Israel / Palestine
Recent Conflict
On December 27, 2008, immediately after Christians around the world celebrated the birth of the Prince of Peace, Israel declared war on the Gaza strip, devastating the region with shelling. The destruction was immense. The war was instigated by Hamas rocket attacks, which threatened the lives of 900,000 Israelis living close by the border. The Israeli retaliation claimed the lives of 1,300 Palestinians, the majority of whom were women and children. 13 Israelis also lost their lives. 400,000 Palestinians were left without running water and 15 per cent of the buildings in Gaza were completely destroyed.
In May 2010, Israel led a military operation against six ships in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. The flotilla, which was organised by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, was carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials, with the intention of breaking Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Nine activists were killed, and dozens of activists and seven Israeli commandos wounded, in the clashes that broke out when Israeli naval commandos boarded one of the ships.
Widespread international condemnation of the raid followed.
War on Gaza: Anwar's Story
Anwar Nahhal is only 12 years old. Before the 2008-09 bombing of Gaza, she used to go to picnics with her friends and family. The war, she tells, has changed her and now she is always scared of any sudden bombing. She prefers to stay at home with her parents in fear of losing them.
“I want to live the way other people are living all over the world, I want to sleep at night, to feel secure,” she says.
