JERUSALEM: The Israeli military campaign in Gaza, experts say, now sits among the deadliest and most destructive in recent history.
In just over two months, the offensive has wreaked more destruction than the razing of Syria’s Aleppo between 2012 and 2016, Ukraine’s Mariupol or, proportionally, the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II.
It has killed more civilians than the US-led coalition did in its three-year campaign against the Daesh group.
The Israeli military has said little about what kinds of bombs and artillery it is using in Gaza. But from blast fragments found on-site and analyzes of strike footage, experts are confident that the vast majority of bombs dropped on the besieged enclave are US-made. They say the weapons include 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) “bunker-busters” that have killed hundreds in densely populated areas.
With the Palestinian death toll in Gaza surpassing 20,000, the international community is calling for a ceasefire. Israel vows to press ahead, saying it wants to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities following the militant group’s Oct. 7 cross-border rampage that triggered the war, in which it killed 1,200 people and took 240 others hostage.
The Biden administration has quietly continued to supply arms to Israel. Last week, however, President Joe Biden publicly acknowledged that Israel was losing international legitimacy for what he called its “indiscriminate bombing.”
Here’s a look at what is known so far about Israel’s campaign on Gaza.
HOW MUCH DESTRUCTION IS THERE IN GAZA?
Israel’s offensive has destroyed over two-thirds of all structures in northern Gaza and a quarter of buildings in the southern area of Khan Younis, according to an analysis of Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite data by Corey Scher of the CUNY Graduate Center and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University, experts in mapping damage during wartime.
The percentage of damaged buildings in the Khan Younis area nearly doubled in just the first two weeks of Israel’s southern offensive, they said.
That includes tens of thousands of homes as well as schools, hospitals, mosques and stores. UN monitors have said that about 70 percent of school buildings across Gaza have been damaged. At least 56 damaged schools served as shelters for displaced civilians. Israeli strikes damaged 110 mosques and three churches, the monitors said.
Israel holds Hamas responsible for civilian deaths by embedding militants in civilian infrastructure. Those sites also shelter multitudes of Palestinians who have fled under Israeli evacuation orders.
“Gaza is now a different color from space. It’s a different texture,” said Scher, who has worked with Van Den Hoek to map destruction across several war zones, from Aleppo to Mariupol.
HOW DOES THE DESTRUCTION STACK UP HISTORICALLY?
By some measures, destruction in Gaza has outpaced Allied bombings of Germany during World War II.
Between 1942 and 1945, the allies attacked 51 major German cities and towns, destroying about 40-50 percent of their urban areas, said Robert Pape, a US military historian. Pape said this amounted to 10 percent of buildings across Germany, compared to over 33 percent across Gaza, a densely populated territory of just 140 square miles (360 square kilometers).
“Gaza is one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history,” said Pape. “It now sits comfortably in the top quartile of the most devastating bombing campaigns ever.”
The US-led coalition’s 2017 assault to expel the Daesh group from the Iraqi city of Mosul was considered one of the most intense attacks on a city in generations. That nine-month battle killed around 10,000 civilians, a third of them from coalition bombardment, according an Associated Press investigation at the time.
During the 2014-2017 campaign to defeat Daesh in Iraq, the coalition carried out nearly 15,000 strikes across the country, according to Airwars, a London-based independent group that tracks recent conflicts. By comparison, the Israeli military said last week it has conducted 22,000 strikes in Gaza.
WHAT TYPES OF BOMBS ARE BEING USED?
The Israeli military has not specified what it is using. It says every strike is cleared by legal advisers to make sure it complies with international law.
“We choose the right munition for each target — so it doesn’t cause unnecessary damage,” said the army’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.
Weapons experts have been able to draw conclusions by analyzing blast fragments found on-site, satellite images and videos circulated on social media. They say the findings offer only a peek into the full scope of the air war.
So far, fragments of American-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) bombs and smaller diameter bombs have been found in Gaza, according to Brian Castner, a weapons investigator with Amnesty International.
The JDAM bombs include precision-guided 1,000- and 2,000-pound (450-kilogram and 900-kilogram) “bunker-busters.”
“It turns earth to liquid,” said Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon defense official and a war crimes investigator for the UN “It pancakes entire buildings.”
He said the explosion of a 2,000-pound bomb in the open means “instant death” for anyone within about 30 meters (100 feet). Lethal fragmentation can extend for up to 365 meters (1,200 feet).
In an Oct. 31 strike on the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya, experts say a 2,000-pound bomb killed over 100 civilians.
Experts have also identified fragments of SPICE (Smart, Precize Impact, Cost-Effective) 2000-pound bombs, which are fitted with a GPS guidance system to make targeting more precise. Castner said the bombs are produced by the Israeli defense giant Rafael, but a recent State Department release first obtained by The New York Times showed some of the technology had been produced in the United States.
