Caught in the Crossfire: Civilians in Israel and Palestine

By AUSTIN DESISTO ‘24

Disclaimer: This article aims at providing an understanding of a recent conflict in the Israel/Palestine region and focuses on the humanitarian crisis that is rapidly escalating as a result.

Image courtesy of Ali Jadallah

From when you enter class to when you exit 50 minutes later, an unquantifiable number of posts bleed through the Internet reporting rocket fire, iron dome intercepts, and a rising death toll, which is now at 11,323 (as of November 5, 2023) (AP). During my first class on the morning of Oct. 23, as I pull out my phone to check the time, a notification from X (formerly Twitter) from FOX News field reporter Trey Yingst states, “Gaza death toll at more than 4,700 people.” Just two days prior, a similar tweet by Yingst read, “... death toll now at 4,469 people.” This was an increase of 300 deaths over just 48 hours. Important to note is that this death toll is only within the Gaza Strip, a small section occupied by Israel.

The point is, virtually nobody can go more than an hour without hearing of the increasing losses and hardships of life in a small corner of our Earth. Yet, the political discussion, measly statements from world leaders, the trending of “WWIII” on X, and a threat of escalation become the talking point. Whether one is Christian, Jewish, Muslim, non-religious, et cetera, it is impossible to ignore the rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis that has ensued as a result of a displacement, rooted back decades to the end of WWII, that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties. People from all corners of the Earth are being killed by people in their own backyard, begging the questions: Why are so many humans losing their lives and how does it stop?

In order to understand the region, we must first look at the areas where conflict is occuring. To keep things simple, I will not mention the decades-long history of Israel and Palestine, but instead take a look at how things are today. While war is occurring across Israel and the surrounding area, there are two main hot spots: northern Israel and southern Israel. In the north is Hezbollah, a group located in Lebanon that acts as both a Shitte Muslim political party and a militant group (Council on Foreign Relations). In the south is Hamas, an Islamist militant movement and one of the Palestinian territories’ two major political parties (Council on Foreign Relations).

Image courtesy of BBC

Although the politics behind the war are debatable and filled with protest, there is an undeniable fact that humans from around the region and those visiting from across the globe are being kidnapped, killed, injured, and deprived of resources. Civilians living in Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and many other areas have been injured and killed.

Gaza is only a small territory of about 139 square miles (360 square kilometers), yet it is occupied by around two million people. Around 80 percent of current civilians living in Gaza are considered refugees by international law (Council on Foreign Relations) due to the fact that they have been displaced from their original homeland. While the numbers are difficult to track, since more deaths occur by the hour, latest counts put the total death toll across the region at 11,323, with 9,923 being Palestinian and 1,400 being people in Israel (as of Nov. 5, 2023) (AP). This includes individuals from over 24 countries and territories and a host of different occupations like journalists, medial workers, and more. In these numbers, soldiers and militants are not included. Regardless of cause or nationality, the fact is that more than 10,000 everyday people with unique viewpoints are no longer on this Earth.

If you woke up tomorrow, knowing that war was waging around you, how fearful would you be of imminent death? Take your everyday routine and insert loud explosions, runs to shelters, and trails of rockets in the sky to your senses. Many of these people are the exact same, yet fall to conflict of powers and powers-to-be.

However, the humanitarian crisis that has elevated since Oct. 7, 2023 extends far beyond 10,000 deaths. Those who have managed to stay alive still live under an umbrella of danger.

Only recently did a small fraction of humanitarian aid return to Gaza. Prior to the Oct. 7 escalation, regular aid trucks from nations far and wide entered Gaza, primarily from the Rafah Crossing via Egypt. At the onslaught of the recent escalation, these aid trucks were halted for nearly a month, before finally returning in late October.

The suspension of aid and halt of border crossings essentially imprisoned those in Gaza, disabling any ability to continue use of necessary life sustaining resources like water and food.

Whether it be of Israeli or Hamas origin, the fact is that rockets have wreaked havoc both inside and outside of Gaza — displacing 1.5 million Palestinians and 250,000 people in Israel. The focus is narrowed on Gaza because of the inability of Gazans to escape the confines of the region. There is no functioning airport in Gaza, the crossings to Israel are closed, and the compact nature of the territory leaves little room for safe haven.

Scouring the Internet and mainstream media, you find hundreds of “solutions” and ways for the war to stop. Civilians will always be impacted by conflict, battles, and war, but through peace treaties and ceasefire agreements, all sides of conflict can agree to a common ground of removing civilians from the violence. In recent years, whether it be Ukraine and Russia, U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, or the conflict of territory in the land on the eastern corner of the Mediterranean, civilians have been beaten, slaughtered, kidnapped, and outright killed in the place they call home. Peace is the ultimate goal, but first the civilians need to be kept out of the crossfire.