New Delhi: Over 1,200 people have been killed on both sides of the border in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. Israel has recorded more deaths in the last two days than in any other attacks in decades.
The data recorded by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory (OCHA-OPT) give a vivid picture of the scale of violence that has been suffered by the people in the region.
From 2008 till September 2023, 6,407 Palestinians were recorded to have been killed, more than half through missile attacks. During the same period, the UN recorded the death of 308 Israelis in conflict situations.
Before this onslaught over the weekend, the last major fight had been in May 2021 after Israelis put up metal barriers near the Damascus gate of Jerusalem, which leads to the Al-Aqsa mosque, during the month of Ramzan. The 11 days of fighting resulted in the deaths of 349 Palestinians and 11 Israelis. One Indian caregiver also lost her life in a rocket attack.
As per B’Tselem, an Israeli human-rights organisation, 10,712 Palestinians and 1,330 Israelis had been killed since 2000 till this year, before the start of the current violence.
The first Intifada in 1987 led to major bloodshed in Palestine, which eventually led to the Oslo peace accords. However, the violence did not let up with suicide bombings taking place inside Israel and Gaza continued to be further constricted.
The second intifada began a few months after the failed Camp David talks. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but there were even more restrictions on the movement of Palestinians.
There was a major spike in casualties in 2008 and 2009 when Israel launched an offensive in Gaza after rockets were launched towards the Israeli town of Sderot. In total, around 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed, before a ceasefire was announced in January 2009.
The deadliest year for Palestinian casualties had been 2014 when Hamas kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers. The seven weeks of war, which included Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rocket launches left over 2,310 Palestinians dead. The fatalities on the Israeli side were 73, which included 67 soldiers, and the rest civilians.
