the last 100 days have proven beyond doubt that the Palestinian issue and the Palestinian people cannot be ignored,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

THERE’S NO POSTWAR PLAN

As the war drags on and the death toll mounts, there is no clear path for when the fighting will end or what will follow.

Israel says Hamas can play no part in Gaza’s future. Hamas says that’s an illusion.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, center left, prepares to board a C-17 aircraft to leave for Cairo, during his week-long trip aimed at calming tensions across the Middle East, in Tel Aviv, Israel Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)

The U.S. and the international community want a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza, and steps toward a two-state solution. Israel objects.

Israel wants to maintain a long-term military presence in Gaza. The U.S. does not want Israel to reoccupy the territory.

Palestinians mourn their relatives, including kids killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, outside a morgue in Rafah, southern Gaza, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Reconstruction will take years. It is unclear who will pay for it or how the required materials will enter the territory through its limited crossings. And with so many homes destroyed, where will people stay during this lengthy process?

Palestinians wounded in Israeli bombardment, receive treatment at the hospital in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)

“Our lives 100 days ago was excellent. We had cars and houses,” said Halima Abu Daqa, a Palestinian woman who was displaced from her home in southern Gaza and is now living in a tent camp.

“We have been deprived of everything,” she said. “Everything has changed and nothing remains.”

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