The Israeli military is also dropping unguided “dumb” bombs. Several experts pointed to two photos posted to social media by the Israeli Air Force at the start of the war showing fighter jets stocked with unguided bombs.
IS THE STRATEGY WORKING?
Israel says it has two goals: destroy Hamas and rescue the 129 hostages still held by militants.
Eleven weeks into the war, Israel says it has destroyed many Hamas sites and hundreds of tunnel shafts and has killed 7,000 Hamas fighters out of an estimated 30,000-40,000. Israeli leaders say intense military pressure is the only way to free more hostages.
But some families of hostages worry that the bombing endangers their loved ones. Hostages released during a weeklong ceasefire last month recounted that their captors moved them from place to place to avoid Israeli bombardment. Hamas has claimed that several hostages died from Israeli bombs, though the claims could not be verified.
The level of destruction is so high because “Hamas is very entrenched within the civilian population,” said Efraim Inbar, head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, a think tank. He also said intense bombardment of Hamas’ tunnels is needed to protect advancing Israeli ground forces from attacks.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza seen as among the most destructive in recent history, experts say
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Israel’s military campaign in Gaza seen as among the most destructive in recent history, experts say
- With the Palestinian death toll in Gaza surpassing 20,000, the international community is calling for a ceasefire
- The Biden administration has quietly continued to supply arms to Israel
Financial reform plan can unlock foreign support for Lebanon, IMF says
- Negotiations between Lebanon and the IMF aim to pave the way for essential reforms to put the country on the path to financial recovery
- Follows worsening financial and economic crises that Lebanon has been grappling with since 2019 due to economic mismanagement, rampant corruption and accumulated debt
BEIRUT: A unified financial reform plan will allow Lebanon to overcome its economic issues and unlock foreign funding, the head of the IMF’s mission to the country said on Wednesday.
Ernesto Ramirez Rigo was speaking in a meeting with President Joseph Aoun, who said that Lebanon was “committed to moving forward with implementing reforms.”
Negotiations between Lebanon and the IMF aim to pave the way for essential reforms to put the country on the path to financial recovery.
It follows worsening financial and economic crises that Lebanon has been grappling with since 2019 due to economic mismanagement, rampant corruption and accumulated debt.
Presidential media adviser Najat Charafeddine told Arab News: “The IMF delegation emphasized that Lebanon’s proposed plan must be approved by all relevant parties in order to pass in parliament.
Implementing reforms will enable Lebanon to receive aid, including grants, particularly from countries with close ties, the delegation said.
“Achieving the plan will serve as an IMF seal of approval that will unlock assistance,” Lebanese officials were told.
The delegation also highlighted “the necessity of Lebanon returning to the fundamentals, particularly in restructuring banks and revisiting banking secrecy laws, which have yet to see the light of day due to disagreements.”
Over the past two days, specialized technical meetings have continued between experts from the IMF and a World Bank delegation, along with directors of departments and specialized experts at the Lebanese Ministry of Finance.
The talks aimed “to reach conclusions on proposed issues to promote transparency in public finances and more comprehensive reforms,” a Ministry of Finance statement said.
The IMF delegation met Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Finance Minister Yassine Jaber to discuss the details of the economic plan and required reforms.
Jaber said he discussed “the priorities, namely the appointment of the governor of Banque du Liban, who will play a crucial role in working with the IMF.
“Preparations for reforms are ongoing to enable Lebanon to implement its financial plan,” he added, highlighting support for amending Lebanon’s Monetary and Credit Law.
Jaber said: “The issue of frozen deposits in banks will be addressed in stages, and as minister of finance, I have no authority over the banking sector.”
Ousmane Dione, World Bank VP for the Middle East and North Africa, who met Jaber in Beirut in late February, had previously called on the Lebanese government to implement reforms.
This would “ensure credibility and transparency, reassure investors and improve the business environment,” he said.
The IMF delegation will meet a technical committee at the Association of Banks on Thursday.
According to media reports, the meeting will focus on “the performance of the exchange market and the Banque du Liban’s interventions, the banking restrictions on transfers and the authorization of certain outgoing transfers.
“This is seen as an attempt to monitor Lebanon’s cash economy, which has flourished since the country’s financial collapse.”
Meanwhile, diplomatic pressure exerted by Lebanon on the five-member committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel led to the release of four captives held by the latter on Tuesday evening.
The development was welcomed by Hezbollah supporters.
Israel is set to release a fifth person, a Lebanese soldier, on Wednesday evening, after he underwent surgery in an Israeli hospital.
It follows the release of four Lebanese captives a day earlier.
On social media, activists supporting Hezbollah celebrated the release of prisoners held by Israel for three months as a result of “diplomatic, not military, efforts.”
