image source, MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Soldiers on Israel’s Merkava tank near the Gaza Strip
It has now been eight days since the Israel-Hamas conflict. So far, more than 1300 Israelis and 2300 Palestinians have been killed in this conflict.
The Israeli army is standing ready on the border to conduct ground operations in Gaza and people living in Gaza have been warned to leave the northern areas.
Apart from the Palestinian, Israeli and Middle East media, the coverage of the world’s media focuses only on the developments related to this.
On the eighth day of the conflict, Palestinian media coverage focused on Israel’s bombing of Gaza and the destruction and loss of life associated with it.
Israel gave an ultimatum to the people of Gaza to leave northern Gaza by Saturday evening. Many analyzes related to this have also been published.
Israel’s English and Hebrew media coverage, however, focused on Israel’s military preparations, the proposed ground operation in Gaza, and those killed in Hamas attacks.
Families of people abducted by Hamas have demonstrated in Tel Aviv, Israeli media has also published reports related to this.
image source, SAID KHATIB/AFP
The Israeli army has also given notice to vacate hospitals in Gaza. The Israeli army has warned to evacuate Gaza’s Al-Quds Hospital by 4 pm. Many reports related to this have been published in the Palestinian media.
An analysis published in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said, ‘Israel: A country suffering the shock of being deprived of government.’
In this article, while analyzing the political situation of the country after the deadly attack of Hamas on October 7, it has been said that ‘the chaos that has arisen in Israel is, in a way, inspiring the entire country. Division is not a problem for Netanyahu, rather it is his permanent characteristic.
Whereas in Israel, opposition leader Yair Lepid has called the emergency government a disaster.
Haaretz has also published an article on the ongoing conspiracy theory regarding the attack and has expressed the fear that insiders may also be involved in this attack.
image source, EPA
failure of israeli army
In this article, the newspaper has written that many fundamentalist Israelis are calling the Gaza war a failure of the top officials of the IDF (Israeli Army). At present, a lot of searches are being done in Israel about ‘inside assassins’.
This article states that in almost every aspect of this crisis, Israelis are feeling that they have been left alone and are trying to fill the void of government themselves.
Israel has indicated that it may launch a ground operation in Gaza regardless of the abducted people.
The Times of Israel said in its article, “We do not know the total number of kidnapped and dead bodies in Gaza. “The families of the abducted people are pleading with the authorities to give them an explanation; at one point a top official even told them that the issue of the abducted people would be discussed after the war.”
“Now these people are forced to watch Israel bomb the areas where their loved ones may have been abducted and kept. This is an unimaginable situation.”
This article states that the idea of a prisoner exchange agreement with the Palestinians does not currently have much support in Israel. Not only are the families of those abducted alone, but the nation is also missing for those who have been killed.
It has been said in this article that Israel’s ministers, who have been attending every funeral till now, are avoiding attending funerals this time because perhaps they are afraid of facing the anger of the people.
On Wednesday morning, Economy Minister Nir Barakat attended the funeral of Yaron Shai, son of former Science Minister Izhar Shai. In their presence, Shai’s brother Ofir vented his anger at Israel’s Prime Minister and ministers, saying, “You have left the soldiers alone, you have left the people living on the Gaza border alone. You left the nation of Israel alone. You left my dear brother alone.”
There is also criticism in the Israeli media regarding Netanyahu’s message to the nation suddenly given on TV on Friday evening.
image source, Getty Images
Netanyahu spread uneasiness
The Times of Israel said in an article that Netanyahu suddenly announced a message to the nation but there was nothing important in it.
The newspaper wrote, “Netanyahu’s announcement caused uneasiness in the country, but there was nothing in his speech that needed to be told to the nation immediately.”
So far, only one Israeli president has addressed the nation on Shabbat. Jews consider Friday as a day of rest. Apart from Netanyahu, in 1994, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had informed in a message on Shabbat about the failure of the operation to free the kidnapped soldier Nachshon Washman.
Ynet, the most popular Hebrew language media website, has written in detail about Israel’s preparations before the ground attack on Gaza.
The article states, “By the time the General Staff had begun directing units on ground attack planning, the Air Force was destroying Hamas’ command system and counter-attack capability. Hezbollah is still lagging behind but once Israel enters Gaza its intentions will be tested. The help from America is very important in the background of the damage caused to Israel’s defensive capability. “The US is prepared to intercept missiles and attack Iranian militias so that the IDF can remain focused on its operations in Gaza.”
On Saturday, Israel’s Air Force also warned the people of Gaza to evacuate the northern areas.
Ynet has written that this warning has been given ‘to legitimize the attack in Gaza so that Israel can argue to the Biden administration and Western countries that Israel is taking action in compliance with international laws.’
image source, GETTY IMAGES
Israel has been aerial bombarding Gaza city for the last five days. A view of the Jabaliya area of Gaza City.
What’s going on in the Palestinian media?
Palestinian media mention the increasing number of deaths in Israeli attacks, the humanitarian crisis arising in Gaza and global reactions.
Palestine Chronicle has published news related to CNN reporter’s apology over ‘Hamas’ claims of killing Israeli children’.
CNN reporter Sarah Sidner apologized on the social media platform X, saying that she should have investigated Israel’s claim more carefully.
Writing about his experience in Mondowise, a website that tracks Palestinian affairs, a reporter wrote, “I had written many stories about the Nakba, today I experienced the Nakba.”
The word Nakba means tragedy and Palestinians associate it with the events of forced removal from their lands in 1948.
Reporter Tariq Ijaz wrote in his report, “On Friday morning, we woke up to the call of the Israeli army to leave the house.”
Ijaz writes, “On Friday morning I got a call from an Israeli number. I didn’t answer the call because I was trying to recover from a very turbulent night. It is not easy to sleep in a house where there are fearful children. They scream at every falling bomb. It becomes difficult to understand what is happening around. “I want to know where the bomb fell, who died, but I have to calm the children.”
It is written in this report, “After a few minutes the call came again, this time I picked up and heard the message of the Israeli army – You have to vacate your house, go towards the south. You are responsible for your life.”
“I fell asleep again, then woke up to a huge bang. The incident that happened after this was more dangerous than the bomb blast. What people experienced in 1948, I lived today. This is the second Nakba.”
image source, EPA
A large number of people have had to leave their homes in Gaza
‘Genocide of silent people’
Quds News Network, a website associated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, in one of its reports has mentioned a ‘major attack’ on Hezbollah’s Shebaa Farms area.
In this report, quoting Hezbollah, it has been claimed that the rockets hit the target and attacked several Israeli army positions. After this there was firing and bombing between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.
At the same time, Electronic Intifada, a Chicago-based website focusing on Palestinian issues and calling itself an independent media, has focused its coverage on the humanitarian crisis of Palestine. The website has written in one of its articles, “Genocide of silent people.”
In this article, the reporter has written, “When Israel was attacked from Gaza, I was sure that the entire Gaza will have to pay the price. Israel’s Prime Minister warned the people of Gaza to leave immediately, but where should we go? We went towards Rafa post, there were attacks there too. Lakhs of people are affected, but they have nowhere to go. “What is happening in Gaza is a genocide of silent people.”