Pictures of the Year International

Israel and Hamas War

The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land, and sea and catching the country off-guard on a major holiday. Israel's retaliation after Gaza's militant Hamas rulers launched the unprecedented attack on Israel killing over 1,200 Israelis and taking captive dozens, has been fierce for Gaza and it’s people. Heavy Israeli airstrikes on the enclave has killed thousands of Palestinians. Since the Israeli operation started, over 24,285 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including over 10,000 children and 7,000 women with another 7,000 people missing and presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings. Experts say that the scale and pace of destruction in Gaza is among the most severe in recent history. A severe humanitarian crisis has resulted, with healthcare in a state of collapse, shortages of food, clean water, medicine and fuel, electricity and communications blackouts, and the UN warning of potential famine. It was widely reported that there is "no safe place in Gaza" as Israel struck areas it had previously told Palestinians to evacuate to. The widespread civilian deaths have led to accusations of war crimes against both Israel and Hamas. Nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million population and around 500,000 Israelis have been internally displaced, while thousands of Palestinians have been detained by Israel, and Israel has lost over 150 further soldiers in its counteroffensive.