October 7 anniversary: Israel-Hamas fighting’s impact on Middle East and US politics

The Israel Hamas war sparked off by an unprecedented terrorist attack by Hamas on Israeli soil on Oct 7, 2023. The attack saw the loss of 1200 lives, most of them Israeli citizens who were gunned down by Hamas and an abduction of 251  hostages, 97 of them still being kept in captivity.

Response by Israel and consequences

The response by the Netanyahu Govt was launching airstrikes on Gaza and after a while a land invasion by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) that resulted in an intense war that is still raging on. 

Since the war began, 41000 souls have been killed, among them many innocent families including children and women. Schools, hospitals and offices have been bombed leading to deaths, food shortage, and displacement of about 1.9 million people in the Gaza Strip alone. Evacuations, treatment and sending aids by humanitarian organisations like UN, Red Cross and Amnesty International were being done and they are still working to provide as much relief as they can but with very risky working conditions.

Israel’s Relation with United States

Benjamin Netanyahu and the Biden Administration have been quite strongly supporting each other. The US has sent Israel weapon systems, surface to air missiles to intercept rockets launched by Hamas, other ammunition including numerous guns and other equipment along with medical aids for Israeli citizens and soldiers fighting the war from the starting of the conflict since last october. 

Iran Israel Relations

Iran has always confronted Israel and has always been its arch enemy. After the war started, there were assassinations of key Hamas leaders including the late political chief of Hamas, Ismael Haniyeh that took place during the presidential ceremony of the new supreme leader of Iran within the country’s capital Tehran. Haniyeh was murdered along with his few family members that included his son and grandchildren along with 2 bodyguards. This created a very delicate situation in the Middle East as Iran directly vowed to avenge the death of the leader who was a key ally to the country’s administration. 

Iran has always supplied arms and ammunition including the Kamikaze drones known as Shahed Drone Systems to Hamas, Hezbollah and other groups fighting against western forces and Israel. And recently it launched a full fledged war with sending a barrage of missiles that hit different cities and parts of Israel.

Hezbollah, Lebanon and Israel Relations

The Hezbollah group of Lebanon has been waging a war against the IDF for a long time and has been supported by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. The Hamas – Israel conflict resulted in slain Hezbollah commanders too as the group supported Hamas by sending in fighters to the Israel border to lure the IDF into a two front conflict. The terrorist group has a stronghold of few hundred thousands of trained guerrilla fighters who are battle hardened as they have been in Syria and Iraq fighting against the US with ISIS fighters.

Iran’s missile systems and huge ammunition stock has been supporting the group in the fight against Israel. As of now, the IDF has started marching into Lebanon ready to wage another war against Hezbollah without solving the Gaza conflict against Hamas. Their previous operation against the Lebanon based militant group was not successful resulting in thousands of casualties on the IDF side.