The Israel-Hamas conflict reached its one-week mark Saturday after days of violence claimed the lives of thousands, leveled communities and displaced large numbers of citizens from Gaza as assaults from both sides continue without an end in sight.
Tanks move in formation near Israel’s border with Gaza on Saturday. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Key Facts
More than 400,000: The number of displaced people in the Gaza Strip, a fraction of the 1.1 million Gaza residents in the South told by Israel to evacuate—an order the U.N. called “extremely dangerous – and in some cases, simply not possible.”
Nearly 12,000: The approximate number of those wounded on both sides, with those in Gaza accounting for a majority (more than 8,714).
More than 3,500: That’s the estimated cumulative death toll caused by the conflict, with Israel accounting for 1,300 and Gaza accounting for at least 2,215, according to CBS.
About 800: That’s the rough number of people who left Gaza and entered Egypt on Monday before Egypt closed the Rafah border crossing—the sole crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
150: The estimated number of hostages, civilians and military, Hamas had captive as of Thursday, according to NBC News.
140: The square mileage of the Gaza Strip, which has a population of about 2.1 million people and can be traversed from its southernmost point to its northernmost point in a little more than an hour with no interruptions.
70: The number of people killed after Israeli airstrikes hit Palestinian convoys heading south into Gaza after Israel’s evacuation order, NBC reported.
27: The number of Americans killed in Israel so far—a figure confirmed by the White House on Thursday.
18%: That’s how much of Israel’s population consists of Arab citizens, many of whom prefer to be identified as Palestinians, according to the New York Times, though a report from the Council on Foreign Relations believes that number is more than 20%, totaling about two million people.
Tangent
The Israeli military’s evacuation order directed at Gaza was extended to 4 p.m. (9 a.m., EDT) today and has since expired. Israel is expected to be preparing for a potential ground invasion of Gaza, a risky play that could result in higher casualties and endanger the estimated 150 hostages in the region.
Key Background
The conflict in Israel and Gaza was sparked by a lethal Hamas assault involving rocket strikes and violent incursions into Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip. An Israeli music festival also became a target for Hamas militants, who killed at least 260 people and took others hostage. Israel counter-attacked with airstrikes on Gaza. The U.S. has vowed support for Israel throughout the conflict, though President Joe Biden said Friday his administration would prioritize the “humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” referring to the mass evacuation of Gazans to the region’s southland. Biden characterized Israel’s evacuation order as a “tall order” given Gaza’s population density, which is made more problematic by expected shortages of water. On Saturday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed the need to protect civilians during the conflict.
This post originally appeared on Forbes.com
