On 8 July 2014, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge (Hebrew: צוּק אֵיתָן, Tzuk Eitan, lit. "Strong Cliff"),[note 1] in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Thereafter, seven weeks of Israeli bombardment, Palestinian rocket attacks, and ground fighting killed more than 2,200 people, the vast majority of them Gazans.[4][5][6][7]
The stated aim of the Israeli operation was to stop rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, which non-Hamas factions began after an Israeli crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank following the kidnapping and murder of 3 Israeli teenagers by two Hamas members.[8] On 7 July, after an airstrike killed seven Hamas militants in Khan Yunis, Hamas itself assumed responsibility for missiles fired from Gaza and launched a barrage of 40 rockets.[8][9][10][11] On 17 July, the operation was expanded to a ground invasion with the stated aim of destroying Gaza's tunnel system.[12] Over the course of the conflict, several ceasefires (including one on 5 August, during which all Israeli soldiers were withdrawn from the Gaza Strip)[13] fell apart or expired.[14]
On 26 August, an open-ended ceasefire was announced.[7] By this time, the IDF reported that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups had fired 4,564 rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israel,[15][16] while the IDF attacked 5,263 targets in Gaza; at least 34 known tunnels were destroyed[15] and two-thirds of Hamas's 10,000-rocket arsenal was used up or destroyed.[17][18]
Between 2,000[19] and 2,143[20] Gazans were killed (including 495–578 children)[4][5] and between 10,895[21] and 11,100[5] were wounded. 66 Israeli soldiers, 5 Israeli civilians (including one child)[22] and one Thai civilian were killed[4] and 450 IDF soldiers and 80 Israeli civilians were wounded.[23] The Gaza Health Ministry, UN and some human rights groups reported that 69–75% of the Palestinian casualties were civilians;[4][20][21] Israeli officials estimated that around 50% of those killed were civilians.[19][24] On 5 August, OCHA stated that 520,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip (approximately 30% of its population) might have been displaced, of whom 485,000 needed emergency food assistance[25] and 273,000 were taking shelter in 90 UN-run schools.[26] 17,200 Gazan homes were totally destroyed or severely damaged, and 37,650 homes suffered damage but were still inhabitable.[4] In Israel, an estimated 5,000[27] to 8,000[28] citizens fled their homes due to the threat of rocket and mortar attacks.[27]
- ^ Arnaout, Abdel-Raouf (9 July 2014). "From 'Shield' to 'Edge': How Israel names its military ops". Anadolu Agency. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
- ^ Ghert-Zand, Renee (9 July 2014). "Name 'Protective Edge' doesn't cut it". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
- ^ Kordova, Shoshana (19 July 2014). "Why is the English name of Operation Protective Edge so different from the Hebrew version?". Haaretz.
- ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference
OCHAwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
ministrywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Gaza peace deal agreed to end 50 days of fighting The National. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
- ^ a b Sherwood, Harriet; Balousha, Hazem (27 August 2014). "Gaza ceasefire: Israel and Palestinians agree to halt weeks of fighting". The Guardian UK. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- ^ a b Nathan Thrall (1 August 2014). "Hamas's Chances". London Review of Books.
- ^ Christa Case Bryant, 'Ending détente, Hamas takes responsibility for today's spike in rocket fire (+video)', Christian Science Monitor, 7 July 2014: "After days of steadily increasing strikes, Hamas militants in Gaza launched at least 40 rockets tonight alone in what appears to be a decision to escalate the conflict. The dramatic spike in rocket attacks is likely to put significant pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to heed calls for an all-out offensive against the Islamist movement, which Israel and the US consider a terrorist organization. While there has been intermittent rocket fire from Gaza since the cease-fire that ended the November 2012 Pillar of Defense conflict, Israel has credited Hamas with largely doing its best to keep the various militant factions in line. Today, however, Hamas took direct responsibility for the fire for the first time, sending a barrage of dozens of rockets into Israel in the worst day of such violence in two years."
- ^ "Gaza-Israel conflict: Is the fighting over?". BBC. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
On 7 July, Hamas claimed responsibility for firing rockets for the first time in 20 months, after a series of Israeli air strikes in which several members of its armed wing were killed.
- ^ "IDF's Operation "Protective Edge" Begins Against Gaza". Jewish Press. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
- ^ "'Gaza conflict: Israel and Palestinians agree long-term truce'". BBC.
- ^ "New Gaza cease-fire begins as Israel withdraws troops". 5 August 2014.
- ^ Daraghmeh, Mohammed (10 August 2014). "Israel accepts Egyptian ceasefire proposal". Globalnews.ca. Associated Press. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
- ^ a b Operation Protective Edge in numbers
- ^ Egypt says Gaza truce to begin at 7; Israeli killed in mortar strike By Ricky Ben-David, Haviv Rettig Gur and Yifa Yaakov 26 August 2014, Times of Israel
- ^ "Rockets, airstrikes after Gaza war truce collapses". The Washington Times.
- ^ "AP ANALYSIS: Hamas enters talks with Israel on Gaza from a point of military weakness". Fox News.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
partfourwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
jihad121was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
PCHRwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Israeli child 'killed by rocket fired from Gaza', BBC
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
OPE-Israeli-woundedwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
yahooDisputeCasulatieswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Gaza Emergency Situation Report" (PDF). United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Occupied Palestinian Territory. 3 August 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Occupied Palestinian Territory: Gaza Emergency" (PDF). 5 August 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
- ^ a b Nidal al-Mughrabi and Allyn Fisher-Ilan. "Israel, Palestinians launch new three-day truce." Reuters. 10 August 2014.
- ^ Heller, Aron (6 August 2014). "Southern Israelis cautiously prepare to head home". Associated Press. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).