After 15 months of war, Hamas still rules over what remains of Gaza
As a ceasefire brought calm to Gaza’s ruined cities, Hamas was quick to emerge from hiding.
The militant group has not only survived Israel’s 15-month military campaign — among the deadliest and most destructive in recent memory — but it remains firmly in control of the ruined coastal territory.
For all the might it deployed in Gaza, Israel failed to remove Hamas from power, one of its central war aims. That makes a return to fighting more likely, but the results might be the same.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Tuesday that 72 bodies had been taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours, almost all of them recovered from attacks before the ceasefire. An unknown number of bodies remain unreachable because they are in northern Gaza, where access remains restricted, or in buffer zones where Israeli forces are.
Israel’s military campaign has killed over 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities but do not say how many of the dead were fighters. Israel says it killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Over 900 trucks of aid entered Gaza on the second day of the ceasefire Monday, the United Nations said — significantly higher than the 600 trucks called for in the deal — in a rush to supply food, medicines and other needs it has described as “staggering” for the population of over 2 million people.
Source: Associated Press
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/310567 |