The figures compiled and released by the Israeli government, Palestinian organizations and the United Nations after 55 days of fierce fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas forces may startle the world.
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An attack by Israeli artillery units stationed at a military site during clashes in Sderot, October 12. (Source: Getty) |
The temporary ceasefire between Hamas and Israel ended at 7am on December 1 (12pm Vietnam time) after neither side announced an extension, marking the end of seven days of relative silence in Gaza. According to AFP , Israel has resumed airstrikes and artillery fire on Gaza City.
The rare period of peace is also an opportunity to look back at the fierce conflict that has lasted for nearly two months. The price of the losses and pain that the Israeli and Palestinian people have had to pay is immeasurable, and the numbers compiled and announced by the Israeli government, Palestinian organizations and the United Nations after 55 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas may make the world "startled".
The conflict began on October 7 when Hamas militants breached Israel’s security fence at 29 points in a three-pronged attack. The $1 billion Israeli security fence has failed to stop the Hamas militants.
Hamas forces crossed the border and kidnapped some 240 people, more than 80 of whom have been released in recent days. Some 300 IDF soldiers and 58 Israeli police officers were killed in the first days of fighting on the border.
In response, Israel mobilized 300,000 reservists immediately after the conflict broke out and another 50,000 over the next month and a half. Israel officially launched a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip on October 27.
The IDF estimated that before the conflict, Hamas had “ 30,000 agents inside the Gaza Strip, divided into five brigades, 24 battalions and about 140 companies,” according to a November 14 statement. According to the IDF, 10 of the 24 Hamas battalions were involved in fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The IDF released a list of 12 Hamas battalion commanders killed in the fighting, including key commanders of air and naval units. On November 26, the IDF confirmed that five more senior Hamas commanders were killed in the Gaza Strip.
As of October 27, 20 days into the conflict, the IDF had not provided detailed data on the targets hit in its airstrikes, although during the three-week air campaign, the IDF said that between 150 and 400 targets were hit each night.
According to the IDF, as of November 5, in the first week of the ground offensive, some 2,500 targets had been hit. By November 10, a total of more than 15,000 targets had been hit and 6,000 weapons had been seized in Gaza. By November 22, 400 tunnels had been destroyed.
The IDF has made 5,998,382 recorded calls and sent more than 4 million text messages to Gazans. However, according to the Hamas-run health department in Gaza, Israeli air strikes and counterattacks have killed more than 14,000 people. The Committee to Protect Journalists says 57 journalists and media workers have been killed in the conflict, the majority of them Palestinians.
The United Nations said that in the first days of fighting, 1 million people were displaced from the Gaza Strip. In Israel, about 120,000 civilians were evacuated from the border area, including 54 settlements near the Gaza border and 42 settlements along the border with Lebanon, the southern cities of Sderot and Kiryat Shmona near Lebanon.
According to the Israeli Ministry of Defense on November 27, Tel Aviv has renovated hundreds of bomb shelters in Kiryat Smona and built a total of 160 new shelters in Ashkelon and 190 shelters in Nahariya.
Rocket fire from Gaza reached an unprecedented level on the first day of the conflict, with some 3,000 launches. On November 9, Israel estimated that 9,500 rockets had been fired. That is a huge number when compared to the 33-day conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, when some 4,000 rockets were fired. Israel’s air defenses intercepted more than 2,000 rockets and mortars fired by Hamas.
The need to produce frontline ammunition has shifted Israel’s economy into a conflict economy. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which makes the Iron Dome, Spike missiles, FireFly and Trophy APS missiles, has been cranking out production around the clock since the conflict began.
According to the IDF commander, an artillery brigade used 10,000 shells in the first month of the conflict, and each battalion used up to 3,500 .
The Israeli Defense Ministry said it had received 7,000 tons of foreign equipment on 123 cargo flights and seven ships as of November 9. Israel also purchased light weapons, such as M4 rifles, for its local security forces; it contracted with 8,900 local suppliers to produce various items for operations, worth more than $ 1 billion.
Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a $ 8 billion budget plan for a month and a half to cover “all the needs of the conflict.”
Over the past few days, more than 80 Israeli hostages have been released in exchange for 180 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
However, it is worth noting that the most important number is the smallest: 7. That is the number of days the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been in place. After the ceasefire ends, all of the numbers mentioned above will surely continue to increase.
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