One activist claimed that President Joseph Aoun “had achieved what 100,000 rockets failed to accomplish,” while another said: “Diplomacy succeeded in releasing five prisoners, and tomorrow it could resolve the issues surrounding the disputed border points.”
Axios quoted a US official on Tuesday: “The Trump administration had been mediating between Israel and Lebanon for several weeks with the aim of strengthening the ceasefire and reaching a broader agreement.
“All parties are committed to upholding the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon and fulfilling all its conditions. We look forward to convening swift meetings of the working groups regarding Lebanon to address the outstanding issues. Israel and Lebanon have agreed to initiate negotiations to resolve disputes concerning their land borders.”
Six of 13 points remain unresolved since the establishment of the Blue Line following Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.
Additionally, Israel has yet to withdraw from five Lebanese hills it occupies in the border area following the recent conflict.
Reporters in the south have said that the Israeli army has expanded its presence around the hills, where it has established military facilities.
A joint statement issued by the US and French embassies in Lebanon and UNIFIL on Tuesday said: “The ceasefire implementation mechanism committee will continue to hold regular meetings to ensure full implementation of the cessation of hostilities.”
Israeli Channel 12 quoted an Israeli politician as saying: “Discussions with Lebanon are part of a broader and comprehensive plan. Israel aims to achieve normalization with Lebanon.
“The prime minister’s policy has already transformed the Middle East, and we wish to maintain this momentum and reach normalization with Lebanon.
“Just as Lebanon has claims regarding the borders, we also have our own border claims ... we will address these matters.”
More arrests reported in Israeli West Bank raids
- Overnight, Israeli troops conducted raids in the villages of Qabatiya and Arraba
WEST BANK: Israeli forces reported fresh arrests as they kept up raids in the northern occupied West Bank on Wednesday, a day after troops shot dead three Palestinians as part of an ongoing military operation.
Overnight, Israeli troops conducted raids in the villages of Qabatiya and Arraba, arresting about a dozen Palestinians allegedly “involved in terrorist activity” and seizing around 100 kilograms of materials used to make explosives, the military said in a statement.
The detainees were handed over to the Israeli police and the Shin Bet security agency for further investigation, the military added.
Several of those arrested, their eyes blindfolded, were escorted by Israeli soldiers to military vehicles before being taken to a building in Arraba that was used by troops as an interrogation center, an AFP correspondent reported.
In Qabatiya, army bulldozers were seen tearing up sections of road, the correspondent added.
The Israeli military frequently destroys roads in the West Bank, saying it is to prevent their use for planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
The raids followed the military’s announcement on Tuesday that it had killed three militants in a “counterterrorism” operation in Jenin.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority confirmed the deaths and reported that a Palestinian woman was also killed Tuesday by Israeli forces.
The Israeli military has been conducting a sweeping offensive across multiple areas of the West Bank since January 21, two days after a fragile ceasefire took effect in the Gaza Strip, largely halting 15 months of war there.
The operation, dubbed “Iron Wall,” has resulted in dozens of deaths, including Palestinian children and Israeli soldiers, according to the UN.
Additionally, around 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced from areas where the army was operating.
Violence in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967, has escalated since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
Since then, at least 910 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to the Palestinian ministry of health in Ramallah.
Meanwhile, at least 32 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during military operations, according to official Israeli figures.
At least 1,383 civilians killed in Syria violence: new monitor toll
- The civilians were killed in “executions by security forces and allied groups“
- The latest deaths were recorded in the coastal provinces of Latakia, Tartus and Hama
BEIRUT: At least 1,383 civilians, the vast majority of them Alawites, were killed in a wave of violence that gripped the Syrian Arab Republic’s Mediterranean coast, a war monitor said Wednesday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the civilians were killed in “executions by security forces and allied groups,” after a wave of violence broke out last week in the coastal heartland of the Alawite minority to which toppled president Bashar Assad belonged.
The Britain-based Observatory added that even as the violence subsided, the toll was still rising as bodies continued to be discovered, many on farmland or in their homes.
The latest deaths were recorded in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus and in the neighboring central province of Hama, it said.
It accused the security forces and allied groups of participating in “field executions, forced displacement and burning of homes, with no legal deterrent.”
The violence erupted on Thursday when clashes broke out after gunmen loyal to Assad staged attacks on the new security forces.
At least 231 security personnel were killed in the ensuing clashes, according to their official toll. The Observatory said 250 pro-Assad fighters were killed.
The UN Human Rights Office said it had documented “summary executions” that appeared “to have been carried out on a sectarian basis.”
Interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who led the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) that toppled Assad, has vowed to prosecute those behind the “bloodshed of civilians” and set up a fact-finding committee.
The spokesman for the committee, Yasser Al-Farhan, has said Syria is determined to “prevent unlawful revenge and guarantee that there is no impunity.”
The authorities have also announced the arrest of at least seven individuals since Monday on suspicion of “violations” against civilians.
