Now... on The Inside Story: Israel at War.
Welcome to The Inside Story. I’m Jessica Jerreat, VOA’s Press Freedom Editor. I’m here at Washington’s Freedom Plaza, just a block from the White House where this weekend
Thousands of protesters gathered to call for a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas, that has resulted in over 10-thousand casualties. It has been just over a month since the terror attack in Israel, where militants killed 14-hundred people and took over 200
hostages.
The Israeli ground offensive continues to expand in Gaza, with tanks, troops, even heavy earthmoving equipment playing a role in Israel’s search for Hamas militants. Meanwhile Palestinian casualties in Gaza reach a grim milestone, of over 10-thousand dead, as the world calls for a humanitarian cease-fire. But before that additional aid can be delivered, Israel insists that around 240 hostages must first be freed. From Jerusalem Linda Gradstein kicks off this week's coverage.
In Israel, the public is focused on the fate of some 240 hostages including 30 children.
Demonstrations in support of the hostages are intensifying, with demands that Israel not agree to a ceasefire or allow humanitarian aid into Gaza until the hostages are freed.
Former hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin says he believes most of the hostages are still alive and being held in underground tunnels in Gaza.
They are probably being cared for as hostages in a situation like this might be cared for, I don’t believe they’re being physically tortured. They probably have minimal food necessary to stay alive and water, and maybe even a little bit of medical supplies. But they are still seen by Hamas to be valuable assets to free Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Israelis say the hostage kidnappings and brutal murders of 1,400 Israelis, most of them civilians, as well as the rising toll of soldier deaths in the ground invasion of Gaza, have profoundly shaken their sense of security.
Israeli society has never been as mortally wounded as we are now. It’s not only the mass numbers of casualties, the hostages, but it’s also the way in which a thousand Israelis were butchered, the helplessness of how they died. And that negates the founding ethos of this country. Israel was created to be a safe refuge for the Jewish people. The promise of Israel was not that there would never again be genocidal enemies but that never again would Jews die helplessly.”
In Gaza, civilians are also feeling helpless. The high death toll and widespread destruction has left the 2.2 million Palestinians terrified and forced many to flee their homes. Although the Israeli army has warned civilians to evacuate the northern part where its ground operation against Hamas targets would be concentrated, there were recently several Israeli airstrikes in the southern part of Gaza which was supposed to be a safe zone.
When they bombarded us, I lost consciousness. My brother Zeid and two cousins were martyred and a third is still missing, and the owner of the house and his son died too. Perhaps more than ten people were martyred, and everybody else got injured.
The southern Maghazi refugee camp also suffered from Israeli airstrikes which terrified the children of Palestinian journalist Rami Almegari, a Maghazi resident. He says that international negotiations on the future of Gaza are the only way out.
I believe the pressure politically could come out with something, with something tangible, could come out with sort of a breakthrough, in the upcoming period that would lead to some sort of a solution for Gaza.
A solution to the conflict will only come after much more fighting wipes out the Hamas military infrastructure, according to Israeli political and military officials. But even Israel’s steadfast American allies are beginning to exert pressure to allow a temporary ceasefire, a demand Israel has so far rejected.
Linda Gradstein for VOA News Jerusalem.
As Israel’s offensive continues-- so to do calls for an “humanitarian pause” to allow the injured to leave, and aid to enter Gaza … a place the UN Secretary-General António Guterres is calling a "graveyard for children."
The intensifying conflict is shaking the world, rattling the region and, most tragically, destroying so many innocent lives.
Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly being killed or injured every day.
More journalists have reportedly been killed over a four-week period than in any conflict in at least three decades.
More United Nations aid workers have been killed than in any comparable period in the history of our organization.
The way forward is clear.