Israel-Gaza conflict, One month today

Smoke rises over Gaza, as seen from Israel's border with Gaza, in southern Israel, October 30. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

One month since the conflict began, health officials have said that the death toll in Gaza has reached 10,000. With their third power outage the other day, Israel said they have divided the region in two. Israel media reporting that troops are expected to enter the Gaza Strip within 24 hours.

Seemingly no end in sight, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had this to say about a potential ceasefire, “There’ll be no ceasefire, general ceasefire, in Gaza without the release of our hostages. As far as tactical little pauses, an hour here, an hour there – we’ve had them before.”

He has suggested that Israel will manage Gaza’s security long after the end of its war with Hamas. Asked in an interview on who should govern Gaza after the war, Netanyahu said that he believed Israel would take responsibility for security for an “indefinite period.”

A view of the remains of a mosque and houses destroyed by Israeli strikes in the central Gaza Strip October 29. REUTERS/Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa

To recap, on October 7th Hamas led an extensive land and sea offensive, breaching a security checkpoint on the north of the Gaza Strip. Then thousands of Hamas fighters spread to around 22 locations taking control of nearby towns and key areas. Some stormed beaches in motorboats with others flying in on paragliders.

The attack led to more than 1,400 people killed in Israel, including civilians with more than 4,500 injured. Hamas also took 240 hostages which are still being kept inside Gaza. In the four weeks since the attack Israel have escalated its military response. Extensive artillery strikes as well as a blockade to the Gaza strip has led to 10,000 people being killed with 25,000 injured.

The Israeli military ordered residents of northern Gaza to leave their homes for their own safety on October 13th and estimated 1.4 million people have moved southwards since.

The World Health Organization has warned that a "public health catastrophe" is imminent in Gaza, where a third of hospitals are not functioning and the rest are barely working due to shortages of fuel and medical supplies.

On November 1st the Rafah border crossing opened to people for the first time since fighting began. The UN says 81 wounded Palestinians and 345 foreign passport holders were allowed out of Gaza and into Egypt.

That included an unspecified number of UK passport holders. About 200 British nationals are believed to be in Gaza.