Gaza War Day 100: Some of the most significant stories from the onslaught so far

Sunday marks 100 days since Israel launched its unprecedentedly brutal war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Almost 24,000 people have been killed in Gaza in that time — that's more than one percent of its entire population.

More than 60,000 people have been injured, and close to the entirety of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have been displaced from their homes. Oxfam said earlier this week that more people are being killed in Gaza per day than we have seen in any "conflict" in the 21st century.

The New Arab takes a look at a few of the significant events relating to Gaza that have taken place in the past 100 days.

Hamas attack on Israel

Hamas's military wing launched an attack of unprecedented scale on Israel on 7 October: Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

Surreal video from the Al-Qassam Brigades of paragliders taking off from Gaza to float across the border and attack Israel was soon circulating worldwide. Palestinians penned into Gaza for some 16 years poured out of holes bulldozed out of a heavily fortified border into modern-day Israel, or historic Palestine.

Palestinian fighters attacked three sites close to the Gaza-Israel border - the Beeri and Kfar Azza kibbutzes, and the Nova music festival.

Estimates for the number of Israeli and foreigners killed in the attack have fluctuated, but they currently sit at around 1,100 people. More than 200 others were taken by the fighters back to Gaza as hostages.

Growing evidence has also emerged that Israel may have killed a number of its own people on October 7, including by helicopter missile fire and tank shells shot into homes where Palestinian fighters were holed up with hostages. This includes the testimonies of Israeli soldiers who served and commanded on the day, as well as those of survivors.

Israelis and others were left astounded as to how these fighters could commit so deadly an attack, and penetrate such a heavily surveilled and fortified border.

It would later emerge that Israeli military and intelligence had committed many security failings. Netanyahu had reportedly been warned on a few occasions that Hamas or other groups could soon commit a large-scale attack on Israel, but these warnings were ignored.

While war on Palestinians has proven popular among Israelis, their military's failure to bring home the hostages in Gaza has been a major political thorn in the side of a Netanyahu government, already unpopular for its handling of domestic issues prior to 7 October, including a judicial overhaul. 

'Beheaded babies'

Israel responded to the 7 October attack quickly and intensively, renewing its bombing Gaza City and the rest of northern Gaza.

Soon after the attack on Kfar Azza, the Israeli military paraded foreign press around the site, while preventing foreign media workers from reporting from Gaza.

Without proof, an Israeli military officer told journalists that Hamas had beheaded 40 babies during the attack - a claim parroted by reporters from some of the world's biggest news organisations without verification.

Some journalists disputed the claim, and Hamas denied it; some journalists apologised for or retracted their reports, saying that they should not have been published or aired without verification.

This did not stop US President Joe Biden from claiming that he personally had seen photos of beheaded babies, proof of "terrorists beheading children". 

The claim has widely been dismissed, but the damage had already been done in the minds of publics worldwide who were relying on prestigious news outlets to explain to what has happening in Israel and in Gaza to them.

It was an early example of how Israel would use disinformation and misinformation to inflate the level of violence Hamas's attack and detract from its own war crimes in Gaza. 

Al-Ahli "Baptist" Hospital strike

Just ten days into the war, we saw horrifying loss at a hospital in Gaza City.

Almost 500 people were killed in a strike on the Al-Ahli "Baptist" Hospital on 17 October.

Thousands had been taking shelter at the hospital after losing their homes in Israeli bombardment. Others were at the hospital being treated for injuries they had suffered in the strikes. Bombing a is hospital considered a war crime under international law.

Israeli deflection tactics struck once again. Israel claimed Palestinian militants had misfired and accidentally fired at the hospital. They released audio and video clips of highly questionable authenticity that they said backed up their claim.

Again, Israel's allies including Biden, said that they believed Israel's claims about the hospital strike.

Once the army invaded the hospital, no evidence of a Hamas command and control centre was presented, nor were any captives or fighters found.

Again, Israel got away with a brutal act with impunity, and has since struck other hospitals, refugee camps, places of worship, and schools.

Temporary ceasefire

Israel was relentless in its strikes, forcing much of the population south. People were not even able to evacuate when ordered to do so by Israel.

Aid was only being allowed in in trickles, and the constant airstrikes meant that the little aid that was getting in was not getting where it was most needed.

Meanwhile, Israelis were growing increasingly frustrated about the hostages still trapped in Gaza. 

Outraged people worldwide were calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire to bring an end to the seemingly endless suffering we were seeing, but Western politicians opposed this.

Finally, after six weeks of the onslaught some kind of respite came in the form of a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas that had been meditated by Qatar.

As part of the truce, Hamas was to release some of the hostages in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinians held in its prisons.

More than 100 hostages were released, and over 300 Palestinian prisoners.

The truce was extended for a few days, and there was hope that a more permanent deal could be reached, but this was quickly snuffed out. By 1 December, Israel was back to pounding Gaza.

South Africa files at the ICJ

As Israel returned to bombing Gaza with new fervour, Palestinians were left with the feeling that they had been abandoned by the rest of the world.

Israel has been committing field executions, stealing bodies from mass graves, sniping at churchgoers, and torturing journalists in their captivity, to name but a few crimes.

South Africa has had a long history of solidarity with Palestine, and that's been the case since Israel launched its war too. It pulled its diplomatic staff from Israel, and there have been huge protests in South African cities urging not only for an immediate ceasefire, but a free Palestine.

South Africa pulled its most emphatic move while most of the rest of the world embraced its usual end-of-year lethargy. On 29 December, they announced that they had filed a case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza.

There were emotional scenes from the West Bank, where Palestinians convened at a statue of late South African freedom fighter and formmer president Nelson Mandela on the eve of the case.

Not much new was said in South Africa's hearing, but that it was being heard at a world court and with a global audience was deeply moving to many, and felt like an inching towards justice.

Israel has of course denied that it is committing genocide, saying that it is trying to eradicate not a people, but a particular organisation that has genocidal intent against Israelis.

An ICJ ruling that Israel is indeed committing genocide is symbolic, and Israel could also ignore any ruling the ICJ makes against it, including one for an immediate ceasefire.

But that South Africa brought the case to an international court shows that not all are willing to sit and watch a genocide happen, and a reminder to Palestinians, especially those in Gaza, that they are not alone.

Even so, Israel is continuing to strike Gaza and kill its inhabitants, and it is still unclear what awaits the millions of people crammed into ever-shrinking "safe areas".

Could they be expelled from Palestine altogether? Will they be killed by strikes, or starve in an increasingly acute humanitarian crisis? Or will the world's most powerful finally act to stop Israel and its onslaught?