Israel has stepped up air strikes in the Gaza Strip, and Netanyahu said the war would continue for months
On December 31, 2023, the Israeli military intensified airstrikes in the central Gaza Strip, killing at least eight people and fleeing thousands to the Egyptian border. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's goal was to eliminate Hamas and that the war would continue "for many more months."
The war began on October 7 when Hamas launched a raid on Israeli border towns that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 240 hostages. Israel then launched air and ground bombardments on the Gaza Strip, resulting in more than 21,800 deaths in the Gaza Strip, including a large number of women and children. In addition, almost all of the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip have been forced to leave their homes and face severe shortages of food, fuel and medical care.
The international community has expressed strong condemnation and concern over Israel's actions, calling on Israel to scale back the war, respect humanitarian principles and avoid causing further harm to civilians. Netanyahu, however, insisted that Israel must retake the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt in order to prevent Hamas from acquiring weapons from Egypt. Such a move could mean that Israel will regain control of the Gaza Strip, thus weakening the prospects for an independent Palestinian state.
At the same time, the war also threatens to trigger a broader regional conflict involving Iran, an ally of Hamas, and Iranian-backed armed groups across the Middle East. Israel and Lebanon Allah have engaged in numerous border firefights, Israel has targeted Iranian-linked targets in Syria, and Iranian-backed groups have attacked U.S. targets in Iraq. In addition, Yemen's Houthis have claimed to have carried out numerous attacks on shipping in the Red Sea in response to Israel's war in the Gaza Strip.