HTS, an offshoot of the former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, is still proscribed as a terrorist organization by several governments including the United States.
Since Assad was toppled in December, many Alawites have lived in fear of reprisals for his brutal rule.
Morocco fights measles outbreak amid vaccine misinformation
- In Morocco, authorities have scaled up vaccination against measles in recent months in a bid to control the outbreak
- To tackle misinformation, Moroccan health officials have launched awareness campaigns, including in schools, to explaining the importance of vaccination
RABAT: Authorities in Morocco have been scrambling to contain an outbreak of measles, a contagious and potentially fatal disease that had nearly been eradicated in the kingdom but has rebounded as vaccination rates have fallen.
In Harhoura, a small coastal town near Rabat, 13-year-old Salma and her nine-year-old brother, Souhail, sit quietly in a public clinic, waiting for their second shot of measles vaccine.
Their grandmother, Rabia Maknouni, said it was after a campaign at school that the family realised they had been missing doses of the vaccine.
"We didn't know they hadn't completed their vaccination," she said. "Their parents panicked when they heard about the outbreak."
Measles is highly contagious, spreading through respiratory droplets and lingering in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves an area.
The disease causes fever, respiratory symptoms and a rash. In some cases, it also leads to severe complications, including pneumonia, brain inflammation and death.
Even though vaccination remains the best protection against the disease, immunisation rates have fallen in recent years.
The vaccine hesitancy is driven by misinformation, which has lingered since the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Morocco, authorities have scaled up vaccination against measles in recent months in a bid to control the outbreak.
More than 10 million schoolchildren have had their immunisation status checked since October last year, said Mourad Mrabet, an official at the National Centre for Public Health Emergencies.
Since late 2023, authorities in the North African country have reported more than 25,000 measles cases and 120 deaths, Mrabet said.
The outbreak has raised concerns in France, Morocco's former colonial ruler and leading foreign investor and trade partner.
The French public health agency has described the epidemic as reaching "historic levels" and urged travellers to check their vaccination status before visiting the kingdom.
Moroccan authorities say the number of new infections has been steadily declining in recent weeks.
They have promised to continue their vaccination programme until late March with the aim of achieving 95-percent cover, sufficient for herd immunity.
But they acknowledge they still have some way to go. The health ministry said only about half of those requiring a booster had received one by early March.
In January, government spokesman Mustapha Baitas blamed "false information that fuels public fear of vaccines".
Mrabet attributed it to "the influence of the global anti-vax movement".
In the United States, growing distrust of public health policy and pharmaceutical companies has contributed to falling vaccination rates.
In February, an unvaccinated child died of measles in Texas, where an outbreak has been spreading.
And last week, an adult from New Mexico -- which neighbours Texas -- also died from the disease.
To tackle misinformation, Moroccan health officials have launched awareness campaigns, including in schools, to explaining the importance of vaccination.
The education ministry's head of health programmes, Imane El Kohen, said one of the "deceptive allegations" was the claim that the measles vaccine is a fourth dose of the Covid vaccine.
Hasna Anouar, a nurse in Harhoura, has been involved in vaccination status check programmes for years.
She said that before the Covid-19 pandemic, there was little resistance to routine childhood immunisations.
But now, some parents have developed a "fear of vaccines," she said. "We have to sit down with them and explain why these shots are necessary."
Health rights activist Ali Lotfi put the decline in the vaccination rate down to "lockdown and the fear of being contaminated in hospitals".
"Afterwards, the health ministry didn't do enough to address the backlog," he said.
Dissident former diplomat shot dead in southern Syria: monitor
- Armed men on Tuesday night entered the home of former diplomat, Noureddine Al-Labbad, in the town of Al-Sanamayn, opening fire on him and his brother
- The Britain-based monitor said Labbad had returned to Syria two weeks earlier from France
BEIRUT: A former Syrian Arab Republic diplomat who defected from his service under the administration of toppled president Bashar Assad was shot dead alongside his brother in the country’s south, a war monitor said on Wednesday.
Armed men on Tuesday night entered the home of former diplomat, Noureddine Al-Labbad, in the town of Al-Sanamayn, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Damascus, opening fire on him and his brother before fleeing, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britain-based monitor said Labbad had returned to Syria two weeks earlier from France, where he had represented the opposition’s Syrian National Coalition after having served as a diplomat under Assad.
He had defected from the foreign ministry service in 2013.
Security forces declared a curfew in the town after cars were set alight and grenades were set off following the attack, an AFP journalist said.
But by the morning it had been lifted with traffic gradually resuming.
Videos shared on Telegram by Syrian security forces show gunmen entering what was described as Labbad’s home.
No further details were available regarding the killing of the former diplomat, but there have been frequent incidents involving tribal violence or acts of revenge in the past months, particularly since Assad’s ouster in December.
