Still, the continuous loss of innocent lives in Israel at the hands of the persistent war over the past year is catastrophic. It is constantly being bombarded with body counts relentlessly.
Catastrophic Personal Accounts:
One very telling case is Inas Abu Maamar; her niece Saly was killed in an airstrike days after the military offensive was launched. Saly, her mother and baby sister, as well as her grandparents, uncle, aunt, and three cousins were killed in a single airstrike; Abu Maamar, 37, is left behind to mourn. It would later be the sister and her four children who were killed by another airstrike.
Destruction and Displacement:
Abu Maamar ran three times for her life from the violence, spending four months in a tent. Now, she is at Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, where one can see the destruction in her home: cracks in the roof and the makeshift roof over the hole which covers a window-sized gap in the wall. Yet, back home, she is lost and hopeless.
Death toll in Gaza rises: Palestinian health authorities report at least 41,500 deaths, of whom the majority are civilians, since Israel launched its military operation against Hamas. Israel says its actions are legitimate to get at the Hamas militants, whom it has accused of hiding in civilian strongholds. It also maintains that it makes every effort to spare civilians.
International Response:
The international community has expressed concern and criticised the war, calling for immediate humanitarian assistance and protection of civilians. Suffering has been reflected in images and reports from all corners of the globe, as exemplified in the story of Abu Maamar.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens, with thousands of families displaced and the death toll increasing day by day as the situation unfolds. The call for international intervention for this fatal casualty support remains urgent.