SHAH ALAM – Today marks one year since the eruption of genocide in Palestine on October 7, 2023, triggering a series of brutal events that have reshaped the region and intensified the suffering of its people.
What initially began as a ceasefire between Israeli forces and Palestinian groups quickly escalated into relentless airstrikes and ground operations. This led to the massive destruction of Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
Over the past year, the death toll in Gaza soared as the mass killing by Israeli troupe caused unprecedented levels of violence and devastation.
According to data reported from the Instagram page @letstalkPalestine, the genocide claimed between 155,406 and 777,030 lives from Oct 7, 2023, to Oct 5, 2024.
Among the confirmed direct deaths were more than 51,802 individuals, including 16,500 children.
96 per cent of Gaza's population now faced acute food insecurity, with 2.15 million people living in crisis levels of hunger.
The tragedy also wiped out 902 Palestinian families due to relentless attacks.
Despite international appeals, the genocide continued to claim lives and resources, with over $111 billion in US military aid and arms sales flowing to Israel.
The Israeli death toll, although significantly lower, stood at 1,139, with at least 8,730 injured, primarily military personnel, as reported by Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Targeted Palestinian Leaders
Key Palestinian leaders were specifically targeted and assassinated by Israeli forces to weaken fighter groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
According to reports, Yahya Ayyash, known as "The Engineer," was killed on January 5, 1996, by an explosive device hidden in his cell phone.
His death triggered a series of retaliatory attacks by Hamas, leading to the deaths of 59 people in Israel within just over a month, showing the immediate and severe impact of targeted actions.
In another notable incident, former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal survived an assassination attempt by Israeli agents in Amman, Jordan, in 1997.
After being injected with a lethal poison, Meshaal's life was saved when Jordan’s King Hussein insisted that Israel provide the antidote and release Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
This event increased tensions between Jordan and Israel and thrust Meshaal into international prominence.
Sheikh Ahmed, on the other hand, was killed in a missile strike on March 22, 2004, as he left a mosque in Gaza City.
His assassination led to widespread protests and a significant escalation in the friction.
Shortly after, his successor Abdel-Aziz al-Rantisi was also killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City in April 2004, driving Hamas leadership into hiding and complicating their strategic operations.
Adnan al-Ghoul, a key figure in the development of Qassam rockets used by Hamas, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2004.
His death weakened Hamas's military capabilities.
Similarly, Nizar Rayyan, a hardline Hamas leader, was killed in an airstrike in January 2009, along with members of his family.
Rayyan’s strong support made him a target, and his death highlighted Israel's persistent efforts to weaken Hamas leadership.
In 2009, Hamas's interior minister Saeed Seyyam, who oversaw around 13,000 security personnel, was killed in Gaza by an Israeli strike, aiming to dismantle Hamas’s regional control.
In January 2024, Deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri was killed in a drone strike in Beirut, representing another blow to Hamas's military wing, the Qassam Brigades.
The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in early 2024 expanded the conflict to Iran.
His death, confirmed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards after an airborne strike on his residence in Tehran, worsened the already strained relations between Israel and Iran.
Lebanon and Hezbollah
The ceasefire's breakdown saw the conflict extend beyond Gaza into Lebanon, involving Hezbollah.
Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, which dealt a major blow to the Iran-backed group.
Nasrallah's death marked a major setback for both Hezbollah and Iran, as he was a pivotal figure in shaping Hezbollah into a crucial element of Tehran's network of allied groups in the Arab world.
Israeli airstrikes have also increasingly focused on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon due to the group's missile capabilities.
In retaliation, Hezbollah has launched cross-border attacks on Israeli military targets, aligning its actions with Palestinian factions like Hamas.
This back-and-forth has transformed parts of Lebanon into active conflict zones, raising the risk of a wider regional war.
While Iran has not been directly bombed, its influence looms large as a supporter of both Palestinian and Lebanese armed groups, including Hezbollah.
This connection has drawn Israel’s attention to Tehran, intensifying the focus on weakening Iran's strategic foothold through Hezbollah.
Broader historical context and current humanitarian crisis
As the genocide persisted, Gaza faced an overwhelming humanitarian crisis.
The region’s infrastructure lay in ruins, hospitals were overburdened, and basic necessities like food and water became scarce.
By October 2024, a year after the conflict began, Gaza remained devastated, with no clear path to resolution.
International calls for accountability and an end to the violence have grown louder, as the crisis risks escalating further, destabilising the Middle East even more.
The situation, deeply rooted in the historical conflict dating back to the 1948 Nakba, continues to evoke worldwide protests, with growing pressure on the international community to intervene and find a solution to end the ongoing genocide and humanitarian disaster.